Here is today’s prayer event:  36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” 37And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” 39And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” 40And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” 43And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. 45Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.” (Matt. 26:36-46 ESV)

Notice the first part of this prayer: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me…”  These words flow from a heart that is “sorrowful and troubled” and a soul that is “very sorrowful, even to death.”  Three times, Luke tells us, this sorrowful and troubled Jesus prayed “the same words.”

“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me…”

“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me…”

“My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me…”

This is a lament.  A complaint.  Jesus is despondent.  He deeply dislikes his circumstances and desperately begs God to change them.  Jesus does not keep his “happy face” on.  He does not piously pretend nothing is wrong.  Instead, he is honest with the Father about his feelings and frustrations.  He puts the sorrow and trouble into words and groans them out to the Father.

What frustrations have you been holding back?  What despair has gone unspoken to God?  What laments have you not lamented to the Father?  Take some time today and be honest and transparent with God.  Put your own sorrow and trouble into words and pray them out loud.  This will be one of the first steps toward dealing successfully with those circumstances.

SHARE WITH THE READERS BELOW: DO YOU PRAY IN THIS WAY OFTEN?  WHY?  WHY NOT?

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Here is today’s prayer event:  24Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:24 ESV)

Whereas much of John 17 has focused on the near-future, this final part of Jesus’ prayer seems to focus on the distant-future.  Jesus prays for our heavenly reunion–that we who follow him might be with him in the place where he has spent an eternity being loved. 

“Father, bring them safely home.”  “Father, lead them back to me.”  “Father, let them live in this place of love.”

Jesus is rooting for me to make it to heaven.  He’s not hoping I’ll slip up.  He’s not holding his breath, just waiting to see me fail.  He’s not shaking his head every time I fall, saying, “He’s never going to make it.”  No, Jesus is spending some of his final breath praying for me and you to make it to heaven.  Jesus is rooting for us.  Jesus is pulling for us.  “Father, whatever you do, please make sure they wind up right here with me.”

Do you tend to imagine Jesus praying for you or against you?  Why?

Close your eyes and imagine Jesus praying (put your name in the blank), “Father, I’m rooting for _______.  I’m pulling for _________.  I want nothing more than for ________ to be with me.  Please make sure _________ makes it to heaven.”

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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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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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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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Here is today’s prayer event: 9I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one.  12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. (Jn. 17:9-12 ESV)

These lines are part 1 of a 3 part prayer which Jesus lifts on behalf of his disciples.  Here, what he has been doing (”I have kept them in your name”) he now asks the Father to do (”keep them in your name”).  As the disciples have prepared for their mission, Jesus has kept them, guarded them, and protected them.  Now, as the disciples pursue their mission, Jesus asks the Father to keep them, guard them, and protect them.  Jesus places them in the protective custody of the Father so they may engage fully in ministry.

Think of the names of people or organizations who are involved heavily in ministry, Christian charity, or Christian education.  Spend this day in constant prayer for them, asking the Father to keep them, protect them, and guard them.

SHARE WITH READERS BELOW ONE PERSON/ORGANIZATION YOU ARE PRAYING FOR TODAY

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Here is today’s prayer event:  1When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.  6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. (John 17:1-8 ESV)

Here, Jesus prays, “The hour has come.”  In other words, “It’s time to die.”  It is the darkest moment of Jesus’ life to-date.  “It’s time to die.”

Yet rather than pray a lament or complaint, which would be well-deserved, Jesus offers a prayer of confidence: “Glorify me with glory.”

“Glory” and “glorify” are important words in John.  They are found 14 times in the first 11 chapters and 19 more times in the Gospel’s concluding chapters.  They are used 10 times in this prayer.

Here, the words carry two possibilities.  First, Jesus may be praying for God to exalt him.  Just as his death on the cross will be inglorious, so he prays for God to follow that death with a glorious resurrection.  He prays for God to exalt him

Second, Jesus may be praying for God to reveal himself through the death.  In the Old Testament, God’s glory is his visible manifestation (e.g., Ex. 16:7,10).  Jesus may be praying that through the crucifixion and resurrection, God will reveal himself.

Both possibilities point in the same direction: Jesus prays that through this painful time, God will bring the best from the bad; God will bring triumph from tragedy; God will let the Story end spectacularly.

The word “glory” carried then as it does now the hint of light.  Something that is glorious is something that is full of light.  Jesus prays that out of this darkness, God will bring light.

Consider a painful time in your life.  Pray for God to bring triumph where you see only tragedy.  Pray for God to bring the best from the bad.  Pray for the Story to end spectacularly.  Pray for God to bring light from the darkness.

SHARE A TIME IN WHICH GOD BROUGHT LIGHT FROM DARKNESS, TRIUMPH FROM TRAGEDY…

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During the night I sleep on a bed of bawling.  During the day I sit on a couch of crying. 

But you have heard my weeping.  You have heard my tears. 

You accept my prayer. 

You accept me.

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Here is today’s prayer event:  31″Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” 33Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.” 34 Jesus said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me.” (Luke 22:31-34 ESV)

Jesus knows that Peter is about to deny him.  One of Jesus’ three closest friends is about to stab him in the back.  Still, Jesus prays for him.  Jesus prays that Peter’s “faith may not fail.”  Jesus spends some of his last moments praying for the faith of one who won’t even have the courage to admit that he is a follower of Jesus.

Whether you keep a mental or written prayer list, how many people like Peter are on it?  My tendency is to remove from my prayer list the people who make my life painful.  Jesus’ tendency is to add them to his list.  Who are the challenging, difficult, irritating, disappointing, and aggravating people in your life?  Add them to your prayer list and start praying!

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