John 17 DEVO: The Lord’s Prayers

Chapter 17:
Matthew 6 & Luke 11 are called “The Lord’s Prayer” – a pattern Jesus gave us of how to pray. Here we have The Lord’s Prayers. In most of the Bible we don’t get a whole lot of the content of Jesus’ prayers to his Father but in this chapter we do. We get to see some pretty intimate conversation between Jesus & His Dad! Basically, Jesus prays for Himself, His disciples and finally, you & I!
In praying for Himself, Jesus has His Father’s purpose in mind, “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you…... I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.” Jesus always prayed for not His will but His Father’s.
Then He prays for His 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.” Whoah – how totally encouraging for the disciples to hear this! And he asks His Father to protect them! The disciples would remain here and would face tough stuff – so He asks to be their refuge & strength, always there in time of need. I’ll take prayers like this anytime!
Finally, Jesus prays for “those who will believe in Me through their message” – that’s you & me! He prays that we be unified and united with Him. Why? “I want those you have given me to be with me where I am.” God soooo wants us to be with Him in Heaven someday! And Great News – He provided that way through Jesus!
SO WHAT?!
*Prayer can be a great revealer of our heart. What we pray for, how we pray and the time we give it. So, how’s your prayer life? God wants to have intimate conversations with us – and here’s the cool part – ANY TIME! The more we pray, the more we show our dependency on God. Let’s depend on Him often & always.
*How cool is it that Jesus prays for us and wants to spend eternity with you & me!~ Take some time today to thank Him.