Sometimes, the hardest part of praying is simply starting. Where do I begin? What should I say? Do I go right into asking God for things? Do I start with thanksgiving? Again, where do I begin?  

First, let me remind you a bit of the heart of prayer in what Pastor Tommy shared with us yesterday. Prayer is first and foremost about pressing into God Himself.  Pressing past this “natural life” and into His wonderful and gracious presence, in which He loves to meet with His people.  He calls us friends (John 15:15), and loves us like a good Father loves His children (Luke 11:13).  When we meet with our best friends or have coffee with Dad, do we worry about formalities and saying everything perfectly? Not at all.  We simply come to them as we are, enjoy being in their presence, and speak with them from the heart. I encourage you to do the same in prayer.  Be humble in His presence, but also, ENJOY spending time with the One who saved you and redeemed you, and who loves to care for you.  Keep it simple. 

But, I understand that sometimes, to get started, it’s helpful to have a framework or reference point when engaging in prayer. Many of us have used the Lord’s Prayer for direction in our prayer life, where in Matthew 6, Jesus literally says, “When you pray, pray like this:” (Matthew 6:9). The beautiful words that follow have been a great model and template for many dear saints.  Today, I want to revisit some of the words in Jesus’ “other prayer,” the High Priestly Prayer in John 17, and see if we might find some guidance in our own prayers this week.  Remember, this is Jesus praying to the Father, and much of His prayer is for His followers, those who have and will believe on Him. 

JOHN 17:1-26

1 When 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, 2 since 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. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And 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. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you.8 For 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. 9 I 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. 11 And 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.13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 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. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

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. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, 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. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

In light of these words, let us pray together today - as those whom the Father has given to Jesus - the way that Christ, himself, prayed for us: 

• Pray that we would receive the Word with humility and joy, that we would keep the Word, and that our receiving and keeping would be marked with abandoned obedience (v.6,8

• Pray that we would be kept in Him and in His name.  That we would never wander or be lost. (v.11)

• Pray that the Joy of Christ would be fulfilled in us. (v.13)

• Pray that we would be kept from the evil one. (v.12,15)

• Pray that the Word of God would wash over us (Eph. 5:26-27), and that we would be sanctified by it. (v.17,19)

• Pray that we would carry His beautiful Word out into the world, that they, too, would receive the Word and believe. (v.20)

• Pray for unity in our Church that reflects the wondrous unity of the Triune God. (v.11, 21-23)

• Pray that the deep love of Christ would be in us and that the world would know that we belong to Christ. (v.26)