By Manny Vazquez, M.S., LMFT, Disciple of Christ and Christian Counselor

Tuesday, September 8, 2026

My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Today, our Precious Holy Spirit drew my attention to one of the most famous passages in the Holy Bible, John 17, which states:

“Jesus spoke these things, looked up to heaven, and said:

‘Father,

the hour has come.

Glorify Your Son

so that the Son may glorify You,

for You gave Him authority

over all flesh;

so He may give eternal life

to all You have given Him.

This is eternal life:

that they may know You, the only true God,

and the One You have sent — Jesus Christ.

I have glorified You on the earth

by completing the work You gave Me to do.

Now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence

with that glory I had with You

before the world existed.

I have revealed Your name

to the men You gave Me from the world.

They were Yours, You gave them to Me,

and they have kept Your word.

Now they know that all things

You have given to Me are from You,

because the words that You gave Me,

I have given them.

They have received them

and have known for certain

that I came from You.

They have believed that You sent Me.

I pray for them.

I am not praying for the world

but for those You have given Me,

because they are Yours.

Everything I have is Yours,

and everything You have is Mine,

and I have been glorified in them.

I am no longer in the world,

but they are in the world,

and I am coming to You.

Holy Father,

protect them by Your name

that You have given Me,

so that they may be one as We are one.

While I was with them,

I was protecting them by Your name

that You have given Me.

I guarded them and not one of them is lost,

except the son of destruction,

so that the Scripture may be fulfilled.

Now I am coming to You,

and I speak these things in the world

so that they may have My joy completed in them.

I have given them Your word.

The world hated them

because they are not of the world,

as I am not of the world.

I am not praying

that You take them out of the world

but that You protect them from the evil one.

They are not of the world,

as I am not of the world.

Sanctify them by the truth;

Your word is truth.

As You sent Me into the world,

I also have sent them into the world.

I sanctify Myself for them,

so they also may be sanctified by the truth.

I pray not only for these,

but also for those who believe in Me

through their message.

May they all be one,

as You, Father, are in Me and I am in You.

May they also be one in Us,

so the world may believe You sent Me.

I have given them the glory You have given Me.

May they be one as We are one.

I am in them and You are in Me.

May they be made completely one,

so the world may know You have sent Me

and have loved them as You have loved Me.

Father,

I desire those You have given Me

to be with Me where I am.

Then they will see My glory,

which You have given Me

because You loved Me before the world’s foundation.

Righteous Father!

The world has not known You.

However, I have known You,

and these have known that You sent Me.

I made Your name known to them

and will make it known,

so the love You have loved Me with

may be in them and I may be in them. (from the Holman Christian Standard Bible [HCSB] version of the Holy Scriptures)

In this powerful passage of Scripture, we see the heart of Jesus for His Blessed Father, His Disciples, and His future followers. In His first prayer, He asks our Father to bless Him in His glorification of the Father. Here we see that Jesus’ purpose in coming was to fulfill the Father’s will. Jesus was glorified by fulfilling the law of sacrifice on the Cross. He came with the sole purpose of going to the Cross to purchase our freedom from sin and to restore all of Creation back to the Father. We must understand the our LORD Jesus loved the Father first, and that by extension, He loved us, too, because He wanted us to be with our Father forever. By giving up His Blessed Life on the Cross, our LORD Jesus defeated death on our behalf. And in Jesus’s Resurrection three days later, our Blessed Holy Spirit guaranteed us Eternal Life with the Godhead. Amen.

The next Group of people that our Blessed LORD Jesus prayed for in this passage was His disciples, those that our Father God had brought to Him to walk side by side with Him while walked this Earth amongst humanity. We know that one of the disciples, Judas Iscariot, was a demon, which should give us fair warning that in any ministry, the enemy will often install his spies to undermine that ministry. I have heard of ministries where the leadership is doing some horrible things, and yet they are supposed to be leading the ministry in Godly ways. No ministry is safe from the attacks of the enemy, and Jesus knew that His disciples would be very vulnerable to being undermined by wolves in sheep’s clothing among them. Truly, there have been many Christians throughout history who have played the part of Christian but who were far from the Truth.

In Matthew 7:15-23, the Scriptures declare what Jesus said about this:

“‘Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravaging wolves. You’ll recognize them by their fruit. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘“‘Lord, Lord!’”’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of My Father in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘“‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, drive out demons in Your name, and do many miracles in Your name?’”” Then I will announce to them, ‘“‘I never knew you! Depart from Me, you lawbreakers!’”’ (from the HCSB version of the Holy Bible)

The Bible records that Judas Iscariot was close to Jesus and to the Eleven Disciples, that he walked with our LORD, and he witnessed many of the miracles Jesus performed. Judas also heard the life giving words of our LORD; yet, he was never saved, and the reason for that was that he was a tare, a demoniac sent by the enemy to undermine the ministry of Jesus.

Our LORD prayed for his disciples and for us, his later followers, that we would be one, just He is One with the Father. There is no relationship in the Universe like the One between our Heavenly Father, His Glorious Son, and our Precious Holy Spirit. The Trinity is a beautiful relationship and a mystery, that our LORD God exists in Three Persons, all equal. The wonderful thing is that One of them, our LORD Jesus Christ came to pay the price for our sin, something that we could never do. And this is precisely how our LORD Jesus was glorified, on the Rugged Cross, paying the ultimate price for His people. And the Christ is coming one day again, to destroy His enemies and reclaim once and for all everything that exists.

Do you see what the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit sacrificed for us? Most Christians understand that Jesus was crucified for our sins. What they don’t understand is that the Father and our Precious Holy Spirit were with Jesus during the Passion of the Christ, except when He died. The Father and our Blessed Holy Spirit also felt the pain and suffering that our LORD Jesus went through to pay the price for our sin. They were there in Jesus as he was beat mercilessly. They were there in Jesus on the Cross, as He hung there.

Then, in a moment that traumatized the Father and the Holy Spirit beyond measure, they both left Jesus to die alone on the Cross. It was the first and thge only time in all of history that the Father and the Blessed Holy Spirit were separated from Jesus Christ. It was then that our LORD Jesus Christ cried out, “Father, Father, why hast thou forsaken me???” Then, and only then, could our LORD Jesus give up His Spirit, and the Holy Father and our Blessed Holy Spirit cried out in agony, as they watched the Christ give His life as a ransom for many.

You see, no one knows that part of the story, but it is obvious from the Scriptures that it happened this way. What I want you to consider is how much God, the Blessed Trinity, loved us, to do something so wonderful and terrible at the same time for us, to ensure that we would live with Them forever. Amen.

Now that you have read this blog, do you understand the gravity of Jesus’ prayers for Himself, for the Eleven Disciples, and for his future followers? The fact that Jesus stepped down into history, that he humbled himself to become one of us, and that he went to the Cross as the obedient Lamb of God, is something all of us should have tremendous gratitude for. If you don’t have this gratitude, then I would say you are probably not a true follower of God. And know this, only true followers of God will share in His Kingdom, which is what our LORD Jesus declared time and time again while He was here. Amen and Amen and Amen.