Pray Like Christ

PRAY LIKE CHRIST (JOHN 17)

Pastor H.B. Charles tells about a woman who showed up at his church with the same simple prayer. “O Lord, thank you Jesus,” week after week. The kids at church laughed each time she opened her mouth because they knew it would be the same prayer—”O Lord, thank you Jesus.”

Finally somebody asked her, “Why do you pray the same little prayer?” She said, “Well, I'm just combining the two prayers that I know. We live in a bad neighborhood and some nights there are bullets flying and I have to grab my daughter and hide on the floor, and in that desperate state all I know how to cry out is, 'O Lord.' But when I wake up in the morning and see that we're okay I say, 'Thank you Jesus.' When I got to take my baby to the bus stop and she gets on that bus and I don't know what's going to happen to her while she's away, I cry, 'O Lord.' And then when 3:00 P.M. comes and that bus arrives and my baby is safe, I say, 'Thank you Jesus.' Those are the only two prayers I know and when I get to church God has been so good I just put my two prayers together, “O Lord, thank you Jesus.”

John 17 is the longest and most passionate prayer of Christ. It is also known as the High Priestly Prayer, some know it as the Farewell Prayer or Discourse of Christ given after the conclusion of the Lord’s Supper. John MacArthur calls it the Lord’s Greatest Prayer. It is a magnificent, momentous and moving prayer the saved and the seekers, for the church and even the unsaved (v 20).

What are our priorities and what is our part in prayer? How does prayer affect our relationship with God and others? Why are believers not passive bystanders but active participants in God’s work in the world today?

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Share His Glory, Serve His Purpose

1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:”Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. 6 “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. 7 Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. 8 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. 9 I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. (John 17:1-9)

J.S. Bach headed his compositions: “J.J.” “Jesus Juva” which means “Jesus help me”and ended them “S.D.G.” “Soli Dei gratia” which means “To God alone the praise.”

The phrase “the glory of the Lord” appears 36 times in the Bible, more than the phrase “the righteousnes of the Lord,” “the mercy of the Lord” or any of His other attributes such as goodness, holiness or love. The best spectacle or show of His glory in the Old Testament is the heavens and the earth – the heavens declare the glory of God (Ps 19:1) the whole earth is filled with his glory or full of His glory (Num 14:21, Isa 6:3). In the New Testament, however,

Christ is the Lord of glory (1 Cor 2:8, James 2:1). His glory is now and for ever (2 Peter 3:18) and He will come in “great glory” (Matt 24:30, Luke 21:27)

Verses 1-8 is stated in a roundabout, circular or even triangular way twice, first stressing the relationship of the Father to the Son, next the Son to the world, and then the world with the Father. The first sequence begins with the verb “glorify” in the imperative mood, appealing for the Father to glorify the Son. The verb “glorify” in the imperative mood occurs five times throughout the Bible (John 12:28, 17:1, 5, 1 Cor 6:20, 1 Pet 4:16), of which not only one but two of the five imperatives are found in this chapter (vv 1, 5). The noun form is translated as worship (Luke 14:10), praise (John 9:24) and dignity (2 Peter 2:10). The Old Testament concept of glory is from the word “heavy,” or weighty, hefty or bulky, to be solid, susbstantial and strong, not superficial, superfluous or shaky. A song says, “To God be the Glory.” It is to revere God, render praise and return thanks fully, favorably and fittingly.