Day 47 – OUR DIVINE CREDENTIALS

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Moment of Transformation:

  • Pray for the items listed in your Transformational Journal
  • Pray for the transformation of the five individuals/families you chose
  • Pray that church members will be transformed by Christ’s GRACE
  • Pray for your transformation in order to walk in righteousness

OUR DIVINE CREDENTIALS

Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. John 17:11 NKJV

The unity, the harmony, that should exist among the disciples of Christ is described in these words: “That they may be one, as we are.” But how many there are who draw off and seem to think that they have learned all they need to learn…. Those who choose to stand on the outskirts of the camp cannot know what is going on in the inner circle. They must come right into the inner courts, for as a people we must be united in faith and purpose…. It is through this unity that we are to convince the world of the mission of Christ, and bear our divine credentials to the world.

“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (John 17:23). Can we comprehend the meaning of these words? Can we take it in? Can we measure this love? The thought that God loves us as He loves His Son should bring us in gratitude and praise to Him. Provision has been made whereby God can love us as He loves His Son, and it is through our oneness with Christ and with each other. We must each come to the fountain and drink for ourselves. A thousand around us may take of the stream of salvation, but we shall not be refreshed unless we drink of the healing stream ourselves. We must see the beauty, the light of God’s Word for ourselves, and kindle our taper at the divine altar, that we may go to the world, holding forth the Word of life as a bright, shining lamp.

How precious are these words! “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory” (verse 24)…. Christ wills that we should behold His glory. Where? In the kingdom of heaven. He wills that we should be one with Him. What a thought! How willing it makes me to make any and every sacrifice for His sake! He is my love, my righteousness, my comfort, my crown of rejoicing, and He wills that we should behold His glory.

Ellen G. White, That I May Know Him, June 15, p. 172

Quote of the Day “God will either give us what we ask or give us what we would have asked if we knew everything he knows.”  Tim Keller

Did You Know?

The main part of the prayer of John 17 is concerned with the disciples. They had depended very heavily on the visible presence of their Master, a presence that was about to be taken from them.

Going Deeper

Jesus has prayed that the Father will glorify him as he finishes the work which has been given him to do. He then prays for the disciples. The implication is clear. The disciples are the tangible expression of the completion of his work. He has come to sanctify himself, but the end result of this is that they too may be truly sanctified (19). So the great historic redemptive purpose of God focuses in on that little company in the upper room in Jerusalem on Passover evening, as they are about to forsake and deny their Master and scatter like panicking sheep. Yet, as Jesus knows, and bears witness in this passage, they will not be lost but become the seed of the great world-wide harvest of the last day, the glorified church who behold his glory (24). ‘The glorified Son of God has completed his work by bringing into concrete existence in the world the messianic congregation of the faithful disciples. Thus the work of Jesus is not defined as a general proclamation of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of men, but rather as the creation of the Church, consisting of men and women of flesh and blood extracted from the world to which they had hitherto belonged, by the “power of God”.’

Bruce Milne, The Message of John: Here Is Your King!: With Study Guide, The Bible Speaks Today (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 243.

Question…

How can you we behold God’s glory here on earth?

This Week’s Homework

  1. Memorize: “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:16 NASB
  2. Contact the five individuals/families and kindly invite them for a fellowship time or a special meal in order to spend time and foster your relationship with them.