My favourite number used to be 17...

Heyyyyyyy guys.

So I just had my bio lab. Some IDIOT spilled chloroform all over my hands. Luckily, I was wearing gloves, but some got on my lab coat sleeves and my wrist, and now it stings. I wanted to KNOCK HIM OUT for being so careless. Anyways, that's okay. I'll live.

My fav. # used to be 17, until I was no longer a teenager. Then the number became useless to me. Anyhow.

John 17! We're almost at the end here. Hang on tight boys and girls.

Jesus prays for himself, his disciples, and all believers in this chapter. Pretty emotional, if you read between the lines and take what he says into your heart. I especially like his prayer to the disciples. There's a lot of dualism and linking "you" (his disciples) and "me" (Jesus) and putting himself down before us. "All I have is yours, and all you have in mine...Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too my be truly sanctified." It's like Jesus is giving us authority and power to do exactly what he did on the earth. I'm sure if Jesus was here today, we'd do things so much differently. If he walked beside you physically wherever you went, would you still say those bad words? Would you still lie to those people? Would you still be angry at those things? Frankly, I don't think you will, if Jesus was around. But what we're forgetting here, is that Jesus has now sent us out into this world to be his people, to be his witnesses.

Jesus prayed these prayers for us for a reason. He didn't have to waste time.

So always be truth to yourself and God!


Roh

ps. hope you guys are practising hard!

hommies..... Please disregard misspelled words...
John 17 is a prayer to all of us. Like Roh said, Jesus is telling us to be like him throughout these last few chapters and now he is asking God personally to protect us for he has chosen us not to be a part of this world but rather in his word.
Jesus doesn't speak metaphorically now he is straight to the point this
time.
Anywho this chapter speaks for itself and I plan to re read it later because it really is a goodie.
Jacob have a good one!!
I'll see you ladies and gents on Friday, which is slowly becomming my favourite day, next to Wednesday when I can sleep in.
LOL just for some kicks, my world religion teacher tried to explain the trinity the other day and it was amusing how confused he was. He started to talk about transformers and what not so I cut in and said it's kinda like how our dad is a son, but also our father and also a businessman(or whatever ur dad does) I got that from Sam and it made it a little easier to get the mysterious concept of the trinity.
Just some food for thought ( right hannah?????!!?.... You follow? Yee)

Firstly, administrator, I'm inclined to believe that your avatar is HIGHLY INAPPROPRIATE.
Secondly, we started singing Deck The Hall in my chamber chorus today..It's beginning to look a lot like Christ-mas! Slash not. Just thought that line was suitable right there. Anyways, it was pretty grand. I love Christmas carols.
Thirdly, because things in three are nice, HAPPY "SWEET 16", MOUNTAIN! Have they ever had an episode of "My Super Sweet 16" with a guy? He'd have to be a pretty big div-o, I suppose...

John 17
I was really touched by today's passage with Jesus' prayers. The inexplicable, 'agape' love that he's shown for us over and over again, even just through this book, is still so ah-worthy. This was right before he got arrested for his imminent crucifixion, and here he is praying on behalf of us..I mean, he does begin by praying for himself, but if you take a look, he spends a noticeably much longer time praying for us, and our faith, and our future, which to me is amazing. I can't imagine how many things must have been going through his head, and yet he took that kind of time in his last moments in solitude to pray for us..To pray for believers, perhaps, but sinners, nonetheless..The sinners that he was laying his life down for. It's crazy.

v.17 "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified."

This verse pounded home the importance of scripture as believers.

v.20 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me."

This verse stood out to me, once again because of the parallels that Jesus let's us draw within our relationships with God to His relationship with God. Among drawing out feelings of thanksgiving for God's amazing grace, the part where it says "..that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you" reminded me of the significance of fellowship and unity as believers in Christ.

Explanations are few and far between today. Words aren't coming so easily from me today, for whatever reason. Haha.
Anyways, hope you guys have great Thursdays! This week's going by rather quickly...

(FOOD FOR THOUGHT. Totally got it, e-sak.)
- hanners

John 17

This is probably the most touching prayer I've read in the Bible. It shows the endless love Jesus has for God, for those who believe in Him, and for those who will believe. Even though Jesus' death is fast approaching, he gets rid of all his fears, and asks God to remain in him so that God will "glorify Jesus in His presence with the glory Jesus had with God before the world began"; because Jesus entered the world through God's mercy and love, he asks that he will leave the world the same way. Seeing Jesus' undeniable faith in God reinforced the idea that we must put everything we do in God's hands.

Selflessness is another characteristic of Jesus that I saw in this prayer. At the time when Jesus could've prayed for his protection and his worries, he put the rest of the world as a priority in his prayer. I was actually almost in awe because Jesus was pouring out his love for the disciples, whom he knew would not stand up for him, especially Judas, and the Jews who refused to believe in the Lord even though they saw his amazing works (miracles).

There were three clumps of verses that really stuck out today. The first one is in the middle of verse 11: "Holy Father, protect them [disciples] by the power of your name-the name you gave me- so that they may be one as we are one." If we put ourselves in the shoes of the disciples, Jesus is telling us to be in unity just as he is with God. We've all been handpicked by God to be in this praise team, and the nine of us are definitely disciples of God. Of course, there will be times when we will be frustrated with each other, but with love and faithfulness, we're fully capable of being one tight-knit family.

Secondly, verses 17, 18, and 19 stuck out also: "Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified." I had to refer to dictionary.com (following the footstpes of Michael from the first time he did his devotions ) to find out what sanctify meant. I knew it had to do something with being sacred, but here's the formal definition: to make holy, set apart as sacred, to purify or free from sin; to make productive of spiritual blessing. In these verses, Jesus is teaching us how to be holy, how to find freedom from sin, and how to grow as Christians. The only way is to read the word because it speaks the truth from God. We may not notice the impact devotions has on us, but it reminds us everyday for whom we live and we do gradually grow.

Thirdly, verse 26 hit home: "I have made you known to them [believers], and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." I think this is a prayer that we can make ourselves. Jesus tells God that he will keep spreading His word so that the love God has for Jesus may be in other people. We all know what God does in our lives once we let him into our hearts; the love that God has for us is incomparable to anything else of this world. As believers, I hope that we can spread God's word (as difficult as it is for us to do so) so that people who don't know what it's like to be genuinely loved by someone will be able to experience what we already have. In Psalm 68:5, David says, "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling. God sets the lonely in families..."

Sorry for the rant

friday soon friday soon

That's one bad-arse kid ther Roh

This Chapter reminded me of the quote, "What would Jesus do?" and I came up with the answer, "Before Jesus dies, He would pray for all the people He will be leaving behind."
The reason is because Jesus knows He can no longer be with the disciples and the people of the world, so I think He's basically getting ready to leave them and praying that despite His absence in the physical world, that they would still believe. So.. I guess that's why He prays. There's also much emotion and <3 in the Chapter, and I felt really moved while reading it...
I guess now.. I will be definitely praying on my death bed... praying for others I'll be leaving behind that is!

G'night all~

hello all
i had such a frantic day i was scared i wanst gonna have time for devos, but God provides
itll be a short one though becuase i am falling asleep as i type.
but im praying for strength and time and SLEEP to get me through the rest of this die hard week

so this chapter is basically the prayer that Jesus says to God in his last moments or days. I felt really touched by this, because Jesus just really seems to be pouring out his heart to God, and the thing is.. If I knew that I was gonna be crucified, my prayer would mostly consist of "WHY GOD WHYYYYY I HATE PAINN MAKE IT GO AWAY"
And Jesus is fully human at the same time as being fully God too, so its not like he's invincible to pain or fear, he had all those things, but he was really chilzzz, becuase he had the peace of God. He had so much peace in knowing that everythign he was doing was in God's will and fulfilling the scriptures, so that we may be saved. So instead of praying for himself, he prayed for all of us. The people that believed in him then, and the people like us that will believe in the future. He asks God to protect US, not him, but US. He prayed that we may be able to know God, and prayed that we may be sancitifed.
Now THAT, my friends is love to the max. I think that this is an act of the amount of love he had for us, that he put our needs ahead of his. This is something that we can relaly really learn from. Lately, I've just been forgetting or been too lazy to pray for others; its easier to be self-absorbed then to take the time to pray and love others.
So Jesus taught us all a lesson today
I relaly loved this chapter. I can like feel his prayer in my veins right now