Easter Soul Prep Day 17

Anticipation is one of the things that makes life exciting. The weeks that lead up to a very special vacation or your wedding day (or your child's) are filled with anticipation. Or perhaps it's the anticipation of having a baby or asking 'the' question or graduation day. The anticipation a soldier and his/her family must feel as they near home after a long deployment. The anticipation of a second date after the first one was magical.

We also anticipate difficult moments, and that anticipation comes with some level of anxiety. Exam day. The last day of a job (or the first). The move from home to the college campus. A meeting with the boss that he asked for 2 weeks ago and made you wait for and you've been anticipating it every day. The final weeks and days of a good friend's life as they slowly succumb to cancer.

When we get to these moments, when they finally come, and we say, "It's time."

John has been concerned - even obsessed with - time throughout his book - from the opening verses. Along the way, Jesus kept insisting, "my time hasn't come" or "it isn't time". But as we begin the prayer He prays in ch17, he acknowledges the moment with the fateful statement, "the time has come."

It is time.

Jesus' prayer here is powerful. How he prays for his friends, for God to bring the fullness of His Glory, and how He prays for you and me. Did you see it? v.20-21 (and perhaps beyond).

Read between the lines, now. What are the things Jesus prays for? What is absent from his prayer? Is this prayer a model for us? What does it teach you about your own prayer - something you should do differently, perhaps?

Can you feel the anticipation in Jesus - the anxiety and urgency of his prayer. He didn't just say his time had come...he knew it.