The high priestly prayer of our Lord is a deep well of comfort and a strong tower of hope for every believing soul. In those sacred words you have recited, you are listening to the very heart of the Son of God as He communes with the Father. And be assured, whatever Christ asks of the Father in that intercessory work is granted with all the certainty of Deity. He does not pray as we pray, with faltering lips and a divided will; His requests are one with the Father’s purpose, and they must come to pass. That joy of which He speaks, His own joy fulfilled in us, is not a fleeting emotion but the settled gladness of His own indwelling Spirit, a joy that no man takes from us because it is rooted in the finished work of the cross. You need not fear that you are left to manufacture this joy. It is His gift, poured into the soul by the Holy Spirit as you abide in Him.
The world hates us because we are not of it, just as He was not of the world. Do not be surprised when the fiery trial comes upon you, as though some strange thing happened. The enmity of the world is the bitter diploma that proves your citizenship is in heaven. But mark well: He does not pray for an easy escape from the battlefield. He does not ask the Father to take us out of the world, but to keep us from the evil one. Our safety is not in isolation, but in the omnipotent guardianship of the Great Shepherd who was brought again from the dead. Satan desires to sift you as wheat, but the Shepherd’s crook is mightier than the wolf’s jaw, and His intercession is a wall of fire round about you. You are kept not by your own vigilance but by the power of God unto salvation, and that power is pledged in the covenant of grace.
But preservation from evil is only the negative side of the blessing. The positive work is sanctification. “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.” Mere morality, mere outward reformation, will not suffice. We need the cleansing of the inward parts, the renewal of the mind, the conformity of the whole being to the image of Christ. This is a work of God from its earliest stage. We go astray of ourselves, but we never return to the great Shepherd apart from His divine drawings. Regeneration, in which sanctification begins, is wholly the work of the Spirit of God. Yet do not imagine that you are a passive block of wood in this matter. The truth is the instrument; therefore feed upon the Word. Let it dwell in you richly. As you meditate upon it, as you submit to its searching power, the Spirit uses it to separate you from sin and to transform your character. If we are not living holy, godly, spiritual lives, how can we say that we are redeemed from the power of evil? You long to be holy, that longing itself is the pledge that He will complete what He has begun.
And see how the prayer rises to the summit of unity: “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.” This is not the outward uniformity of garb or ritual, but the inward, spiritual union of souls bound together because they are all bound to Christ. It is a unity that springs from the indwelling of the Father and the Son by the Spirit. When that unity is real, the world takes notice. It is the liveliest sermon preached to the unconverted when they see believers of diverse backgrounds loving one another with a pure heart fervently. But this unity cannot be fabricated by compromise or by softening the edges of truth. It comes as we abide in Him, as His love is shed abroad in our hearts. If we walk in love, we shall not need to be urged to forbear and forgive; it will be our nature. And if love grows cold, do not expect unity to remain. A church that has lost its first love will soon be rent with divisions. Go back, then, to the first works; remember from whence you are fallen, and do the first works. Return to the cross where love was kindled in your soul, and your love to the brethren will burn afresh.
The Lord’s desire is not only our sanctification and unity, but that we should behold His glory. “Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory.” This is our ultimate hope: to see the King in His beauty and to be made like Him. Even now, by faith, we may have foretastes of that vision. The more we love Him, the more we shall joy in Him, and the more we joy in Him, the more we shall long for His appearing. He wants your love, all of it. He will not be content with a divided heart. He has loved you with an everlasting love, and He desires renewed pledges from you. Will you not, then, with wholehearted devotion, anew consecrate yourself to Him? Bind yourself to Him with fresh cords of affection. The covenant made because of love calls for a fresh swearing of allegiance. Do not dread the excitements which come from fellowship with Christ; yield to the full sweep and current of holy joy in the Lord. It is safe to let that tide carry you away, for it flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
He would have you more glad, stronger, fuller, holier. He presses the provisions of His love upon you, like a host whose joy lies in seeing all his guests feasting. Do not hold back. Let nothing lie by, take in the whole truth concerning His Person and love by meditation, contemplation, understanding, and reverent simplicity. The love wherewith the Father loves the Son is in you if you are in Christ. Let that amazing truth sink deep into your heart. Nothing can separate you from that love. Sin shall never be mentioned against His people any more forever, for He has cast it behind His back, as far as the east is from the west. Therefore, though you are ashamed and confounded for all your shortcomings, He has put them all away. Return unto your God; return to your first love.
May the God of peace, who brought again from the dead that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.
"But now I am coming to You; and I am saying these things while I am in the world, so they may have My joy fulfilled within them. I have given them Your Word and the world has hated them. For they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I am not asking that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one.
Prayer Focus: God, Thank You for loving me. Thank You for loving me, Jesus. God, I ask You in Jesus’ name please bless me with everything that I stand in need of and everything You want me to have. 
