John 17:9–19
Jesus prayed for the disciples, a lot. There is something quite interesting here. He didn’t pray for the world (that he died for). He prayed instead for his disciples. Why? Why his disciples?
Jesus prayed for his disciples. Jesus prayed for his friends. Jesus prayed for their protection.
He prayed for them…for us.
Without the disciples, we would not know Jesus. Without Jesus’ protection, we would not have the disciples. Jesus did pray for the world…just indirectly.
All too often, we want to see direct effects. We want to know that the power of God is active in our lives. We want to know that God loves the world…and even us.
Ultimately, with Jesus’ death, the Holy Spirit came to dwell in the 11 remaining disciples, along with all those who were with them in the upper room. From those 11, the church was born. The church despite its brokenness. The church despite all the hurt that its imperfect people caused and suffered.
We wonder sometimes if our prayers are effective. Perhaps it’s not our prayers that we should be thinking about, but the prayers of those who are praying for us.
1) Have you ever had the experience of learning that someone was praying for you, and it came to be? What was your response?
2) Have you ever prayed for someone else (especially not family), and watched it come true? What was your response?
3) Prayer should be the most uniting thing we as a church do. How can you be more united with your church framily in prayer?