TLWS: Friday, Week Thirty-Six

 

Happy Good Friday, Friends!  I hope your Holy Week has been a blessed one.

This week's reflection is about women who are spiritual moms.  Would you like to discuss a woman who has been a spiritual mother to you, or have you served as a spiritual mom to a younger woman?  I'd like to read about your experiences!

The main focus of this lesson is Jesus's prayer in John 17.

Jesus Prays to Be Glorified

John 17   After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.  For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.  Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.  I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.  And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.

 

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.  Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.  For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me.  I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.  All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.  I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.  While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.  I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.  My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.  They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.  Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.  As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.  For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

 

Jesus Prays for All Believers

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,  that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—  I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.

“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.  I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

Prayer Requests:

• From Rita: I must continue to ask prayer for various family members - the aged with chronic health issues, members with short-term health needs for healing, and for the grandbaby, whose necessary daycare is literally a petri dish for ongoing viruses. Lord, with your help I pray each one of my loved ones - and their caretakers - can cope and conquer these matters and enjoy a healthy, new season.
• From Kitty:  Pray for family unity and her son's job search.  
• From Carla:  Pray for Sam and the 157th.  Pray for all our military families.
• From Rita: Please pray for the Nashville Christian school, where 3 children and 2 teachers were shot and killed this week - dear God, please comfort that community and protect them from evil. Please help us all realize how much we need You in our lives.
• Carla asks for continued prayer for our military all around the world. For our leaders to make wise decisions and to not use our military for a 'war game'.  Also, pray for the power of TRUTH to reach the hearts of those hurting, lost, and confused.
• Please pray for my health.  I'm having asthma and allergy related issues.  I spent five hours getting tested for allergies Tuesday, and I will start allergy shots at the end of the month.

Check back on Resurrection Sunday for a special message!

Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill