The Bible is the written word of God, but it is given from the Living Word of God, and when it comes alive in the Spirit it is life transforming. Phil, one of our Missioners in England, was reading John 17. He writes: “I was struck by verse 20 when Jesus is praying for us personally as well as a total group, for ”ALL who will believe.” This prompted me to make it a personal prayer of Jesus for me by putting my name into the prayer. It had something powerful to convey. I hope it might help others know Jesus was praying prophetically for them then, as well as now.”
In the text below replace (name)with your own name and use he/she, etc accordingly.
Jesus Prays…
“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.
I have revealed you to (name) whom you gave me out of the world. (He/She) is yours; you gave (name) to me and (he/she) has obeyed your word. Now(he/she)knows that everything you have given me comes from you.For I gave (name) the words you gave me and (he/she) accepted them. (He/She) knew with certainty that I came from you, and (your name) believed that you sent me. I pray for (him/her) I am not praying for the world, but for (name) who 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 (name) I will remain in the world no longer, but (name), your child, is 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 (name) may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given (him/her) 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 (name) out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. (He/She) is not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify (name) by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent (name) into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
My prayer is not for (name) 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, including (name), 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 (name) knows that you have sent me. I have made you known to (name) 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.”
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen
