“WHAT JESUS PRAYED FOR”
By: Dr. Dennis Deese - www.dennisdeese.com
JOHN 17:6-26
"The more I practice this discipline, the more assured I become that the time spent praying for the congregation is one of the most important activities of the day." Norman Pavey
Five reasons we don’t pray, according to Richard Halverson:
1) Unbelief.
a) We don’t think it really works.
b) It’s just something you have to endure in church.
2) Indifference.
a) We don’t pray until a problem is huge.
3) Priorities.
a) Other things are more important to us.
4) It is hard work.
5) We are focused on this world.
a) We limit our goals to what we expect here and now.
b) The things of God do not mean much to us.
Causes of unanswered prayer: 1) not praying, 2) unconfessed sin, 3) broken relationships, 4) selfishness, 5) uncaring attitude, 6) inadequate faith. "No answers" by Bill Hybels. Campus Life, Sept 1989. P40
Mark 1:35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
Mark 6:46 And when he had sent them away, he departed into a mountain to pray.
Luke 5:16 And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and prayed.
Luke 6:12 And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.
Luke 9:18 And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him: and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am?
Luke 22:41 And he was withdrawn from them about a stone’s cast, and kneeled down, and prayed,
Luke 3:21 Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,
John 11:41 Then they took away the stone [from the place] where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up [his] eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.
I believe the limited revelation of the content of Jesus prayer - that is, the content of His prayer limited, for the most part, to this passage, rather than it being recorded each time He prayed, - is to help us to understand that the most important factor of prayer is the building and forming of our relationship with God.
Too many people pray like little boys who knock at doors, then run away - War Cry
Prayer is not so much the means whereby God’s will is bent to man’s desires, as it is that man’s will is bent to God’s desires. The real end of prayer is not so much to get this or that single desire granted, as to put human life into full and joyful conformity with the will of God. Charles Brent (1862?1929)
It was your Lord who put an end to long-windedness, so that you would not pray as if you wanted to teach God by your many words. Piety, not verbosity, is in order when you pray, since He knows your needs. Now someone perhaps will say: ‘But if He knows our needs, why should we sate our requests even in a few words? Why should we pray at all? Since He knows, let Him give what He deems necessary for us.’ Even so, He wants you to pray so that He may confer His gifts on one who really desires them and will not regard them lightly. - Augustine
When thou prayest, rather let thy heart be without words, than thy words without heart. - Martin Luther
Keep praying, but be thankful that God’s answers are wiser than your prayers! - William Culbertson
I would rather teach one man to pray than ten men to preach. (Charles Spurgeon)
If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me. (Robert Murray McCheyne)
The prayer power has never been tried to its full capacity. If we want to see mighty wonders of divine power and grace wrought in the place of weakness, failure and disappointment, let us answer God’s standing challenge (Jeremiah 33:3) , ‘Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not! (J. Hudson Taylor)
Let’s look at the content of Jesus’ prayer. He prayed for our:
1. SEPARATION 17:6, 14, 16 “thou gavest me out of the world”
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what [is] that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
2 Corinthians 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you,
Colossians 3:2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
Titus 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
2. ASSURANCE 17:6-10 “thou gavest them to me”
1 Thessalonians 1:5 For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.
2 Timothy 1:12 For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
Hebrews 10:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
3. PROTECTION 17:11-12, 15 “Keep through thy own name”
1 Peter 1:5 Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
Jude 1:24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present [you] faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and [I pray God] your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep [you] from evil.Proverbs 1:33 But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.
2 Chronicles 16:9 For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of [them] whose heart [is] perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.
2 Timothy 4:17 Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and [that] all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion.
1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it].
2 Peter 2:9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
IV. PURITY 17:11, 15 “keep through thy own name”
John 16:33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Matthew 5:8 Blessed [are] the pure in heart: for they shall see God.
1 Timothy 5:22 Lay hands suddenly on no man, neither be partaker of other men’s sins: keep thyself pure.
1 Peter 1:22 Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, [see that ye] love one another with a pure heart fervently:
Ephesians 4:24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Hebrews 12:14 Follow peace with all [men], and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
1 Peter 1:16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.
2 Peter 3:11 [Seeing] then [that] all these things shall be dissolved, what manner [of persons] ought ye to be in [all] holy conversation and godliness,
22. JOY 17:13 ”that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves”
Psalms 4:7 Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time [that] their corn and their wine increased.
Isaiah 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
Luke 2:10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
Psalms 89:16 In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.
Habakkuk 3:18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Romans 5:11 And not only [so], but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.
Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh [himself] with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth [herself] with her jewels.
1 Peter 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see [him] not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: [and] again I say, Rejoice.
VI. SANCTIFICATION 17:17-19 “Sanctify them”
Psalms 4:3 But know that the LORD hath set apart him that is godly for himself: the LORD will hear when I call unto him.
2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:
Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, [and] I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
1 Thessalonians 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and [I pray God] your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
VII. UNITY 17:21-22 “That thy all may be one”
1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and [that] there be no divisions among you; but [that] ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment.
Ephesians 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Philippians 1:27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;
1 Peter 3:8 Finally, [be ye] all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, [be] pitiful, [be] courteous:
VIII. MATURITY 17:23 “be made perfect”
1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
1 Corinthians 14:20 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.
Ephesians 4:13 Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:
Ephesians 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, [even] Christ:
Ted Engstrom lists three strategies that have worked in his life.
1) "I deliberately place myself daily before God to allow Him to use me as He wills."
2) I isolate a known point of spiritual weakness and work with the help of the Holy Spirit to correct and strengthen this area of my life.
3) I ask God at a specific time daily to reveal His strategy and will for me that day."
In addition, he says, “We must not treat our appointments with Him with less respect. Write your appointment with God on your calendar. Treat the relationship as you would the partner in a good marriage.” - "How are you keeping your appointments with God?" by Ted W. Engstrom. Ministry, Jul 1989. Pages 4, 5.
You may say, “but pastor I don’t have time to pray.” Let me read to you what George Muller says, For more than half a century, I have never known one day when I had not more business than I could get through. For 40 years, I have had annually about 30,000 letters, and most of these have passed through my own hands. I have nine assistants always at work corresponding in German, French, English, Danish, Italian, Russian, and other languages. Then, as pastor of a church with 1200 believers, great has been my care. I have had charge of five orphanages; also at my publishing depot, the printing and circulation of millions of tracts, books, and Bibles. But I have always made it a rule never to begin work till I have had a good season with God. - George Mueller
What a man is on his knees before God, that he is, and nothing more. - Robert Murray McCheyne
