When Jesus Prays For You
Introduction
We have all faced times in our lives when we just felt like we needed someone to pray for us. We usually feel like we would like for someone to pray to Jesus for us but do you remember the scripture where Jesus prayed for us?
Jesus Prayed To The Father
Joh 17:1 These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
Joh 17:2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
Joh 17:4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
Joh 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Joh 17:6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.
Joh 17:7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.
Joh 17:8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.
Joh 17:9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Joh 17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.
Joh 17:11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
Joh 17:12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
Joh 17:13 And now come I to thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
Joh 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:15 I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.
Joh 17:18 As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
Joh 17:19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
Joh 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.
Joh 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
Joh 17:25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.
Joh 17:26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
We cannot read this passage without feeling that the truths of this scripture can keep a person going when they are facing the most trying circumstances. You and I will probably not go through the extreme trials that some may face but we continually meet situations where we don’t know what to do. We have choices to make. We can go this way or that way. We can follow after God’s promises and principles, or run the other way and do what the world says. In these difficult times, in the rugged mountains and deepest valleys of life, we can cling to the amazing truth that Jesus is praying for us.
As the time for His death drew near, Jesus spent some intensely personal time with His close friends in the Upper Room, detailing for them what would be important in the days ahead. He demonstrated what it means to serve, literally getting down on His hands and knees to wash their feet. He shared the sadness of His heart, predicting that one would betray Him and one would deny Him and all would forsake Him in His hour of greatest need. Fear must have been rising in their hearts, and, as they left the Upper Room together and walked into the Garden Of Gethsemane, Jesus touched their point of need and promised them the great gift of peace.
He had a few more things to tell them, knowing the time was short. By then, they must have been hanging on His every word.
Jesus Prayed For His Disciples To Have Specific Things From His Father
1. He prayed for protection – The disciples would need protection, love, and care as they faced the coming days.
2. He prayed for unity – He prayed that the disciples would be one, that they would experience the same oneness that the Father and Son experienced.
3. He prayed for keeping – Jesus asked the Father that His friends would be kept, held onto, and not lost. We have been kept by the power of The Holy Spirit just as the Bible promised.
Joh 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Joh 10:28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Joh 10:29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.
Joh 10:30 I and my Father are one.
4. He prayed for joy – Jesus asked the Father that His own joy may be fulfilled in His friends. This will come about as they internalize His Word. They will be in the world but not of it, and kept from the evil one. They’ll be sanctified by the truth of God’s Word. All this will enable them and us to be sent into the world just as the Father sent Him.
Even though Jesus was definitely praying for His disciples, He included you and I very specifically.
Joh 17:20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
Joh 17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.