“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who believe in me through their word; that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me, and I in you; that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that you sent me.” John 17:20-21 (NKJV)

John chapter 17 could appropriately be referred to as the “Lord’s Prayer.” The words of Jesus in Matthew 6:9-13 is more of Jesus’ lesson to the disciples on “how” to pray according to His model prayer. Our devotional passage is an excerpt from Jesus’ personal and private intercession that contains His three-fold petition to the Father. First He prayed to the Father that the Father would be glorified through His work on earth culminating with the cross and His ultimate resurrection (vv. 1-5). Secondly, He prays that the apostles would be sanctified by the truth (vv. 6-19). Lastly, He prays for the church and that all believers everywhere would be unified (vv.20-26). Simply put, His desire was that the church would be one just as He and the Father were one.

The power of this prayer is that after some 2000 plus years, the purpose and the passion of Jesus’ desire continues to resonate with astounding clarity into the age of the 21st century. In the midst of universal conflict and calamity, divisiveness and dissention someone has to rise above the fray and exemplify the power of one. This oneness that Jesus requests is not organizational or denominational, but a spiritual unity that will be manifested in the life of the church whereby every believer will bear witness to the divine commandment issued by Christ himself. “A new commandment I give to you that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35 (NKJV) He does not place this expectation on those who are a part of this world system as non-believers. This standard and benchmark for oneness is presented to the believer who has confessed their faith in Christ through “their word”.

Jesus’ prayer petition is also a request that the world will see the corporate testimony of the church and as a result the world will believe that God the Father has sent His Son. If believers are fractured and faulty in our relationships with one another then the world has an example of its own behavior in those who believe. If the world sees nothing different than what is portrayed in the church, it impacts the testimony of the church and the influence necessary to make a difference in the world in which we live. The unity that Christ desires for His church is the same kind of unity that the Son has with the Father. This spiritual unity is to be patterned in the church. Without union with Christ and the Father, believer’s can do absolutely nothing. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing.” John 15:5 (NKJV)

So the stage is set. As the curtain goes up the spotlight is directly placed on the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the midst of a world that is clearly divided among a plethora of issues how will the church perform? Will we be the salt of the earth and the light of the world? Will we be like that city that is set upon a hill that cannot be hidden? Moreover will we be one? Will we be one with the Father, one with the Son, and one with one another, so the world will know that Jesus Christ has come and is coming again very soon? Lord make us one.