Happy humpday. It’s an exciting morning around here as we finally got a dining table in the house yesterday. Tables are good. It was nice to have my 5MC this morning and meet God at a real table. It was kinda like having a meeting with God in a boardroom with a very big table. Very official.
It’s good to see the sun out this morning. I feed off the sunshine and it just makes me happy to see and feel the sunshine. After my writing this morning I’ll be in a mad dash to get out in it and take my walk. Later today Marge & I are heading over to Dallas to have dinner with some fellow volunteers from our trip last month. Living here in Fort Worth I probably never would have met these people but we connect with them half way around the world and then fly all the way back to Texas to continue the relationship! God works in mysterious ways to put certain people in our paths!
This morning in the 5 minute challenge I’m in John chapter 17, the longest prayer in the entire bible. In the next chapter Jesus will be betrayed and arrested. He is walking with His disciples and as He does He offers up this prayer. He prays out loud so his disciples can hear it and thus also be recorded in God’s Word by John so we can read it this morning.
This prayer is so deep, so convicting and so powerful it is hard for me to grasp. It is the epitome of effectual prayer and rightfully so, considering it is coming from Jesus directly to the Father. I encourage you to read it in its entirety today to fully grasp the context and flow. You can read it in about 4 minutes….spend 8 minutes with God and read it twice.
Jesus has a few specific points that He wants us to observe in this prayer. Remember this is one of the few prayers that He prayed out loud, He specifically did this so we could study it today. This is important stuff! There’s WAY too much here to expound on it all, so I’m gonna hit the main points.
Jesus prays for 3 main things in this powerful prayer.
1) He prays for Himself 2) He prays for His Disciples 3) He prays for His Church
First, He prays for Himself. (V 17:1-5) There is nothing wrong with praying for yourself if you are praying according to God’s Will and not your own selfish desires. (1 John 5:14, This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.) On our recent trip to serve in Florida in June I was given an unbelievable gift, a gorgeous Fender Stratocaster replica of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s famous 1962 #1 guitar. I got it out this week to finally play it and the first strum of a G chord sounded horrible. I grabbed the tuner and a few minutes later, voila, the sweet melody of 6 strings all working in unison to create one harmonious sound. This is also true of your prayer life. If your going to be praying for others, you first need to be praying for yourself to make sure that you are right before God and ‘in tune” with Him and His plan for your life. This is what Jesus did.
Secondly, He prays for His disciples. (V17:6-19) It must have been especially amazing to have been a disciple walking with Jesus that day. Hearing Him praying out loud to the Father on their behalf. This is an amazing part of this prayer. Jesus is still praying for His children to the Father. Our savior is praying for us directly to the Father. I cannot fathom. So what specifically did He pray for the disciples? He prayed for them to be kept. He prayed for them to be as one, for the unity of believers. He prayed that their lives be filled with Joy. He prayed that the Father keep them from Satan while they were here on the Earth. He prayed for them to be sanctified by God’s Word. I can use prayers like that!
Lastly, He prays for His church. What is ‘the church’? The church is the entire body of believers that call on Christ as their Savior. What does He pray for the church? He prays for perfect unity between Himself and the believer, the same kind of perfect unity that is between Him and the Father. Wow, what a request. He prays that His love will be made clear in our lives. What a prayer.
We can learn much from this prayer and model our prayer lives after it. Prayer is talking to God the Father in the name of Jesus Christ. If you are a child of God He will hear your prayers and give you the desire of your heart if its in His Will for you. (Psalm 37:4)
As far as my personal prayer life, I pray every morning before the 5MC and specifically ask for God through His Holy Spirit, to open my heart to His Word. Only through His Holy Spirit can I ever hope to fully understand the true depth of His Word. I need God to understand God.
I also have a piece of paper on our fridge. As needs or life issues arise, I write it on the paper and then pray for those needs throughout the day. Your prayer life should not be reduced to just a certain time of the day, only at church, just before meals or only when you’re in a dire situation. We’re told to pray without ceasing (1 Thess 5:17) I find myself saying little prayers throughout the entire day, almost like little daydream prayers. I find myself drifting off to think about God and just pray for others. I especially do this for Pastors. God has placed so many great Pastors in our life and they need tons of prayer. I start from the West and work my way East and pray for every church we’ve been in contact with in the last 5 years. It's pretty amazing as I pray from Hong Kong through Maui & Texas, all the way over to Destin, Florida! I also pray myself to sleep at nights. As my head is on the pillow, I again drift off to thinking about God and the day he gifted me. I praise Him for His goodness, provision and Joy and then pray for others. Prayer is not a one time single thing that you do but a way of life. Pray without ceasing, pray all the time, pray ABOUT everything and pray FOR everything.
We serve a God that is an amazing listener, but He can only listen when you talk to Him.
Talk to God today, He is ready to hear the desires of your heart.
Have a joyful walk today beloved, its His plan for you!
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