Thursday, August 10, 2017

The Sweetest Prayer Ever Prayed

My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message…May they also be in us so that the world may believe…so that they may be brought to complete unity… Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory…I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” John 17:20-26.

When my dad was in the last weeks of his life I remember spending the night. I brought a monitor from home that I had for my grandchildren. I awakened early the next morning and was doing my devotionals when I began hearing some whispering in the monitor. I leaned my head in and attuned my ears to try to understand what I was hearing. It was Daddy praying for me and Bruce. He was lifting us up in labored whispers asking God to give us strength as we cared for Bruce’s dad with Alzheimer’s. Daddy was well aware his days were limited and the transition was coming. I sat there glued to the monitor listening to every sweet detail between my father and our Father. The only sweeter prayer than this was the one in our morning passage.

Did you ever stop and really soak in this passage? Jesus was near the end of His life with this being one of His final prayers on earth. Jesus fully understood that the purpose for which He was born was close to fulfillment. But what strikes my heart chords is the powerful detail that on that sacred day and in that sacred prayer He was praying for you and me. We had not even been born and He was covering us in complete prayer. He was lifting every future believer up to God right before He walked out the most horrific season in history. There is a song that sums this up, ‘While He was on the cross, I was on His mind.’ Jesus was praying for our testimonies to show His message to an unbelieving world. His prayer was for you and me to be brought into complete unity through His death. He was getting ready to earn the authority to call us His own. Through Him sending His spirit He prayed for us to know God better and to experience the glory with Him. This passage allows us to lean our heads in, and quietly hear the sweetest prayer ever lifted. And as if that wasn’t enough the Holy Spirit was sent to dwell deep within us and continuously lifts our needs, heart cries and desires up to Heaven.

The Holy Spirit is the way our unanswered prayers get fresh expression. The Holy Spirit prays in new ways for old things for you and me. Don’t ever think the details of your life are too little for the Spirit. Just as we pray for certain details in the lives of our family, so does the Holy Spirit. There is never a time when our names are not being lifted before God.

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit HIMSELF intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” Romans 8:26-27.

No comments: