An Opportunity

Greetings to you, the Beloved Guardians; true heroes, built for such a time as this.

I wanted to expose a powerful and strong declaration of Jesus in His heroic calling of Guardian. This will accomplish the divine purpose of exhorting and encouraging us all to submit to the high calling of, “guardian,” in our environments and hearts.

In John chapter seventeen, our Lord and High Guardian prays a radical, powerful, and eternal prayer for us all to hear and believe. Not only is this prayer profoundly important for understanding theology and doctrine because Jesus is our high priest. But, it is also important to see what was of value and importance to Jesus a few hours before he was to suffer the crucifixion. I personally reference this prayer quite often, because there is so much power and simple truth that is put on display in these few words. Let’s look at a few verses that are congruent with Jesus Christ, our Great Guardian.

John 17:9-12 (ESV)
I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 

All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 

And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 

While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

There is SOOOO MUCH here that it is difficult to just hone in on the target. Please read this chapter again later, for the benefits of your own heart.

I am just going to list some points here that I pray will excite your rational mind and your supernatural heart at the same time.

• Jesus was NOT praying for the world. This is almost too taboo to say, but it is true. Many people waste their prayer life with unnecessary and fruitless activity. Jesus was specifically praying for the ones that He had the most influence in and with. A true Guardian.
• The humility of Jesus is on full display here again. The disciples, who Jesus hand picked, who He spent three plus years developing through personal anguish, who He had poured into passionately and was about to give the most important assignment any human group had ever been given… were not His possession. Jesus recognized that they belonged to the Father and that He only had the place given Him by God and by the disciples own hearts to work within the confines of. How much permission have you given Jesus and His spiritual leaders in your heart and life? Who owns your heart, emotions, time, assets?
• The size and type of glory that the world will see on Jesus will be directly related to the amount His disciples allow Him to be glorified in them. That is a big deal. If we were God, we would NEVER allow ourselves to be limited or hindered like that… but our God desires to work in, with, and through us in all things. Intimacy is more important that supremacy.
• “Keep them in your name.” What an interesting prayer. Not keep them safe (I personally hate that idea… safe is not the point of living)… not stop the mean devil… not give them money, or health, or miraculous power, or popular influence. Nope. Keep them in your NAME. Remember that, in the Bible, name means, “honor, essence, authority, character, and nature.” When we are IN these things, we have no need of any other earthly assets or protections. Our identity in Him is far better than safe prayers or a safe life.
• Also note, when each of us are properly submitted to being IN His name, we will be uniquely knit together in divine unity the way Jesus and His Father are. Unity becomes a natural fruit of people who are headed the same way for the same reason. That is who we are Beloved! Let us take this culture into a dark world together!
• The desire of Jesus’ heart was not for us to be taken out of the world, but rather that we are empowered to change the world. Do you think that Jesus’ prayer was answered? Do you believe that the Father honored that request? I would say that the day of Pentecost, where the hundred and twenty disciples were endued with fiery power, would be what the answer to this petition looks like… what do you think? Have you allowed a personal Pentecost in your own upper room?
• “I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost…” Wow! What a statement! Think about this for a moment, if you were the devil, wouldn’t these fellas be top-assassination-priority? Think about the likely spiritual aggression leveled at them, yet, they were safe in the Guardian’s care, secure in the, “secret place (Psalm 91)” and busy about the Lord’s business; not concerned about their enemy or even provisions. How much more successful we could be if we just simply trusted our Guardian and His precious promises as we obediently impacted our world. We are being guarded and shepherded by the BEST, and to worry or be fearful is inconceivable to anyone who deeply accepts this truth.

Here is an opportunity to take this powerful revelation and put it to action. We have been recreated in the very image and likeness of Jesus. We have the heart of a Guardian like He does. We have the SAME Spirit that He was empowered by. We have the same heavenly commission in our dark world that His light had. We have the same Spirit of Truth burning against the lies that He did.

It is time to thrust our lives fully into His care and Guardianship. This is the safest and most exciting way that life could ever be experienced!

Be of good courage Beloved, Jesus has prayed for you and His prayers are perfect!

I love you greatly!
Steve