Wednesday's Big Idea: John 17:6-19

Once again it is Wednesday and so I chronicle the ideas and narratives that came out of morning prayer with the men of my church.

The scripture that we focused on was John 17, starting at 6 and going through 19. Jesus starts out praying for himself (1-5), then his disciples (6-19), then all believers (20ff). For me the key passages were in the first 3 verses:

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. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them.

Jesus was praying for those whom the Father gave him - his disciples, but if we take this prayer as a model, we can pray something similar, "God, I want to reveal you to those whom you give ME." In my life it starts with my inner circle: my wife and son. If I am unable to reveal God to them through my words and deeds, then I can't expect to go much farther beyond that circle. So I must be a demonstration of the Father to them. Beyond that, I need eyes to see others whom I have been given. Who, specifically, has God put in my life for the purpose of using me to reveal God?

There is more then revelation, however. Not only do I need to SEE who God has given me, I need to HEAR His words so that I may speak them accurately to those people. So immediately I have two very important prayer challenges: Open my eyes so that I may see and open my ears that I may hear. My responsibility once I have seen and heard is to speak the words of God to those He has revealed. Notice that our responsibility stops at hearing and obeying - we are not responsible for the results. Jesus says "and they accepted them." Jesus spoke the words that the Father gave him and that was enough.

My struggle is to hear the words of the Father and know they are the Father's words. This is a tremendous act of faith, but I think more often it is easier to know which word's AREN'T the words of God versus knowing which words are. I don't have much to offer in the way of how to discern that, but I believe prayer and the Bible are two very good starting places.