Reflecting on the lyrics of one of Andrae Crouch songs recalled the need to be intentionally focused on the expectations of our blessed Lord, Redeemer, and King. The wordings of the refrain are repeated here:

It won’t be long
Till we’ll be leavin’ here
It won’t be long
We’ll be goin’ home…

Count the years as months
Count the months as weeks
Count the weeks as days
Any day now
We’ll be goin’ home

There are things that should pre-occupy our minds as believers, several of which are stated in John 17. For the day we focus on one phrase that is repeated four times in our scripture text for today.

Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you. Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that they will be united just as we are. ⁱ During my time here, I protected them by the power of the name you gave me. I guarded them so that not one was lost, except the one headed for destruction, as the Scriptures foretold. “Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with my joy. I have given them your word. And the world hates them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world.  I’m not asking you to take them out of the world, but to keep them safe from the evil one. They do not belong to this world any more than I do. Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth.

“I am praying not only for these disciples but also for all who will ever believe in me through their message. I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me. ⁱⁱ

“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. ⁱⁱⁱ I am in them, and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity ^iv that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me. John 17:11-23 (NLT)

Extracting the same portion in part in NKJV you will see the prayer clearer.

Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are ⁱ… “I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us ⁱⁱ, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: ⁱⁱⁱ I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, ^iv and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.

It is a measure of how important “being one” with the Father and Son is, that in this most important prayer delivered on the last night of Jesus’ life, Jesus requested of the Father that we be “one with them” four times! In that sense, it is the most important request in this prayer that we become one with them.

The big questions to ponder are:

1. Do we understand what He was praying for?
2. Are we one with one another as believers?
3. Are we as believers one with Him and the Father?
4. If we are not, how can we be?

You want to ponder these questions prayerfully before the Lord perchance you will get a glimpse of His answers before we continue. Shalom

Pastor Afolabi Oladele