John 17:1-26
Jesus Prays for Himself
1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
Jesus Prays for His Disciples
6 “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.7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 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. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 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. 12 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.
13 “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. 14I 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. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. 19 For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
Jesus Prays for All Believers
20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21 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. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
24 “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.
25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. 26 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.”
Genesis 13:1-18
Abram and Lot Separate
1 So Abram went up from Egypt to the Negev, with his wife and everything he had, and Lot went with him. 2 Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold.
3 From the Negev he went from place to place until he came to Bethel, to the place between Bethel and Ai where his tent had been earlier 4 and where he had first built an altar. There Abram called on the name of the Lord.
5 Now Lot, who was moving about with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents.6 But the land could not support them while they stayed together, for their possessions were so great that they were not able to stay together. 7 And quarreling arose between Abram’s herders and Lot’s. The Canaanites and Perizzites were also living in the land at that time.
8 So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herders and mine, for we are close relatives. 9 Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”
10 Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) 11 So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company: 12 Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom. 13 Now the people of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord.
14 The Lord said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, “Look around from where you are, to the north and south, to the east and west. 15 All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.17 Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you.”
18 So Abram went to live near the great trees of Mamre at Hebron, where he pitched his tents. There he built an altar to the Lord.
During Jesus' High Priestly Prayer, He prays for Himself, His Disciples, and for all believers...This prayer was just before He was arrested and then crucified...In this prayer He prayed that His Disciples and those who believed in Him be one, just as He and His Father are One...Because where two or more are gathered in His Name, their is love...But where two or more are gathered and are arguing and fighting and disagreeing their is a disunity...Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand...It is significant that Jesus in some of His Last Words would teach us His desire that the salvation of all His Disciples and all His believers would be praying to God that their be unity within all of His followers and that they might be united as one, in similar fashion as He and God are united...So He was not satisfied with His followers be fighting, arguing, and not united before His crucifixion...
Jesus said that while He was with His Disciples, He kept them in God's Name, which God had given to Him....Jesus had guarded His Disciples, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled...But now would be going to heaven, and to be back with His Father....The things that He had spoken in this world, so that the Disciples may have His Joy fulfilled in them...May their Joy be now Complete...Jesus had given them and taught them God's Word...The world had hated His Disciples because they are not of this world, just as He was not of this world...Jesus did not ask that God take the Disciples out of this world, but that He keep them from the evil one...The Disciples were not of this world, just as He is not of this world...So sanctify them in the Truth; Your Word is Truth...As You sent Me into the world, Jesus would be sending the Disciples into this world to tell others about Him and the gospel...And for their sake Jesus would consecrate Himself, that they also may be Sanctified in Your Truth...Jesus said, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through My word, that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me...The Father and Jesus are One...May all believers and followers also be in the Father and Son...May the world believe that God has sent His Son to all of them...The glory that God has given Jesus has been given to all believers so that they too may be one even as we are One...Jesus is in His Disciples and believer as You are in Me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that You sent Me and LOVED them even as You LOVED Me...Jesus desired that His Father give His followers that He had given to Jesus would be with Him, where He is and will and would be...And that all His followers could see His Glory that God had given Jesus because God LOVED Jesus before the foundation of the world...O righteous Father, even though the world does not know You, Jesus knows You, and these Disciples and believers know that you have sent Me...Jesus has made known to all people God's Name...He will continue to make God's Name known, that the LOVE with which you have LOVED Me may be in all His believers...
We should ask ourselves about the unity we have with our neighbors...Do we have this unity among ourselves as Jesus has prayed for us?...Are we living in harmony?...We need to live together to get God's blessing...Abraham saw this when he was with Lot...Things were becoming disharmonized...Abram did not want any problems with his nephew Lot...Lot had accumulated many animals and tents...Abram and Lot had so many animals that the land could not support both of them together...(The Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in this land at the same time.)...The shepherds of Abram and Lot began to argue...Abram knew that this arguing amongst themselves would be a problem, and maybe a continued problem...Abram would give the first choice of land to Lot...So Abram said to Lot, “There should be no arguing between you and me or between your people and my people...We are all brothers...We should separate....You can choose any place you want...If you go to the left, I will go to the right...If you go to the right, I will go to the left.”...Lot looked and saw the whole Jordan Valley...He saw that there was much water there...(This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah...At that time the Jordan Valley all the way to Zoar was like the LORD’s Garden...This was good land, like the land of Egypt.)...So Lot chose to live in the Jordan Valley...The two men separated, and Lot began traveling east...Abram stayed in the land of Canaan, and Lot lived among the cities in the valley...Lot moved as far as Sodom and made his camp there...
Abram had determined that not only was it best to separate, but also it was best to give Lot the first choice of all the lands...Abram did not want any division between himself and Lot...Abraham knew that is best to be united to worship and follow the LORD, and so he chose to separate from Lot, so both could worship the LORD in their united family and servants...The disunity would ended when they separated, and they separated as friends and in love...Then they both could worship the LORD on their own terms without judgment or criticism or arguing with one another...
After Lot left, the LORD said to Abram, “Look around you...Look north, south, east, west...All this land that you see I will give to you and your people who live after you...This will be your land forever...I will make your people so many that they will be like the dust of the earth...If people could count all the particles of dust on earth, they could count your people...So go...Walk through your land...I now give it to you.”...So Abram moved his tents...He went to live near the big trees of Mamre...This was near the city of Hebron...There he built an altar to honor the LORD...The LORD was with Abraham...
Let us pray that like Abraham, the LORD help us to follow the Patriarch's example...That we be on guard for our judging and criticism of others and the disunity is not a part of the LORD's Way...God blesses those in unity with Him and His Son and with our neighbors...As Jesus said earlier, every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand...
Jesus wants the unity that He and His Father has...The LORD Jesus prayed that we should have a similar unity of the same type of togetherness that He and the Father has...Let us love one another and be in unity with each other...