October 7, 2023
Caring For His Own
“I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.” John 17:9-12 (NASB)
God is my God, but my best friend is my wife. My best male friend is named Roselle (nicknamed- Rip). We started working out many years ago (above 25). We come from two completely different backgrounds and ethnicity. Both of us share the same heavenly Father. We became casual friends in the beginning, training together at the gym. About 5 years later, he asked me if I would consider being his accountability partner. He told me he had been praying and the Lord led him to me. I prayed, and the Lord simply answered, “Yes.” It wasn’t a hard decision. Did God want me to be accountable to another? The answer is scriptural, “Yes.” Over the years, the two of us have shared intimate things we wouldn’t consider with others. It's part of the accountability we share. He accepts me as I am, but challenges me each time we meet, by the Word of God. Both of us have had our ups and downs fighting through this mean old world, however, this has never changed the status of the two of our relationships. We are there to keep each other in account when we see the enemy trying to gain entry into our lives. I’d like to say we are beginning to win more battles than we used to in our faith journey. Jesus’s prayer is much like this, except it is a perfect prayer asking God to keep them as the Father unites with Jesus. Although my friend and I share a non-perfect relationship, with mistakes along the way, we have never given up on either one. Jesus’s prayer is this same concern.
“I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them.” Note the relationship of the prayer with the Father. It is one of interceding for those who are called by His Name. This isn’t for the world. Jesus cares for His own. MacArthur shares, “But Christ’s intercessory work as High Priest is only for those who belong eternally to Him because they have been given by the Father. In fact, the only recorded instance in the New Testament of Christ praying for the unregenerate is His cry from the cross, ‘Father forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing’ (Luke 23:34). That prayer is a model for believer, who are to ‘love [their] enemies and pray for those who persecute [them]’ (Matt. 5:44; 2 Tim. 2:26). But the unredeemed world was not His interest in this prayer. His attention was on those whom the Father had given to Him and for whom He was about to die to provide atonement- that they would be protected from the world, especially during the immediate events surrounding His arrest, trial, and crucifixion.”[1]
I know today, my best friend and wife pray for me each day. They intercede for me when I don’t deserve it either. This is because we belong to the same fellowship; the fellowship of God. I am so glad to have those who will stand in the gap for me each day, but most of all Jesus!
[1] (John MacArthur, 2006), 267.