Jesus prays for his disciples.
Click here for an online Bible John 17:6-19
Jesus prayed for his followers. He prayed for their safety. He had promised the disciples that the world would hate them. He recognized that the world was a dangerous place for his followers. However, he was sending his followers into the world just as the Father had sent him into the world. When Jesus prayed for their safety, he told the Father that he did not want him to remove his disciples from the world, but to protect them from Satan.
Often went we pray we pray for God to remove the obstacles from our lives. There is nothing wrong with that. The Psalms are full of prayers for deliverance from problems. But God’s plan is not for us to live problem-free lives. God’s plan is for his glory. Almost all of Jesus’ disciples died as martyrs. They were not spared problems but were protected to the extent that they were successful and obedient in glorifying God.
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3 comments:
Wow, Christ prayed for us (followers) right before His persecution was about to take place (note that he wasn't praying for himself here - He knew where He was going), and He prayed for His disciples as they were sent out into the world. Do we pray for those in the world? Do we pray for those we can witness to? Prayer is such a powerful thing, even Christ used it to communicate with the Father. We should be too. It gave me chills to picture Him praying for those He was leaving on earth - asking for our safety from evil and for our calling (our purpose) to glorify Christ. When reading this, I kept thinking about the purpose of our church - to make disciples. Maybe it would be a good idea to pray that our actions always point towards God, and that we may become sanctified in truth. We can live in the world and not be of the world, as Christ tells us in His Word. He also knows this is a challenge, but knowing that He prayed that prayer before his death gave me such a calming feeling. Our God is so awesome :)
Ditto sarah
This speaks values of knowing the plan for you is in God's will, just as Jesus knew, and caring for others far more than your own personal challenge in the immediate future.
If we could be in such constant contact with God and rest so strongly in His plan for us, that we let all personal issues disappear and cast our concern purely on others - now that is something to work toward...
In a sense, we have been given the same purpose Christ had, to reveal or make God known to man (17:6). However, we are not capable of entering into a relationship with God apart from the work of Christ on the cross. Now that Christ’s work has been done, one-time for all, we can share in His mission to introduce people to God. This is pretty amazing. There is a “down-side”. Just as Christ was rejected by the world and was under attack, we can expect the same. Christ pray was for our protection …. while in the battle. I have a mission and I have a protector. JeffB<><
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