Restoration Beginnings

In John 17 we see a prayer from Jesus that is unlike any of his other prayers. It is full of tenderness. He is praying specifically for his closest companions, his disciples whom he is about to leave behind. As you read through his prayer you can hear the anguish and earnest heart felt desires of his heart as he prays to the Father over them. He shifts briefly near the end and includes all of us who have believed in Him because of the words recorded in the New Testament by his disciples. I encourage to read this prayer of Jesus in its entirety but here is his prayer specifically for you still today: 

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”

This was his supreme wish and desire. Above all Jesus wanted us (all believers) to be one in Spirit. He did not want any form or sort of division and he detested divisive speech and behavior. This was the launching pad for the Restoration Movement and our mantra still today as his holy church.