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Today is the 25th day of Lent, a 40 day season of spiritual reflection, repentance, and renewal.  During these 40 days we’ll explore the prayer life of Jesus, walking chronologically through every mention of Jesus’ prayer life and prayers in the Gospels.

Here is today’s prayer event: 20″I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” (John 17:20-21 ESV)

Jesus now turns his prayer thoughts from his immediate disciples to us–to all those who will believe in him through the word of the disciples.  Jesus prays for our unity.  Specifically, Andreas Kostenberger (ESV Study Bible) writes that Jesus is praying for us to have a “common mind and common purpose.”  Jesus is praying for our “togetherness in mission.” 

I’d put it this way: Community and Cause.  Cause: “that the world may believe…”  Community: “that they may all be one…”  Community is not an end in itself.  It it is a means to an end: the Cause.  As we engage in our Cause, we do so in Community.  Jesus prays that we will not pursue our Cause as individuals, solo, but as a family.

Yet not only do we purse Cause in Community, Community actually fulfills the Cause.  When the world sees true Community which overcomes what humans cannot–racism, sexism, ageism, etc.–it will conclude that this Community is inhuman–it must come from God.

If you attend a congregation regularly, do you pray regularly for that congregation?  If not, why not?  If you do, how often do you pray about that congregation’s community and cause and the link between the two?  Why?  Why not? 

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Today is the 24th day of Lent, a 40 day season of spiritual reflection, repentance, and renewal.  During these 40 days we’ll explore the prayer life of Jesus, walking chronologically through every mention of Jesus’ prayer life and prayers in the Gospels.

Here is today’s prayer event: 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. (John 17:17-19 ESV)

To be “sanctified” is to be set apart.  Set apart for what?  In this prayer–part 3 of a 3 part prayer for his disciples–Jesus links being “sanctified” with being “sent.”  Just as Jesus was set apart for the purpose of being sent into the world, so now he prays for the disciples to be set apart for the purpose of being sent into the world.  Jesus prays about their mission.  He begs the Father to set these men apart for the holy task of continuing Jesus’ mission.  He prays that they might fulfill their true purpose in life.

Consider the people in your life: friends, family members, fellow believers, church/organizational/governmental leaders, etc.  Pray for each today, that God would set him/her apart for His mission to the world.  Pray that each would fulfill his/her true purpose in life.

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Today is the 23rd day of Lent, a 40 day season of spiritual reflection, repentance, and renewal.  During these 40 days we’ll explore the prayer life of Jesus, walking chronologically through every mention of Jesus’ prayer life and prayers in the Gospels.

Here is today’s prayer event:  15I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. (John 17:15)

This is part 2 of a 3 part prayer Jesus offers on behalf of his disciples.  Even though Jesus has every right to only pray about himself in these final hours, he finds the compassion to pray for others.  Here, Jesus prays that God might keep the disciples from the evil one.

Andrew Lincoln notes that in part 1 of this 3 part prayer, Jesus prays for the disciples to be kept in the Father’s name.  In part 2, Jesus prays for the disciples to be kept from the evil one.  Thus, Jesus demonstrates “the two antithetical spheres of power operative in the world.”  Positively, Jesus prays that the disciples would be guarded by the Father’s power.  Negatively, Jesus prays that the disciples would be protected from Satan’s power.

Satan is real.  He is active.  And prayer is one of the primary ways in which we combat his reality and his activity.  Not by our own power.  But by the Father’s power.

Consider the list of people for whom you regularly pray.  How might your prayers for them change if you believed that the evil one could be targeting them, attacking them, or endangering them?  Consider the things you generally pray for yourself.  How might those prayers change if you believed the evil one could be targeting you, attacking you, or endangering you?  Do you pray as if the evil one is real?  Why?  Why not?

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