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John 17: 20 “My prayer is
not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their
message.” (NIV)
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The final prayer of Jesus was about you.* |
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The
gospels provide us with plenty of evidence that Jesus was a man of prayer. John
chapter 17 is his longest recorded prayer, revealing our Savior’s heart. Jesus
begins this prayer by – surprise – praying for himself. It is not a selfish
prayer but one that’s about doing the Father’s will and bringing him glory. He
follows with a heartfelt prayer for his followers. He doesn’t tell God anything
God doesn’t already know, but the human Jesus had a human need to communicate
with his Father. His request for his disciples is that they will be protected
from the evil one and sanctified by the truth.
Finally,
he prays for me. I am one of those who believe in him through the message of
his disciples. He looked ahead to the far distant future and made provisions
for my salvation. He placed me in a home with parents who brought me up among
the fellowship of believers and who modeled Christian living. What about you?
He was praying for you, too. How did he arrange for you to be exposed to the
gospel? Family? Friends? A chance encounter? I love stories of how people have
come to know Jesus. I love that he cared enough to pray for each of us even
while his own death was on his mind. I love that some of us get to be the tools
through which his prayer is answered.
He
closes his prayer by expressing his desire that the love the Father has for him
may be in us and that he himself may be in us also. Whether that prayer is
answered or not is up to us. Will we allow him to dwell in us?
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Jesus prayed not just as a model, but because he had to pray.* |
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