Alistair shares his thought for the week; Jesus takes pride in you.

In this season, I’ve been reading through the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and in John 17, I came across something that was really beautiful, and I wanted to share it with you as part of my reflections for this week. In John 17, Jesus was finishing off his Last Supper with his disciples, and as we do when we’re coming to the end of any fellowship with those that we love, we tend to end it in prayer, don’t we? Jesus prayed on three points during that particular time.

So the first thing he prayed for was himself, and the next thing that he prayed for was his disciples. And then interestingly, he did a future prayer. He was praying into the future, and he actually prayed for us as he was praying into the future. And what was most beautiful about the fact that he prayed for us was that he prayed on three fronts. And the things that he prayed for was number one, that we would be of what will have oneness of mind, that we would be one, we would be united, that we would all work together, and we would remember that we were of the body of Christ. The second thing that he prayed for was that when it all came to complete fulfilment, we’d be able to be with him in the heavenly places. He asked God to prepare a place for us next to him.

And then the final thing that he prayed for, which I want us to really reflect on over this particular week, is that he prayed that the love, the encouraging love, the empowering love that God placed within him would also be within us to empower us to do the great things that he did. If we take our minds back and just remember Jesus Christ being baptized by John the Baptist, the heavens opening up over Jesus, and God saying this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Jesus Christ was speaking about that particular love, and he was saying that God is just as proud of us as he is of him. And as he abides in us, so does that love abide in us also.

God is proud of you, God loves you. He loves you so much that he’s empowering you with his spiritual gifts, and with his wisdom so that we can be kingdom bearers, so that we can carry his glory, and that we can bring light into the darkness. And he’s empowering us through his love to be able to do all of those things.

So I just wanted to share that reflection with you and just say that God loves you. Jesus is, he prayed for you back then, and he still prays for you now. So let’s piggyback off the prayers of Jesus Christ, and let’s go out there and remember that we’re living a life of purpose. God bless. Have a blessed week!

Every week one of our members shares a short thought aiming to inspire you for the week. You can watch previous Thought For The Week videos by clicking here.