John 17:6-10 English Standard Version
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.
In the beginning of this series on prayer I said that it was a blessing to pray for others. Here in the continuing prayers of our High Priest in John chapter 17 we find that our Lord and Savior has prayed over us specifically. Verse 9 states it plainly, not a prayer for the lost but a prayer for those of us who belong to Christ.
If we take nothing else away from this blessed prayer, let it be this. Jesus is glorified in us.
One of the most important blessings of prayer is to be reminded of who we are and what it means to be His. So much of what happens in the world wants to tear us down, demean us, humiliate us, and hinder our calling in Christ Jesus. It is prayers like this that remind us who we are and what it means to be chosen.
I think of it like this, I am weak but He is strong. How I feel about myself does not stop Him from being glorified. I am not more powerful than God and He is the One who has overcome the world. That means He has overcome the worldly parts of me, the flesh and its weakness.
John 14:16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,
When He left He sent the best help. He does not leave us and it is through the power of the Holy Spirit that our Savior is glorified, overcoming our weakness.
We are not alone in this battle and the war rages on.
Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
That battle has been raging for nearly 2000 years. This prayer should be a reminder that we are on the winning side.