“And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.” We have seen what glorify means;  it means to pour and heap honour and praise.  So Jesus is praying that the Father would pour and heap honour and praise on him.  Now were that…

In our last study we spent some time considering and weighing up the meaning and significance of the word glory that is, in so many ways, at the heart of much of this prayer. That’s certainly true as we move into verse 4 and then 5. “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work…

Where do I start? If you’re not familiar with the Bible, knowing where to start can be a bit daunting.   It’s huge, of course, and that’s partly because it’s really a       collection of 66 books, all of which contribute to tell the same story.  As someone who has been involved in teaching the Bible for…

John 17: The Real Lord’s Prayer (4) In this post, I had fully intended to take verses 4 and 5 together and so end this first section of this prayer.  But as I got into the text and reflected on it, I felt we needed to continue to go at a slow pace and dwell…

John 17: The Real Lord’s Prayer (3) “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (17:3) Apart from anything else, what I find striking about this verse is that it is, I am sure, the only place where Jesus refers to himself in…

Charles Ross was a Free Church of Scotland Minister in the mid 1900s, serving in Aberdeen and Tobermory.  In a lovely commentary on John 13-17, the account of Jesus’ time in the Upper Room with his disciples, he quoted others who had said of John 17, “This chapter is the simplest to all the Bible…

Introduction There are many ways in which we can learn to pray, but perhaps the best is to listen in on and learn from those who are more experienced in prayer. There are certainly those who seem to have a special gifting in prayer and when we see and listen to them, we sense something…