March 8

Read: John 17:6, 9, 15-17

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth (John 17:17).

Jesus’ Prayer For His Followers

On the eve of His crucifixion, in the upper room, after the Last Supper, Jesus earnestly prayed for the sanctification of the eleven faithful apostles. The prayer language with which our Lord referred to these intimate companions compels us to believe that they were already God’s accepted children. “Thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word… I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them… I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine… I am glorified in them… none of them is lost… the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world.”

Who can question that these men were redeemed followers of Christ? But they needed to receive the Holy Spirit in His fullness. On this same occasion Jesus prayed, “While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name… And now come I to thee… that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I pray… that thou shouldest keep them from the evil… Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth… Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.”

A few weeks later Jesus instructed these same men to tarry and pray until the Holy Ghost should come upon them. Ten days yet later, after they obeyed the Master’s word, the Holy Ghost came to these earnest disciples and they were sanctified wholly.

Prayer For Today

O Jesus, may Thy prayer for my sanctification be answered this day. Pour out Thy Spirit upon me.