September 1, 2012

• What Is Ours In Christ Jesus? Part One

  How are we believers to know all that is ours in Christ Jesus?  Well, surely, we can start to know from Our Lord’s own words!

   

  According to John’s Gospel, Chapter Seventeen, Jesus prayed directly to His Father on my behalf and yours IF you are a believer.  Following here, highlighted by bold print, are the blessings He prayed for us as translated in the English Amplified Version.  I shall have added my commentary in italics.

   

  JESUS… lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify and exalt and honor and magnify Your Son, so that Your Son may glorify and extol and honor and magnify You.  [Just as] You have granted Him power and authority over all flesh (all humankind), [now glorify Him] so that He may give eternal life to all whom You have given Him.  (all believers)

  And this is eternal life: [it means] to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and [likewise] to know Him, Jesus [as the] Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), Whom You have sent.

  I have glorified You here on the earth by completing the work that You gave Me to do. And now, Father, glorify Me along with Yourself and restore Me to such majesty and honor in Your presence as I had with You before the world existed.

  I have manifested Your Name [I have revealed Your very Self, Your real Self] to the people whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they have obeyed and kept Your word.  Now [at last] they know and understand that all You have given Me belongs to You [is really and truly Yours].

  For the [uttered] words that You gave Me I have given them; and they have received and accepted [them] and have come to know positively and in reality [to believe with absolute assurance] that I came forth from Your presence, and they have believed and are convinced that You did send Me.  I am praying for them.

  I am not praying (requesting) for the (whole) world (of mankind), but (only) for those You have given Me (those who have believed in Me), for they belong to You.

  All [things that are] Mine are Yours, and all [things that are] Yours belong to Me; and I am glorified in (through) them. [They have done Me honor; in them My glory is achieved.]

  And [now] I am no more in the world, but these are [still] in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep in Your Name [in the knowledge of Yourself] those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We [are one].

  While I was with them, I kept and preserved them in Your Name [in the knowledge and worship of You]. Those You have given Me I guarded and protected, and not one of them has perished or is lost except the son of perdition [Judas Iscariot--the one who is now doomed to destruction, destined to be lost], that the Scripture might be fulfilled.

  And now I am coming to You; I say these things while I am still in the world, so that My joy may be made full and complete and perfect in them [that they may experience My delight fulfilled in them, that My enjoyment may be perfected in their own souls, that they may have My gladness within them, filling their hearts].

  I have given and delivered to them Your word (message) and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world [do not belong to the world], just as I am not of the world.  (Therefore) I do not ask that You will take them out of the world, but that You will keep and protect them from the evil one.

  They are not of the world (worldly, belonging to the world), [just] as I am not of the world.  (Therefore) Sanctify them [purify, consecrate, separate them for Yourself, make them holy] by the Truth; Your Word is Truth.

  Just as You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. (Your Holy Spirit indwelling them and empowering them spiritually as with Me!) And so for their sake and on their behalf I sanctify (dedicate, consecrate) Myself, that they also may be sanctified (dedicated, consecrated, made holy) in the Truth.

  Neither for these alone do I pray [it is not for their sake only that I make this request], but also for all those who will ever come to believe in (trust in, cling to, rely on) Me through their word and teaching,

  That they all may be one, [just] as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that You have sent Me.  I have given to them the glory (the spiritual clout) and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one [even] as We are one:  I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and [definitely] recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them [even] as You have loved Me.

  Father, I desire that they also whom You have entrusted to Me [as Your gift to Me] may be with Me where I am (seated in heaven on the throne of spiritual power! See Ephesians 1: 19 - 23), so that they may see My glory, which You have given Me [Your love gift to Me]; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

  O just and righteous Father, although the world has not known You and has failed to recognize You and has never acknowledged You, I have known You [continually]; and these men understand and know that You have sent Me.  I have made Your Name known to them and revealed Your character and Your very Self, and I will continue to make [You] known, that the love which You have bestowed upon Me may be in them [felt in their hearts] and that I [Myself] may be in them.

  How many of the blessings which are ours in Christ, highlighted above in Our Lord’s own prayer for us, have you personally taken ownership of?

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