Scripture

John 17:6-19

“”I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.”
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Prayer

Outside of ourselves and our inner self can often feel chaotic and purposeless. It is easy for us to looks at what is happening and since despair and run toward doubt. You are not afraid by our doubt. You are not put of by our questions and fears but you provide comfort and assurance in their midst. Your knowing and revealing of that knowledge; your purposes and your execution of those purposes bring glory to you and worship from us. Let my heart race toward your purpose through Jesus. Amen

Meditation

One thing that I have grown to really like in Australia is their apparent love of the print media. That’s not to say they love the print media but they seem to really enjoy reading a newspaper. There are lots of store fronts that cater to print media. Dailys, weeklys, magazines, print journals. It is really great to walk into town to one of the local newsstands and pick up the daily paper. The news however is not as pleasant of an experience. Bad news sells so reading the paper everyday serves as a reminder of how messed up things seem to be. This world is chaotic.

At the same time many of us could look at the level of confusion in the world and say,” if only my life was that calm” broken relationship, worn out bodies, job insecurity, faith confusion. We can spiral to a place of despair very easily.

This prayer gives us light in the darkness. It is really not in a positive place. There is one who is lost but it is according to scripture. There is a purpose and plan. The cross is cruel but its purpose is beautiful and brings about forgiveness, justice and mercy.

Providence, God’s plan, is hard to explain and even harder at times to understand. “Why” can be a common response to things. I think of it as a dance with God leading. He knows the steps, He chose the music and He can change the tune at His desire. He is leading us through the dance He knows and we are just learning. Anytime you learn a new dance (granted i don’t know this empirically, don’t let my wife know that we should probably take dance lessons for me to keep using this illustration) there will be bumps and bruises as you fight against the one who is leading, forget steps, get distracted and lose count with the music. Trusting that your dance partner knows the dance can be hard. Jesus, in this prayer, acknowledges and reminds us that God knows and will dance with us through life.

Action

Find a place where you won’t get embarrassed and dance around as a prayer and reminder that God leads the dance. He knows His plan for us and will fulfill it.