Good Morning. It’s Friday, August 15th, 2025. Did you know Jesus prayed for His disciples? Did you know that prayer reached all the way through time into 2025 and it was for you and me?…
Today's Reading:
Jeremiah 18,19,20; Psalms 93; John 17
Scripture
“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.” (John 17:20-21 NIV)
Observation
Jesus prayed for me. That’s not a metaphor. That’s not preacher talk. He literally prayed for me before I even existed. Hours from betrayal and in the midst of His final moments before the cross, He prayed for me. And what He asked the Father for wasn’t that I’d live a problem-free life, win the lottery, or even get a good parking spot at Costco. He prayed that I’d be one with other believers in the same way He and the Father are one.
Jesus, I think it would be easier to win the lottery and find a good stall at Costco…I mean, there are days when I can barely agree with my own family on where to go for lunch, and Jesus is praying for a unity so strong the world would believe in Him because of it.
I’m always coming to God with my prayer list, but what if today I decided to answer one of His prayers? What if I looked at my relationships, my church, my conversations, and asked, “Am I being the answer?”
Application
Maybe being the answer starts small. It’s holding my tongue instead of getting the last word in. It’s calling someone I’ve avoided because the conversation might be awkward. It’s remembering that unity isn’t uniformity; we’re all various members of the same body. Unity isn’t everyone looking the same, but it is everyone looking to the same Lord.
I can’t solve every problem in the world, let alone in the church, but I can choose to add to the unity instead of the division right in front of me. And if every believer did that… well, we might just see one of Jesus’ longest-standing prayer requests finally come true. In that way, to His prayer, we can be the answer.
Prayer
Lord, You prayed for me before I ever took my first breath. You saw the disagreements, the petty offenses, the hard conversations I’d face, and You still prayed for oneness. Help me today to be part of the answer — to bring unity where I can, and to love in a way that makes You impossible to ignore. Amen.
—Chris Kiriakos