JESUS PRAYS . . . BELIEVERS

"My prayer is not for them alone.
I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,
that all of them may be one, Father,
just as you are in me and I am in you.
May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
I have given them the glory that you gave me,
that they may be one as we are one:
I in them and you in me.
May they be brought to complete unity
to let the world know that you sent me
and have loved them even as you have loved me.
Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am,
and to see my glory, the glory you have given me
because you loved me before the creation of the world.”
John 17: 20-24

In the last portion of His High Priestly Prayer, Jesus prays for all who will

become believers through the witness of His disciples.  He prays for unity

with Himself and the Father through the Holy Spirit plus the oneness of all

believers through the word and truth they received from Him.  The purpose

of this unity is that the world may believe and know that the Father sent the

Son to provide living proof of God’s gracious character of mercy, love and truth.  

All believers are sent on the same mission to bear witness to the Father and

the Son. Jesus also prays for all believers to be with Him in heaven to see His

glory. His prayer spans the believers’ whole life from conversion into eternity.

"Righteous Father, though the world does not know you,
I know you, and they know that you have sent me.
I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known
in order that the love you have for me may be in them
and that I myself may be in them."
John 17: 25-26

Jesus concludes with an eternal perspective of the present situation.  He

repeats His promise to be with them both now and beyond that they may have

intimacy with the Father through the Son.  The relationship of believers with

the Father will always be mediated through the Son, even into eternity.

Joyce

JESUS PRAYS . . . DISCIPLES

"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.
Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.
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.
I pray for them.
I am not praying for the world,
but for those you have given me, for they are yours.
All I have is yours, and all you have is mine.
And glory has come to me through them.”
John 17:6-10

Jesus prays for those who have been personally entrusted to Him by the

Father to be His disciples.  In the Father’s giving the disciples to Jesus, He

shows the oneness of their relationship. He prays specifically for them to

know and believe the truth He revealed plus respond in obedience which is

the fundamental attitude of a true disciple.  The following prayers about

unity, protection and sanctification are prayers only for His disciples.

“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.
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.
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.
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.
My prayer is not that you take them out of the world
but that you protect them from the evil one.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.”
John 17:11-16

Jesus prays for unity, not merely of heart and mind, but of a shared life

through their relationship with Him and the Father.  Jesus prays for their

protection from corruption by the world and their own selfish hearts.

Jesus also prays for their protection from the power and deception of the

enemy.  Jesus prays that they might have joy, glorify God and serve their

generation.

“Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.
For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”
John 17:17-19

Jesus prays that His disciples would be made holy – set apart to experience

God’s presence, commissioned for a divine task and become the people of

God who are distinct from the world not like it.

We need to pray for those people God has entrusted to us to disciple – that

we would be Christ-like examples and that they would be unified, protected

and sanctified.

Joyce

JESUS PRAYS

“After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
"Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.  
For you granted him authority over all people
that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.  
Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.  
I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.  
And now, Father, glorify me in your presence
with the glory I had with you before the world began.”
John 17: 1-5

Jesus concluded his teaching with the most extensive and profound prayer

for himself, his disciples and all believers in John 17.  Also known as the

High Priestly Prayer, it gathers many of the key themes found throughout

the gospel plus ends with a summary of His past and future work.  It is also

another example for His disciples’ benefit of the Father’s grace and provision.

Jesus prays for himself from an eternal perspective with focus on the Father,

as the one worthy of all praise and worship, and that Jesus has been given

authority to reveal the Father to the world.  He pauses to reflect on eternal

life at the heart of which is a timeless intimate relationship with the Father

and the Son and then is confident of the eternal outcome of the completion

of the Father’s will for Him.  Finally, He concludes from creation to new

creation with the mystery of the unity of the Trinity.

Jesus prayed for himself and so as our example, we should too!

Joyce

PRAYER: SUBMISSION

“For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory, forever.
Amen.”
Matthew 6:13

Submission must be present in our prayers.  As we humble ourselves, we give

glory to the Lord, while again declaring God’s holiness and sovereignty forever.  

Jesus taught us to close our prayer by giving God complete control of our lives,

thoughts and actions – adjusting ourselves correctly to the problems of life and

waiting for God’s perfect timing in all things.  We put our prayers into the hands

of Jesus, making Him Lord, and trusting Him with everything.

“Amen” is an expression that means “So be it.”  By using “Amen,” we are

declaring that we believe God has heard our prayers and will answer in His

time and in His way.

Joyce

PRAYER: GUIDANCE and PROTECTION

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil . . . “
Matthew 6:13

Guidance and protection is an integral part of prayer – this petition implores

the spirit of discernment and strength. We are asking God for guidance to

keep us on the right road and help us not to wander into temptation and sin.  

Temptation is not a sin in itself, it’s that little tug of war in our minds, but

giving into temptation is and we cannot escape temptation on our own.

We are also asking God to protect us from evil.  There is a spiritual war between

flesh and spirit and we need to pray for protection from the attacks of the devil.

We need to trust in Christ and be fully dependent upon the Holy Spirit, who

lives in us as Christians, to give us eyes to see and feet to escape.

Joyce

PRAYER: FORGIVENESS

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.“
Matthew 6:12

Prayer must be in the spirit of forgiveness because it is fundamental for

reconciliation with God and one another.  It’s all about relationships. Sin is

like a debt that is owed to God and as a result of our hearts conviction we

suffer the loss of fellowship with Him until we seek the mercy and forgiveness

only He can give.  We confess our sins to God, admit our need to be forgiven

and seek a heart like Jesus Christ so we can walk in love and forgiveness

towards everyone. 

Christians so easily get offended, accumulate hurts, hold resentments and

grudges that end up defining our relationships with one another.  To forgive

literally means “release,” so that past wrongs don’t define our relationships

in the future. A spiritually mature person is willing to forgive, just as the

Lord continually forgives.

Joyce

PRAYER: FAITH

“Give us this day our daily bread.”
Matthew 6:11

God provides and by asking we are expressing our faith and trust in Him.  

Faith is such a big part of prayer – He does not give us everything we ask for,

but He gives us everything we need.  He gives us earthly nourishment,

“bread,” and also the “bread of life,” God’s Word, for subsistence and growth

of body and spirit and it is given “daily” so that we will continue to rely on

Him to provide.  

Jesus Christ taught that our physical and spiritual well-being comes from

God and it is essential for us to acknowledge that in prayer. Even when we

work to provide, the ability to do that work comes from our Father.  Life

relies on the Creator and we are simply stewards of that gift.

Joyce