John 17:1-5: Lift up your heads.

“After Jesus said this, he looked towards heaven and prayed: ‘Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.” NIV

FELLOWSHIP (1a):
Jesus knew that it was time for Him to die; that it was time for the world to throw its worst His way. He also knew that His closest friends would forsake Him. But in that situation He looked up and prayed.

”Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray” (James 5:13a).

But do we do this? In circumstances where heads would naturally dip, Jesus shows how to lift them up. Although He knew He would be abandoned by men, He sought fellowship with the One who would never leave or forsake Him (Hebrews 13:5, 6).

In that same letter to the Hebrews you read: ”Therefore strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees! ”Make level paths for your feet,” so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed” (12;12, 13). These words are located in a passage where the message is: ”Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…’ (2) and ”Consider him…” (3).

”After Jesus said this, he looked towards heaven and prayed…” He’s our pattern.

FAVOUR (2,3):
God is sovereign in conversion. Whenever it happens it is a Divine miracle. It is a work of sheer grace.There is a certain unfathomable mystery about it, and it causes us to stand in awe before our great God. It is true that we do not choose Him, but He chooses us. He takes the initiative.

FINISHING (4):
Like Jesus Himself, we can bring glory to God in this world by fully giving ourselves to whatever it may be that He gives us to do -missionary, pastor, mechanic, accountant, student, wife, mother, father, husband, teacher…whatever. There are so many possibilities. But whatever God gives you to do, do it with all your might. God will give you enough years to get His will done, but not sufficient time to allow for wastage. Do you remember Magnus Magnusson’s famous line on ‘Mastermind’? ”I’ve started so I’ll finish.” A college principal used to say to his students, ”It is always too soon to quit.”

”I glorified you on earth by completing down to the last detail what you assigned me to do.” The Message.

PRAYER: Lord, you know I sometimes feel discouraged, but please help me to never even consider throwing in the towel. You’ve given me a great work to do. Enable me by your grace to keep going, in good times and in bad.