Hello, I am Corey Russell, and I am here on the leadership team at The International House of Prayer in Kansas City. I am so glad to be with you for God Today. Today I want to talk to you about the word that changed my life. A specific word out of John 17:24, where Jesus prayed, “Father, I desire”. The word was “desire”. This was Jesus’ prayer, He says, “Father, I desire that those whom you have given me, that they would be with me where I am and that they would behold my glory.”
I remember about 16 or 17 years ago, being in the prayer room and being marked with that word “desire”. I had never thought of God as having desire. I saw God as the one at a distance, far off. In John 17:24, we get to see that there was something burning in the heart of God from before Genesis 1. That word was ”desire”. God has desire and He has longing. When it began to connect with me that God isn’t just after something, but He is after someone. He is after someone specific – He is after me and He is after you. He had two desires in John 17:24. He says, “Father, I want them to be with me where I am. I want them to behold my glory.” That is the two-fold desire of Jesus for you today. He wants you to be with Him where He is. In unity with his heart, His mind, His will, and His purpose.
Number two is that He desires that you would behold His glory. This is what I see when I read that verse. It is – this is what Jesus is doing right before the cross. It is almost like His list of demands saying, “Father, I am going to the cross, but give me more than a religion. Give me more than a once a week expression – some money in a bucket.” He says, “Father, this is what I want. I want people that are with me where I am. Then number two, I want to be the number one source of their entertainment. I want to be the number one source of their fascination. That they would go on an endless search and a discovery of my glory.
I want to tell you right now that Jesus is absolutely beautiful. He is, I like to call, the multi-faceted diamond of the Father, the multi-faceted diamond of His goodness, of His righteousness, of His justice, of His love, of His wisdom. Jesus’ desire for you is for blindness to be broken off your life. I am grateful for what we see, but I want to tell you, there is always more. He is saying, “Father, I want you to break blindness off of them and let them see me the way you see me.” My prayer today is Jesus’ prayer. I want you to even join me in praying that. Father, I desire, I want to be with Jesus where He is. And I want to behold His glory. I promise you, He will always answer that prayer. He will keep you fascinated forever. Bless you.