Readings: John 17:1-11, Acts1:6-14
Jesus’ example of prayer
Prayer is an important, essential, vital part of being a Christian, but we often complicate something that is essentially quite simple.
How often do we remember that Jesus prayed? Although he was already very close to his Father, he made sure that he spent time in prayer. How did Jesus pray? What did he pray? Is that how we are to do it?
When his disciples asked him to teach them how to pray Jesus gave them a pattern prayer. We still pray it often and we call it the Lord’s Prayer. The Bible writers recorded several of Jesus’ prayers and none of them use the pattern prayer – Jesus just talks with his Father. John 17 is the longest recorded prayer of Jesus. He talks a bit about himself and a lot about his followers. As Jesus approaches death his followers are on his mind; he demonstrates the depth of his love for them. Jesus wanted his Father to do certain things for the disciples. What were those things? I will give a clue for each one.
The first word is something that a sports team should do if they are to play well. It’s referred to in verse 11 as ‘being one’, and it begins with ‘U’! Answer: Jesus asked God to unite his followers so that they would be as one, and strong as a result.
Clue 2: In verses 11 and 15 Jesus asked God to do for his followers the same thing that he did for Daniel when he was in the lions’ den. Answer: Jesus asked God to protect them – spiritually, as well as physically.
Clue 3: This word is in verse 17 and it means ‘to be set apart for God, and made holy’. Answer: Jesus asked God to dedicate them to Himself. A single word for that is ‘sanctify‘, which means to help them be more and more like Jesus – more saintly.
So .. what are the three things are that Jesus asked God to do for his followers? Unite, protect and sanctify them. He knows that after he has gone they will face difficulty and opposition. The new life that he has given them (verse 2) will not guarantee them immunity. They will find themselves in a spiritual battle, and he prays for their protection. They will face division and he prays for their unity. Later in the prayer, it becomes clear that this is a prayer that is not just for the first disciples but for others who will believe through them (John 17:20). A good thing, too, because we face similar problems today – young and old in different ways. We can take this as an ongoing prayer for ourselves, remembering that the risen and ascended Jesus continues to pray for his followers.
This should be a source of strength and encouragement, especially when we find the going tough. If Jesus cares this much about our unity, we should reflect that in the way we live and pray. Like it or not, we are in this together and that involves supporting and praying for one another. While much of Jesus’ prayer must remain unique to him, other aspects can become a model for our own praying; as Jesus prayed for his followers so we pray for our fellow Christians.
As we read in Acts 1:14 – “They gathered frequently to pray as a group”. This refers to the disciples when they met together after Jesus had gone back to heaven. It should be true of us, too.
Our prayer life
Yes, prayer is an important, essential, vital part of being a Christian. And we’ve just shared some ideas about praying. Yet, I think it remains true that prayer is a problem area to many Christians at any given time and to every Christian at some time.
What’s your prayer life like? What is prayer for you? Always asking for stuff? Is it mostly about you? We can get into all sorts of bad and ugly habits if we’re not careful.
Check out this video of Philip Yancey on prayer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D73xjV2-14g
Prayer as conversation means that prayer is listening as much as it is talking. Lectio divina is an old Latin term for a form of meditative prayer which is a slow, contemplative, prayerful reading of the Scriptures. This form is being used by more and more people today. This video describes the process of Lectio Divina and walks us through a segment of the scripture:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jqqWZuo5cg