The Prayer Life of Jesus Christ

Do you know of someone who has fervently, earnestly prayed for you? Do you know of someone who regularly prays for you? There is no one praying for us like the Lord Jesus.

Notice this expression in John 17:9, “I pray for them.” I have no idea what the voice of Jesus sounds like. I do not know the tone or depth of it, but I know no man on earth ever spoke like Him. As He speaks to God the Father, He says, “I pray for them.”

God the Son is praying for us! Jesus Christ says in John 17:9, “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.” Seven times in this seventeenth chapter of John, Jesus says that God the Father gave these disciples to Him. If you are a Christian, you have been given as a gift to God the Son.

The Lord Jesus Christ is God the Father’s gift to the world. As the Lord Jesus is praying this prayer, He recognizes that the Creator God of heaven and earth has given to Him each precious soul who has trusted Him as Saviour. The value of those souls is in the fact that the Giver is God the Father.

The Lord Jesus Is Praying That God Will Keep Us From Evil

In John 17:15, the Bible says, “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.” Our Lord is praying that God the Father by the work of the Holy Spirit would keep us from evil.

Many times people get puffed up about themselves and how good they are. We are all guilty of this, especially when we think of those who have gone astray. We think, “I’m not like them! I haven’t done the evil things they have done.” This reminds us of the Pharisee in Luke 18:10-12, who went to the temple to pray, looking down his nose at everyone else as he talked about his own goodness.

The Lord is warning us. If we have not gone into terrible sin as one of His children, it is because Jesus Christ is praying for us. He is interceding for us. Think where you could be. Think what you could have done.

The Lord Jesus is praying that the world in which we live would not invade our lives to the point that we become bound up in sin. We need to give God the glory again for our praying Saviour. He is watching out for you and for your children. He is praying for His own.

The Lord Jesus Is Praying That God Will Help Us Be Faithful Witnesses

In John 17:20, our Lord prays, “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word.”

First, He prayed for the disciples that they would be faithful, and then He said, “I am praying also for those who will become My disciples from hearing their word.” I find myself in verse twenty, and so can you if you are a Christian.

How did you become a Christian? Someone was faithful to preach the truth, then you came to know the truth and trusted Christ as your Saviour.

The Lord Jesus is praying for us to be the witnesses that we ought to be: not polluted by the world, but giving the pure gospel message of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. He is the only way of salvation.

Our praying Saviour does not pray for a little while and then stop. He “ever liveth to make intercession” for us (Hebrews 7:25). In every time of need, we can cry out to Him, and He will come to our aid. What a wonderful Saviour we have!

Cover photo of the Garden of Gethsemane by Stacey Franco on Unsplash