“May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:21b-23)

When we come into a relationship with Jesus Christ, we are united to Him as a branch to a vine. Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches.” (John 15:5a) Through our faith in Him, He sends the Holy Spirit to abide with us. “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17) With the Holy Spirit dwelling with us, Jesus is also with us. Jesus said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:18) Our relationship is based on God’s love for us and our love of Him. This relationship also brings into our lives our Heavenly Father. “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” (John 14:21)

When we are united with God, we are usable in His hands to make a difference in this world. Jesus, therefore, would teach His disciples to stay in contact with Him. They are to abide in Him. “As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 14:4-5)

Our relationship and usability with God is the reason for Jesus’ priestly prayer for us. He is on His way to the cross to die for our sins and open the way though the resurrection for our relationship with him. Jesus prayed, “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:20-21) Oswald Chambers said about this prayer, “But there is only one prayer that God must answer, and that is the prayer of Jesus: ‘. . . that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.’ Are you this intimate with Jesus?” (Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, “Now This Explains It,” May 22) Jesus dwells with us, desiring for us to draw closer each day with Him. When we do, we find Jesus using us in ways that we will bear fruit. Fruit as the character of Jesus expressed in the fruit of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22-23) Fruit which is also the impact of our being a witness of Jesus Christ and what He can do in one’s life. “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

Our daily walk with the Living Word of God should be changing and developing us as we are molded anew into the character and compassion of Jesus Christ. This change happens as we mature in our relationship with God by His teaching us through the Written Word of God. All the while we are becoming more united to Him and to each other. This is the Father answering the prayer of the Son.

In the Love of Jesus,

Michael Block