As Jesus is about to sacrifice Himself on the cross, we see how Jesus prays for His people. In particular, He prays for the Father to provide heavenly protection and unity, as Jesus prepares to leave the earth.

“I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.”
‭‭John‬ ‭17:11

Jesus prays for believers because we have been specially chosen out of the world to follow Him. Notice how He states that He is not praying for the world, because they do not belong to the Father nor live in accordance with His will. The powerful connection between the Son and the Father is amazing, and we should follow Jesus’ passion to glorify the Father in all that we do.

The fact that Jesus is intervening through divine protection over our lives can leave us rest assured that He is with us during this pandemic, and even post-pandemic. God never planned to abandon us. He is always with us, and will guide us through what to seems to be an uncertain, difficult and challenging time.

How do you prepare for big opportunities? In what ways do you look towards the ‘big moment’? In the parable of the Ten Virgins, we see how Matthew emphasises the importance of getting ready and responding to God’s call.

‘At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.’ Matthew 25:1-5

This parable is not about people who have rejected God at the end of time. This is about urgency, readiness and how we spend our time in a season of preparation. Jesus is with us now and he calls us to be discipled by His Word and not the culture we live in. He calls us to get ready for the calling He has placed in our lives. Later in this parable, we read the consequences of not getting ready and being prepared for God.

‘But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.’

When we postpone our call to action for obedience and are not readily prepared for God’s calling, we can miss our moment. As the foolish virgins delayed the instruction to get ready, they were unable to benefit from all God had in store for them. To put it plainly, the wise live in the now but the door closes on the foolish.

How will you be more prepared this week?

In what ways will you get ready and respond to God’s calling?

In the Book of John, we see where Jesus has been preparing His disciples for His death and they are filled with grief and fear. They had left everything to follow Jesus and now He was leaving them to return to the Father. As He sees their hearts, He reassures them that His death is not where the gospel ends.

‘Very truly I tell you, you will weep and mourn while the world rejoices. You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.’ John 16:20

Although Jesus would be physically absent, He had gifted them with the Spirit to dwell within them and lead them to the truth. Jesus had never really abandoned them as the Spirit had given them Jesus’ intimate, righteous and spiritual presence.

‘So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.’ John 16:22

Because no one can take away their joy, the disciples are able to experience a deep sense of peace when Jesus ascends and leaves them physically. Although the disciples grieve from hearing the death of Jesus, the results of His sacrifice reunite them with Christ.

What reasons have these verses given you for joy as a Christian?

This morning, I woke up to a message from a friend saying she had been thinking about me and found some Bible verses to encourage me in my walk with Christ. The truth is, we all need loving friends in life and Jesus is the most loving and truest friend of them all.

‘Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.’ John 15:14

Jesus demonstrated His sacrificial love for us on the cross where He paid the price for all our sins, even though we were undeserving of it. Clearly, Jesus states that there is no greater love that can surpass this incomprehensible act.

‘You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I have learned from my Father I have made known to you.’ John 15:14-15

When we follow and obey the commands of Jesus, we become His true friends and are no longer servants, as He has given us the inside track on what is going on. A servant is unaware of His master’s business, but Jesus is completely open to us as His friends and followers of Him.

I’d like to ask you these questions:

How will you reflect Jesus at work in you through your friendships?

In what ways will you go the extra mile and show sacrificial love for others?

After Jesus had humbly washed His disciples’ feet, well aware of His hour on the cross approaching, and told Peter about His coming act of betrayal, He states this in John 14:

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.’ John 14:1

When our trust is in Jesus, we have no reason to fill our hearts with fear or alarm. As we are complete in Him and certain of the eternal hope we have, we can be rest assured that Jesus goes above and beyond our limitations to extents we cannot contain.

Jesus loved us to the end and didn’t look back for a second because the depth of love He has for us is beyond comprehension. We need to look no further than the quintessential example He sent by washing his disciples’ feet.

Fear not for God loves and cares about You unconditionally.