Try Praying This Prayer For Your Disciples (and Yourself!)
The Lord’s Prayer is a wonderful model. We use it to teach new disciples how to pray. There are other prayers our Lord prayed that can be instructive to us as missionaries as well. In this article, we will spend time looking at the prayer Jesus prayed for His disciples. It is found in John chapter seventeen.
As we study this prayer of Jesus, we discover key concepts for life, ministry, and intercession. Our Lord’s prayers were outward focused. They were based on a deep love for His disciples. His prayers focused on God’s glory and Kingdom coming to earth.
Lessons From Jesus’ John 17 Prayer
1. Pray for Wholeness.
John 17:15-19 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.
Jesus prayed that we would stay in the world, not be extracted from it. We are called to live in the world and shine as bright lights, reflecting His glory. So often as Christians, and even missionaries, we build a Christian space (bubble) where we “live.” Jesus said He has sent us into the world, to live as those who are different, those who are being made whole. He uses the word sanctified.
What is sanctification? It seems like a heavy theological word we would use in seminary not everyday life. Dictionary.com defines sanctification this way, “to make holy; set apart as sacred; consecrate.” Again, more big religious words.
Ruth Haley Barton explained this on a recent podcast. She said consecration, or holiness, has to do with wholeness, more than with doing everything perfectly. I love that! Yes! This happens as Jesus lives in and transforms us. We are being made whole. His life in us brings healing to our brokenness. We are sanctified.
As Jesus said, He was sanctified so his disciples could be sanctified. Missionaries and disciple makers must pursue ongoing wholeness and transformation. Only as we do this, are those we are training and ministering to are also going to enter that same wholeness. Jesus did this for us, we must do it for others as well.
2. Pray Generational Prayers.
John 17:20 My prayer is not for them alone, I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.
A church planting coach I know often asks his coachees this question. “How are your disciple’s disciples doing?” If we want to see the rapid growth of God’s Kingdom, we need to think beyond the person we are sharing Christ with or training as a disciple. We need to think and pray for their disciples too.
This morning, in my quiet time, I prayed for my children. I also prayed for my grandson. He is my daughter’s son. I take great delight in praying for him. It’s a generational prayer.
How often do you pray for those you are investing in? Fairly often I would guess! It’s far less likely that you pray regularly for those they are now, or will one day disciple in the future. Maybe they aren’t even witnessing to others yet. Jesus prayed for “those who will believe in me through their message” John 17:20 NIV. He prayed for His disciple’s disciples.
We get what we pray for! Begin to pray not only for your disciples, but for those who will believe in Jesus through their message, through their witness. As you do that, you will begin to see a multiplication of disciples. God answers our prayers!
3. Pray for Unity and Community – for the Sake of the World
John 17:21-23 “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- so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
It’s an incredible prayer Jesus prays over us! That we would be one as He and the Father are one. Perfect unity is not easy to achieve. It can only happen as Christ lives in us.
Notice the word “glory” in this passage. As we reflect the unity of the God-head, there is glory present. Glory is the manifest Presence of God reflected and demonstrated to the world. Nothing shows off who God is in a greater way, then when His people walk in loving submission to one another, honoring and serving each other. In a world so filled with self-centeredness, we stand out. Unity is noticeable and attractive. It is worth pursuing. It is worth praying for.
What does this unity look like? Its not sameness. It’s loving relationships that are deep and genuine. This means overlooking one another’s irritating personality traits. It is choosing to believe the best, choosing to honor rather than criticize. We overlook a “multitude of sins” (1 Cor. 13).
4. Pray that His Glory Would Be Seen
John 17:24-26 “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”
We must ask God to renew our passion to see His glory! We ask the Father, as Jesus did, for the grace to have fresh revelation of who He is, each and every day. When we see Him anew, we are able to enter His Presence. We draw near.
Jesus said, “I know you and they know that you have sent me…” How will the world recognize that God Himself has sent us to them? It is as we continue to draw close, as we continue to pursue Him. Jesus makes Him known to us, so we too can make the Father known to the world.
Pray for yourself and those you train or lead to have fresh revelation of God in their lives today. Pray that they will be able to see His glory, who He is in new ways. The result will be that the world will see Him too as He lives more fully within us.
Praying This Prayer With Christ
I take great comfort in knowing that Jesus intercedes for me. Not only did He pray this prayer so many years ago, today He lives as our intercessor today. He prays for you. He prays for those who will come to know the Father through your message.
Why not join Jesus and pray with Him this week? Take this passage and pray it. Insert your name or the name of your disciples into the text. For example, pray like this, “Sanctify Francis by your truth; your word is truth. As you sent me, C. Anderson, into the world, I have sent Francis into the world. For Francis, I sanctify myself so he too may be truly sanctified….” Get the idea?
Let me know how that goes in the comments below or on the Missionary Life Facebook group.