Protection ... Part Two.

Protection … part two.  John 17.13-26

Click to read: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%2017.13-26&version=NIV&interface=print              Key verses: I have given them your word …they are not of the world any more … My prayer is not that you would take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one …

Morning.

It was Monday morning and I was getting ready to take my car in for service when my cell phone rang.  ‘Hmm, a missed call from a young woman who graduated from high school in the spring, wonder what’s going on,’ I thought.  Then the text:  “I need to talk to you.  Please, do you have time?”  I asked her to go along with me so we could talk. 

What was so urgent?  In short, she realized her life was out of control, and she came to me to try to help her get back on track.  I listened for at least 30 minutes as the disturbed 18-year-old girl described her past two months—drinking, sex with multiple guys (when she was so drunk she did not remember what had taken place), wrecked friendships as a result, etc.  I patiently listened, looking into her face until she finished painting the picture of a young life, heading in one very sad direction.  “And I can’t even feel God anymore!”

Like a gnarled knot of necklaces, I began to untangle what had caused her downward spiral.  Rejection, desire for affirmation, desperation for attention and affection, and something to numb pain from broken family, etc. – all the devastation from the evil one’s lies. How to set things straight … Truth. 

In Jesus’ prayer for us, he said, “ …they are not of the world any more…” My young friend had forgotten that.  She couldn’t feel God anymore because she had replaced him with things she thought would make her feel better, (one of the great deceptions of the evil one); they only served to take her in the opposite direction of the One who loves her.  She went to the world’s devices, instead of to Jesus and truth—“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,” Paul wrote.¹

“You must remember who you are, and whose you are, Hon,” I said.  Jesus prayed, “sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”  Truth: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight,” David prayed, and then, “Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”  It is a recipe for restored relationship with God, and wonder of wonder, Friends, we are made new . . . we are made clean and pure again!  “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”² And he does.  Grace.

Set straight, we must by intention then ‘draw close to God, and he will draw close to us.  Submit our wills to him, and resist the ways of the evil one.’³

And so, having prayed, we established an action plan together:                          

1. No booze. No boys, (for now).                                                                2. Get together with girlfriends who want to follow God.                                    3. Get into the Word.                                                                                  4. Find a college group at church for community and good fun.                           5. Stay in contact for accountability. 

We all need an action plan that parallels this one: go the other way from sin, get into God’s Word, become part of a community who seeks God and includes accountability.   These are all part of Jesus’ prayer for our protection … indeed.  ‘Listening?

Christine

PastorWoman.com