The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. John 17:22-23.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלהים) says:
Jesus spent time conversing with Me.
It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles. Luke 6:12-13.
And I conversed with Him as well. Even at times out loud where others would hear, as at His baptism in the Jordan. But not everyone heard when I spoke. Some said it was thunder, others an angel, but the sheep of the flock of My Son know His voice and they know My voice, for in hearing Him you hear Me.
“Now My soul has become troubled; and what shall I say, ‘Father, save Me from this hour’? But for this purpose I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.” Then a voice came out of heaven: “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” So the crowd of people who stood by and heard it were saying that it had thundered; others were saying, “An angel has spoken to Him.” Jesus answered and said, “This voice has not come for My sake, but for your sakes. Now judgment is upon this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself.” John 12:27-32.
Jesus was very diligent about only saying the Words I told Him and doing the works I showed Him. Why? He knew they had eternal life in them and would save those who heard and received Him. Those who would link with Him in spirit and truth, through Him, became one with Me.
And how did He always know the Words that I wanted Him to say and the works that He was to do? In His conversations with Me, which is prayer the way I intended it to be. A place of answers, a place of power, and a place of dreams carried out according to perfect plans revealed.
The disciples were fascinated by the familiarity with which He spoke to Me as His Father and how He conversed with Me in prayer, always causing My great power to manifest in doing good. They wanted the same kind of powerful relationship He had with Me, so they asked Him to teach them how to pray, which He did as we already covered in a prior conversation, but overall His prayers with Me were private, done early in the morning and late into the night when the crowds were not around Him.
But My Son surprised His disciples at the Last Supper, the Passover Seder at which He made the New and Everlasting Covenant with them and through them with you, when He not only let them hear and witness His prayer to Me but included them in the conversation at My throne in the heavenly places as well and that shared conversation continued right into the Garden of Gethsemane.
And at that covenant meal the glory filled that place. And it still does when you join in His conversations with Me and partake of His body and blood. Join Him in His prayer of intercession for the nations as My royal priesthood, for He has released you from your sins by His blood and made you a kingdom, priests onto Me. It is time you stopped just whining about yourself and took up the joy of intercession with My Spirit and Jesus. There are many souls lost because no one prayed for them. Authorize Me to go to work opening hearts to My Son, opening doors of utterance to you.
Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak. 1 Corinthians 4:3-4.
So let us consider today Jesus’ conversation with Me that He shared with you. And in that prayer He very clearly included not just those present that night but YOU.
“I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. John 17:20-21.
You life should show people your oneness with Me as well as with your fellow believers in the Body of Christ. They way you talk, the way you walk, and the way you include Me in your conversation and life should show that you are linked with Me. That spark that lit your heart from My altar of incense as you pray should light up the lives and hearts of those who encounter you.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness (reasonableness, equity) be known to all men. The Lord is near. Philippians 4:4-5.
Then another angel with a gold incense burner came and stood at the altar. And a great amount of incense was given to him to mix with the prayers of God’s people as an offering on the gold altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense, mixed with the prayers of God’s holy people, ascended up to God from the altar where the angel had poured them out. Then the angel filled the incense burner with fire from the altar and threw it down upon the earth; and thunder crashed, lightning flashed, and there was a terrible earthquake. Revelation 8:3-5.
As the first community of believers in Jesus prayed together the place shook, and as they prayed for Peter all the prison gates opened and My angel led him out to freedom. Same for Paul and Silas as their prayers and praises went up to My altar of incense and the angels sent down My power, the earth shook and all the prisoners’ chains fell off and the gates swung open wide.
And now let us begin the conversation of Jesus with Me the night He was betrayed. Knowing He was about to leave this world, for He was entering the final stages, that is, the finish line of the work I had given Him to do as one like you upon the earth, He had much to say to Me and you of the dreams for you that were in His heart. And He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life.” John 17:1-2.
Jesus always addressed Me as “Father,” and He taught you to do the same. And He counseled you always to pray directly to Me.
In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father. I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.” John 16:27-28.
Do you notice Jesus opened the prayer by lifting up His eyes to Me enthroned on High? Keep your mind above. I told Abraham to lift up his eyes to the stars and later to look across the land to see as big as I see. And to him I gave the blessing, that has become know as the Blessing of Abraham. Which is righteousness by faith along with Do you remember when Jesus was going to feed the crowd of well over five thousand with the five loaves and two fish what He did?
Then He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to Heaven, He blessed them, and broke them, and kept giving them to the disciples to set before the people. And they all ate and were satisfied; and the broken pieces which they had left over were picked up, twelve baskets full. Luke 9:16-17.
In prayer, you lift your heart to hear My voice and you lift your eyes above your circumstances to what I am showing you. And by looking up to Heaven you take what you are lifting up and entrust to Me out of the worldly system that is full of the curse to the heavenly system which is filled with the Blessing.
And Jesus knew His appointed time was drawing near. Peter and Paul both wrote to you the same in their letters when their work on earth was completed and they were ready to come and receive their glorious reward. And Jesus asked Me to glorify Him, that the He would glorify Me, even as I gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom I have given Him, He gives eternal life.
When you believe in the good news of your salvation, as passed down to you from the apostles, your spirit is born again from above and I seal you in Christ with the Holy Spirit as a pledge of the redemption of your bodies.
In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory. Ephesians 1:13-14.
And I have commanded Jesus to raise you up on the last day. You cannot be lost once you are sealed in Him.
All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.” John 6:37-40.
In Jesus you have eternal life. Without Him you do not have it. Do you see why? Without His death and resurrection you are still in your sins and under the law of sin and death. The wages of sin is eternal death. No sin can remain in My presence and live. My remedy for the eternal life Adam lost by sin was to send My Son born from above by the Word so that He had an eternal life in the flesh to give in payment for the eternal life Adam murdered in all of you by sin. He took all your sins on Himself and gave you My righteousness and took the punishment for sin in your place, He went to the dust of death. And then I raised Him up when full satisfaction was made for all the debts you owed Me by your sins and you in Him are raised and justified. In Him you died to sin. And in Him you rose righteous and sin-free. He is the only way to Me because to enter My Kingdom you must be sin free. And He alone has made you so by releasing you from your sins by His blood.
And the testimony is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. 1 John 5:11-13.
And in His conversation with Me, in which you are included, He then defined eternal life. And this definition is very profound but you may miss it. It is just this:
This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. John 17:3.
Eternal life is not just a set of rules you do and then you have it. That is what the rich young ruler (Pharisee) was trying to get from Jesus, a sort of “to do” list. It is not a one-time reward—it is a forever relationship deep in Me where you know Me and My love as manifested in My Son and I know you in your innermost being. It is a complete linking of our spirits that I call Covenant or espousing you to Me forever. I call the Church the bride of Christ. Eternal life is a flow of knowing. Knowing what? The love I have for you that will never harm you but only increase and benefit you. It is knowing who I am and who you are in Me. That you are alive because I willed you to be from everlasting and wanted you as the unique you I made you to be. I am yours and you are Mine. Eternal life is a joining together that can never be set asunder. We become One. Unique, no loss of your uniqueness and independence to reign with Me, but One in love, purpose, mind, and heart. Knowing brings trust and growth in love. And it brings joy. I have told you these things that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete. When you know Me, the evil one cannot touch you.
And I think that is enough to meditate upon for this Life Lesson. Tomorrow we shall continue with Jesus’ conversation with Me that included you at that Last Supper when He gave you His body and blood.
I love you. You are with Me always and everything I have is yours. I gave you My Son and in Him I gave you EVERYTHING, which is eternal life.