The Jesus Prayer

John 17:20-21 "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one.”

How cool is that? Jesus, Himself says that He is praying for us. I never quite thought of it in that way. I have always known that the work and power of Jesus demonstrated in my life was through His grace, yet here it is very evident that the very prayers of Jesus is for His people and for all who might believe. How does that make you feel to know that Jesus is intentionally praying for you?

Prayer is a powerful practice in my life; I can't say that this was always the case. Many times I tried to do things on my own and failed miserably; however, I have discovered this amazing fact. Jesus is praying for me. That changed everything. I discovered that for my prayer life to be meaningful I needed to pray in agreement with the words of Jesus.

This begs then the question: what is Jesus praying about concerning me? There is much if you read chapter 17 in the Gospel of John. The first is that we, (you and I) may be one with Him. That is a relational prayer. Jesus is my Savior and my friend. It is founded in the belief that Jesus died for me and that He rose to redeem me unto Himself for the glory of God.

The second is that the world might come to see through this relationship with Christ, the opportunity that He offers those who have not yet believed. The purpose in this is that all of us become one with God through the atonement of Jesus Christ. As powerful as these prayers of Jesus are, the one thing that grabs me in His prayer is this. Through the glory that God gave Jesus, Jesus is giving through prayer to us. Can you grasp the significance of this? Jesus is praying that everything that He is, will be ours.

I can't even begin to phantom the depth of this statement, yet everything about my past and future is grounded in this prayer. What I know to be true is this: God through Jesus has promised everything we need in order to be fully one with Him.

That is His prayer for us.