The High Priestly Prayer Of Jesus (Part 2) Series

If you’re like me, one of the most frustrating aspects of my spiritual life is my prayer life. I don’t ever feel like I am praying enough. I feel like my mind wanders too often in prayer. I feel like my prayers are too repetitive at times. I don’t know why my appetite for prayer isn’t higher than it is. I’m a pastor for goodness sake…why is this area of my spiritual life so frustrating?

If this describes you, let me quickly give you two principals that may be helpful. The first is a quote I read recently: There is nothing the flesh resists more than prayer. Our prideful flesh always wants us to believe that we have the resources to accomplish any task in front of us apart from God. The natural drift of our prideful hearts is towards self-sufficiency. Contrast that with the fact that prayer is an open acknowledgment of I CAN’T and that I need God’s help. And so I want to encourage you, that you are not alone, and that all long as we live in this flesh, there will always be a battle between the flesh and the spirit regarding prayer.

The second principle is this simple strategy that one of our pastors once suggested to me. If you want to pray more consistently, just take your worries and turn them into prayers. I have to DISCIPLINE my flesh for prayer…but I don’t have to work hard at worrying! It comes natural to all of us. And the things we worry about the most are things in the future. Regrets live in the rear view mirror…but worry is right there in front of us…can I get an Amen? And by turning your worries into prayers, many of your prayers are going to be future-oriented. Now, sometimes we may ask this question: If God is sovereign over the future, why even pray about it? Two reasons: 1) Scripture tells us to; 2) Jesus models it for us…and I happen to think those are two pretty good reason have our future bathed in prayer.

Turn with me to John 17 as we continue our Red Letter Prayers series by taking a second look at this chapter known as The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus. Last week, we looked at the first part of The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus as Jesus prayed that he would be glorified with the sole motive of wanting to transfer that glory back onto the Father. We were also reminded that we are fully equipped to fulfill the Great Commission because Jesus is making intercession for us AND he has given us his Word to transform our hearts on the inside while we are engaged in Great Commission work on the outside. This week, we want finish out The High Priestly Prayer of Jesus by noticing that he’s praying, like we do, for things to happen in the future. And I don’t know about you, but this is rather fascinating to me and here’s why—Jesus is fully God, so he KNOWS the future…and yet he still prays for the things to come.

John 17:20-26

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

It’s clear from these verses, that Jesus is praying for future believers. And guess what? That means that he was praying for every believer in this room this morning. So if you ever wonder what Jesus would pray for on your behalf, wonder no more. If you wonder why it’s necessary to pray for the future (if God is sovereign), wonder no more.

In a future-bathed prayer, we pray for…

1. PEOPLE WHO HAVE YET TO BELIEVE – vs 20