It amazes me that Jesus prayed. I know it was to the Father, but they are one in the same. When I was younger I thought He just talked to Himself, which I thought was a bit strange. Now before you get up in arms, this is just an introduction, I believe in a Triune God. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are 3 but one God. I can’t explain how that works…
it’s a mystery. ..
But now, back to this post…
Jesus prayed. What did He pray for exactly? Well, it seems the first thing on His list was to make sure the Father was glorified in everything He was about to do. He also prayed for people who were going to believe, that they would come to know God the Father (John 17:3). He spoke of the things He had done. He taught people the words of God. He prayed that God would keep the ones who have believed, that He would protect them because the world will hate them. He prayed that God will continue to teach them His word and that God the Father would be with them as they go out into the world to deliver the message of redemption. He prayed that these believers, the ones that had been given to Jesus (God the Son) by God (the Father) would be unified. He prayed for the believers to be given the strength to continue in their faith. He not only prayed all these things for the believers in His time period, but also for those that would believe and follow Him in the ages to come…
After He is gone.
What if you and I prayed the same sort of things today?
What if we prayed that our desire is for everything we do today to bring Him glory. If a struggle comes our way, or a success, that we would respond in a way (with our words and actions) that would point to His greatness.
What if we prayed for people to be saved and for those people, who are His through salvation, to remain faithful to Him? A prayer that says, “Please Lord, let them also be good examples of You and bring You glory.”
What if we asked God to help other believers know Him better?
What if we asked Him for all His children to be in unity with one another? That we would not criticize and cause division with other believers, but instead, we would support and build each other up (with our words and actions) in the Faith. What if we asked Him to help us come into unity as His church?
If we did, we would be echoing the prayer of Jesus, God the Son. Repeating His desire for His people. We would be agreeing with Jesus in prayer. After all, it is Jesus who said, “Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.” Matthew 18:19
Who better to agree with than Jesus?
So, today I am amazed at this prayer Jesus prayed, at a time when a crisis was about to hit Him. He was going to be in pain very soon, but He chose to pray for you, me, and the glory of the Father.
Let’s echo that prayer today!
Bible Reading for Today – John 17
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