John 17:5-18

5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. 6 "I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. 11 I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name--the name you gave me--so that they may be one as we are one.12 While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. 13 "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. 14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. 15 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. 17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

Couple of things stand out for me in this passage.  I really get the sense of Jesus and God being one here, that Jesus was there before the creation of the world, that He only says what the LORD gives Him to say which makes sense when they are one and the same.

Then there's the comfort that Jesus came for His people, not the whole world - a really good explanation of predestination, Romans 8 and Ephesians 1.  When I want to talk about God, am really sorry for my sins, then I KNOW I am one of His children.  So then I also know that He protects me from the evil one in this world.  Even when I work with, or hang out with people from the world, I am still protected by Jesus although He also warns me not to put myself in situations that will tempt me to fall away. Think of the Lord's prayer "Lead me not into temptation..."

Again that theme which started right from John 1, that Jesus is the WORD, and when we read His WORD, reflect on it asking the Holy Spirit to really work it into our hearts, we ARE protected.