3 Day Bible Reading Plan - “Gift of Community”
The love above us moves beyond us. As Jesus approached His death, in His final moments of freedom before the betrayal and the cross, He stopped to pray. And what He prayed for is astonishing. He prayed that His disciples would experience the love of God. He described this love using words like “oneness,” being “known,” being “in” God, and God being “in” us. This Love is hard to comprehend. It is above us. It is impossible to contain. When it takes hold of a community, it moves beyond us; others will witness it and be compelled to experience it themselves. - Pastor Paul Crandell, 12/21/25
Day 1
Featured Verse: John 17:20-21
What does Jesus mean by praying for believers to be "one" in the same way that He and the Father are one? How might this reflect the nature of the Trinity, and what does it imply about the kind of unity God desires among His people?
How does Jesus’ prayer for unity in this passage challenge modern ideas of individualism in faith? In what ways might prioritizing personal spiritual journeys over communal oneness affect the church’s mission to reveal God to the world?
What tensions arise when we compare the perfect, eternal oneness of the Father and Son with the imperfect unity we often see among believers today? How can we pursue the unity Jesus prays for without compromising truth or doctrine?
Pause and Reflect: How are you personally contributing to, or hindering, the unity Jesus prayed for among believers today?
“Our Lord prays for a unity not merely of opinion or external conformity, but a deep, vital oneness, patterned after the unity of the Godhead, that the world might see the reality of Christ's mission and be drawn to faith.” - Thomas Manton
Day 2
Featured Verse: John 17:22-24
Jesus says He has given believers "the glory" that the Father gave Him, specifically so they may be one as He and the Father are one. What kind of glory do you think this refers to and how does sharing in this glory enable or motivate the profound unity Jesus prays for?
The prayer shifts in verse 24 to Jesus' desire for believers to be with Him and behold His glory, the glory He had with the Father before the world began. How does this longing for eternal communion with Christ connect to the themes of glory and unity earlier in the passage, and what comfort or challenge does it offer believers facing trials or division?
Jesus grounds His desire for believers to see His glory in the Father's eternal love for the Son "before the foundation of the world." What does this reveal about the timeless nature of God's love and glory, and how might meditating on this eternal perspective shape our understanding of our own identity and relationships as believers?
Pause and Reflect: How are you currently experiencing and responding to the glory Jesus has already given you as a believer?
“I am glorified in them...and therefore I must have them with me where I am, to behold the glory which thou hast given me...Though the Father hath given Me a personal glory before the world was, yet there is another glory which I regard almost as much: the glory in their salvation...If I have any glory, they must share in it...I will that they be where I am, beholding My glory.” - Thomas Goodwin
Day 3
Featured Verse: John 17:25-26
The ultimate purpose in verse 26 is that the Father's love for the Son "may be in them" and that Christ Himself "may be in them." How does this connect the indwelling of Christ with the indwelling of divine love, and what does it imply about the transformative power of experiencing God’s love?
If the goal of revelation and indwelling is that believers might be filled with the same love the Father has for the Son, how does this eternal, pre-existent love shape our identity as God's children? How might this truth encourage us in times of doubt or division?
In the context of the world's lack of knowledge of God, how does the presence of divine love in believers (as prayed for here) serve as a witness to the world?
Pause and Reflect: How are you allowing Jesus to continue making the Father’s name known to you today, and how is that revelation shaping the love you experience and express?
“Christ's great work as Mediator is to declare the Father's name—His attributes, His covenant grace, His pardoning mercy, and His love in redemption. He hath done this already to His disciples, and He promiseth to continue it by His Spirit and the ministry of the Gospel. The blessed end of this revelation is that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me (that eternal, electing, infinite love from before the foundation of the world) may be in them experientially, and I Myself may dwell in them by My Spirit, uniting them to Me and to the Father.” - Anthony Burgess