Day 3
PRAY LIKE JESUS PRAYED!
· JESUS PRAYED ALL NIGHT BEFORE “CHOOSING HIS CLOSEST COMPANIONS”
GOD’S WORD: One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. (Luke 6:12-13, NIV)
REFLECTION-DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. How did Jesus prepare himself for the selection of those with whom he would invest most of his time and prepare them for kingdom work?
2. How important is it for congregations to spend intensive periods of time praying before they select those who will lead the congregation as “shepherds or other servants” to spiritually guide the group or lead different parts of the ministry?
3. How much time have I personally spent in deciding with which circle of Christ-followers I will invest my primary time and energy, even the congregation within which I will serve?
4. How much time do I spend in deciding into which individuals I will invest my most time spiritually equipping them for the work of the Lord?
· JESUS PRAYED FOR THE TWELVE “AS HE WAS LEAVING THEM”
GOD’S WORD: “I have revealed you unto those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified. (John 17:20-26, NIV)
REFLECTION-DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Have I faithfully “revealed the true nature of the Lord” to those Christ-followers I have helped bring to faith or help mature in their faith?
2. What is the most defining “test of my effectiveness” in helping to teach and lead others into the way of the Lord?
3. Have I faithfully “shared the entirety of the Lord’s word” with believers under my teaching and spiritual leadership?
4. Can individuals, who “observe my life and faith,” know that I really am faithful in representing the Father and reflecting his will?
5. How passionately do I “pray for unity of all Christ-followers,” especially those under my personal teaching, influence and leadership?
6. How effective am I in my efforts to “protect the faith and faithfulness” of all who are under the influence of my life, teaching and spiritual leadership?
7. Have I so faithfully sanctified myself to the Lord that those, under my influence, teaching and spiritual leadership, are also “truly sanctified to the Lord”?
· JESUS PRAYED FOR “ALL HIS FOLLOWERS IN ALL GENERATIONS”
GOD’S WORD: “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
(John 17:20-23, NIV)
REFLECTION-DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. How deeply personal is my concern for Christ-followers who may come to the Lord through the “ministry of those I help teach and equip”?
2. What was the deepest concern of Jesus “for the community of faith” in all generations?
3. Do my prayers, personal concerns and ministry “reflect the level of concern Jesus wants me to have for everyone” who is trying to follow him?
4. What is the price the world must pay and is ultimately paying for a “divided church”?
5. How essential is unity, among all who love Jesus, to the “credibility of Jesus’ message and a fully effective ministry”?
· JESUS PRAYED FOR HIMSELF AS HE ”PREPARED FOR THE CROSS”
GOD’S WORD: “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.” (John 17:1-5; Matthew 26:39, 42, NIV)
REFLECTION-DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. What do I need to be or do in order to ask the Father to “glorify me as son” so that I can fully “glorify him as Father”?
2. As I prepare for my own life and death, do I “possess eternal life to the point I confidently know my heavenly Father and my Lord Jesus Christ”?
3. As I lay my head on my pillow each night, can I honestly say, “I have completed the work you gave me to do”?
4. What was the “cup” Jesus asked the Father to take away but which he was willing to drink if the insisted it must be done?
5. Am I prepared to “drink the cup of suffering and death” in order to complete the work of my Father and my Lord Jesus?
· JESUS PRAYED FOR HIMSELF ”ON THE CROSS”
GOD’S WORD: From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” —which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.
When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (Matthew 27:45-46, Luke 23:34, 46; John 19:30, NIV)
REFLECTION-DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
1. Have I ever suffered for the Lord to the point I “felt forsaken by the Lord”?
2. Can I personally face persecution and even death with such compassion I too could pray, “Father, forgive them”?
3. Who else in the history of the earliest church, prayed a prayer almost exactly like this prayer of Jesus? (Clue: see Acts 7:60)
4. If this were the day the Father were to call me home, could I also pray with confidence, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit; it is finished”?