I pray for them

"I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. …. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one… "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; – John 17.9,15, 20

Of all the people that I could have praying for me there is one that I treasure above all others. I love to hear that people are praying for me. It is such an encouragement and many times we have just ‘known’ when people were praying. It is a powerful connection.

But here we see an amazing and seeming unusual blessing. Jesus, the only one who can always pray in the will of God is praying for us. He says it right here – ‘I am not praying only for these disciples but for everyone who is going to believe through their words.’ Isn’t that something? Two thousand years ago Jesus was already praying for us!

And what was He praying? He prayed that we would not be a part of the world. Notice He didn’t pray that we would be taken out of it, but that we would not be part of it while we live in it. He prayed that we would be one with each other and one with Him. He prayed for us as we are sent out into the world. He prayed that we would be protected from the evil one.

With all of that praying for us what does it mean when we are divided, when we act like the world, and when we fall prey to the evil one?

It simply means that we are acting contrary to God’s will and Jesus’ prayer for us. We can’t blame it on anyone but ourselves.

When we are tempted to step out of line let’s be sure we remember who prayed for us and strive to honour His prayer.