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TITLE: Devotional/Reflection
By Mary Frederick
05/14/06
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For use with Adults as a prayer and discussion starter or perhaps included as part of a Retreat
presentation on Prayer.
Devotional

Prayer: Come Holy Spirit and fill me with understanding and knowledge of Your Word.

Scripture: John 17:8 and 16:28

“I have entrusted to them the message You entrusted to Me, and they received it. They have known in truth I came from You, they have believed it was You who sent me.” "I indeed have come from the Father."


Personal Reflection

The above Scripture is the last verse of the prayer Jesus prayed for Himself,the night before He died. In the verses following these words, we find His prayers for His Disciples and for all Believers: His prayers will never end! Jesus prayed for Himself first, then, He prayed for others. I see this as an example for us: pray for self; seeking guidance, mercy, forgiveness, and the strength needed to be faithful, to the message entrusted to us, then, pray for others. Jesus entrusted first to His Disciples and now to us a simple message, “I did indeed come from the Father.” Verse 16:28

In this prayer, Jesus was reassuring the Father, “I have entrusted to them the
message...they received it...they have believed.” In these words of Jesus, I find a
gift, the gift of confidence. Confidence in our willingness to accept His message because He reassured the Father we would be faithful. It seems to me because we believe in truth, His words, “I came from You, (The Father) they believe You sent me,” we have a responsibility to believe in truth, all Jesus taught.

Acceptance of His gift of confidence can be our inspiration for living in truth the total message of Jesus. Faithfully living our belief and sharing His message with others is proof of our love for Jesus and for the Father.

To love God because He sent His Son, to believe all Jesus taught without needing to see the proof by His actions would be a good way to thank Jesus for His gift of confidence.

To pray for ourselves first as Jesus did and pray for others when we are right with the Father, seems logical to me since prayer prepares us to go forth and be with others. When we approach the Father with a clear conscience praying in the name of the Son our prayer will be answered.

Questions for Personal Reflection:

Do we pray for ourselves and for others?
Do we seek knowledge and understanding of
God’s will?
What might we do differently if we knew
tonight to be the night before our death?

Sharing With Others
Small Groups or Large Group Discussion

Prayer
Heavenly Father, we come to You in honor,
praise and adoration. May we always glorify
You and share the message entrusted to us.
Guide us in our journey back to You and let
no one be lost because of our failures.
Give us this day our daily needs and let us
never fail to speak truth when we speak Your
Word. Help us to believe Jesus, to love and
serve You through Your Son Jesus Christ who
lives and reigns with You, now and forever.
Amen ©
Scripture verses from The New American Bible
Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, 1970
The opinions expressed by authors may not necessarily reflect the opinion of FaithWriters.com.