Today’s Devotion
Topic: Protect And Sanctify Them!
Text: John 17: 13 – 19
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. 14 I 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.” Amen
It is so heart warming to meditate on the prayers Jesus said before He offered Himself to be arrested, prosecuted and condemned to death. His prayer was first for Himself, then His disciples and then for all who will believe the message preached by these disciples.
In the prayer, Jesus was concerned about two things in particular: our Protection and Sanctification. He was not going to be physically present with us, so He invoked eternal words in prayer that should keep us protected and sanctified to the end.
But why is it that our protection and sanctification were so important to Him? The answer is very simple:
First of all, Jesus’ prayer suggests that there is always going to be a necessary spiritual transition that should happen to all who come to believe in Him. They translate from darkness into light; from the kingdom of this world to the Kingdom of Christ. So that though these people remain on earth, they are not a part of the world just as Christ is not of the world too.
To this, Jesus prayed that we be protected from the evil one. This suggests that our transition from darkness to light is not going to be without opposition. And that there is an evil one; the prince of the world’s system that we are no longer a part of, who will do anything to frustrate our walk in Christ till he wins us back to the world of sin. That is why Jesus invoked prayer that we be protected from all of the enemy’s schemes.
Secondly, the Master prayed that we be sanctified by the truth because that is the only way we can identify with Him and remain His. Our transition is not from darkness to darkness, but from darkness into light. It is by sanctification through the Word that we attain full citizenship into the Kingdom of Christ. Now, since no man can sanctify himself on his own accord, Jesus invoked that we be sanctified by the Father through the Word.
This refers to an anointing in the Word so strong to transform anyone who chooses to believe and live by it every day into light. Our protection and sanctification in Christ are the two most important elements that will keep us through this world whiles preparing us for the second coming of Christ. They are important to God and should be to us too.
When grace is already provided to keep us safe and sanctified, why do we continue to run back to the life of sin and into the parlour of the evil one? Why do we not seem to understand that those of us who are born of Christ cannot and must never be in “sync” with the world nor with the things it offers? We are not of the world, neither is the Jesus in whom we have our being. This world and its pleasures passes away, but the Word of God that sanctifies us abides forever.
Meditate upon this word and decide to remain under the protective wings of God Almighty while He keeps you sanctified by the WORD WHICH IS TRUTH. Also, pray that the deceit of the evil one does not entice you back into the life of bondage satan kept you in until GRACE reached for you.
Beloved, the world has nothing good to offer us. Satan is also out, seeking whom to destroy. Let us abide in Christ therefore and allow His Word also in us. THIS IS JESUS’ PRAYER FOR US, MAKE IT YOUR DESIRE UNTO ETERNITY.
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