John 17:9-24
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. 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—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. “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.
It is important to always be praying for the church. If we cannot keep our own fellowship active, protected and successful how can we expect to change the world? The old sayings “charity begins at home” and “there’s no place like home” apply to your church home too! In his book Partners in Prayer, John Maxwell says that we should consider praying your church to its potential should be a priority because it all starts there. He quotes Paul Tillich in saying “The church is a potentially powerful body with the necessary arsenal at its disposal to change the moral character of the world…but while possessing the dynamite of the Gospel it has lost its detonator…and that detonator it lacks is prayer.”
Jesus gives us a model prayer in John 17:9-24. He prays that the people will sense the glory of God; that they will follow his Word; that we would all unite in the love of God; that we would strive to do the missions of God; and that we would together experience the love of God. I would add that we should pray for our leaders and each other that we all be filled with and lead by the Holy Spirit and do so with unity and love and
forgiveness. So pray for your church and pray continually; never stop and never give up.
The Church’s one foundation
Author: S. J. Stone (1866)
The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, her Lord;
she is his new creation by water and the Word.
From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died.
Prayer:
Lord in Heaven above, hear me as I pray for my church. I pray that all the people of the church will see your glory and be filled with your spirit. I pray that all the members can unite together in our love for you. I pray that we take that love and go out and do your work in the world and I pray that together we always will feel the love you have for us. Lord may all your children, leaders and members alike, be filled with and lead by your Holy Spirit and live to glorify your name. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit I pray, Amen.
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