When Jesus Prayed for Me

After the Passover supper with his disciples, Jesus was full of tension that the disciples didn’t perceive.  It was just another night, they thought.  Jesus went to pray.  Nothing new there.  He had done this before.  Small talk dotted their waiting circle, then dwindled to silence.  Silence brought sleep. 

But Jesus could not sleep that night. Pulled by the war of the worlds accelerating in his heart, Jesus knew only one way to address this angst: he prayed.

He brought himself to His Father, first.  He revisited the desert of temptation, but this time with a plea for another way to say yes to His Father.  But there wasn’t another way.  Obedience always requires that we surrender all the other ways we invent to avoid God’s direction. Jesus would not say no to his Father even though he knew His yes would cost him his life. He said yes because his sacrifice would give us the new life we needed.

But before that would happen, Jesus prayed for us.  He carried us to his Father's heart in the Garden of Gethsemane 2000 years ago.  Lean in. Can you hear his passion and hope? Review what he prayed for us. Then, use the questions to check how you are answering his prayer:

Jesus prayed for our unity.

Do we have the same unity with God that he had?

Do we have unity with other Christians like Jesus prayed for?

Jesus prayed for our joy.

Do we live with a joy that is not dependent on circumstances going well? 

Is it a contagious joy?

Jesus prayed for our effective witness in the world.

Are we His Light-bearers in our families and neighborhoods?

Do our lives reflect the truths he taught?

Jesus prayed that we would be completely submitted to him.

Are we wholly living as his people?

Do we live, work, and relate as the set-apart, Spirit-filled people Jesus prayed that we would be?

Jesus prayed that all people would believe in him.

How am I helping my part of the world know Jesus?

Is my belief in Jesus strong enough to share?

These are sobering questions to answer before we take our places before the cross on Good Friday.  Jesus didn’t die for our excuses; He died for every way we have rejected God’s ways.  The call of the cross comes to us through Jesus’ prayer.  The ultimate question we must answer is whether it has become our prayer as well:

              Not my will, my way, or my perspective.

              Only Your will be done in me and by me.

May God have mercy on us as we are honest with Him this week.