John 17

Have you ever noticed that when the Savior prays, he to talks to the Father in a very personal way? It shows me how to pray. Too often I pray but I don't just talk to Him. I just talk. It helps me to picture Him in my mind. Then I can pray with more faith that He is there and does hear my prayers. I can honestly say he's answered every one of my prayers.

In this prayer, he is praying for the apostles (and through them for us) and by what he says, we see how strong their faith in him was.

Verse 5 shows that unlike what many others believe, the Savior existed as a God before he was born in Bethlehem.

In verses 11, 21-23, we learn what the Savior means when he says he and his Father are one. He prays that the 12 will be one in the same way he and the Father are one. To it also means he wants us to all be united in the same belief. He doesn't want a thousand different Christian churches that have different beliefs about him. He is the way, the truth and the light and there can't be a thousand differing truths about him. He wants us to be perfect in our belief in him, to have a true knowledge of what he did and what he is like.

The last verse of the chapter is the conclusion to his prayer and the main reason for what he is praying. It is that we will have the Father's love and his love. If we could only realize how much the Father and the Savior love us, what a difference that would make in our lives. We would be at more peace. We would be more content with who we are and where we are in life. And we would have so much more faith in ourselves, in them, and in our ability to do whatever we set out to do.