Message from the Pastor

The prayer that we are familiar with as the Lord’s Prayer I feel could be more accurately described as the disciples’ prayer.  However, there is one prayer in the gospels that I (and I’m not alone here!) believe to be more accurately called the Lord’s Prayer, and that is the one Jesus prays in John chapter 17.

This is the prayer He prayed when He was in the upper room during (or possibly after) the last supper with His disciples before He went out to the Garden of Gethsemane where He was arrested.  The prayer consists of three parts, which I think we can all model, although we would need to adapt it:

First Christ prays for Himself.  Now I know that the immediate reaction among some is to question why we would pray for ourselves (isn’t it selfish?).  However, I believe it to be a declaration of dependence on God to bring ourselves to Him.  If we are simply praying that we get things or that God will vindicate us, then that might be questionable, but our purpose in this is to confess our sins to our Lord, to get right before Him and to ask Him to order and guide our lives for His glory.  It is surely no error that the apostle Paul, after talking about the armour of God in Ephesians chapter 6, ends with an exhortation that we must undergird or overlay our spiritual armour with: “Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion”. (Ephesians 6:18a, NLT)

Second Christ prays for the disciples, that is those who were with him at the time (the 11 who would later be the apostles and leaders of the Church – Judas Iscariot had almost certainly left the building at this point!).  For us that would mean praying for people in our church fellowship, and others who are in our vicinity (family, friends, work colleagues, etc.).

Third Christ prays for all believers everywhere.  That includes, of course, both Gentiles and those who were yet to be born.  Almost all, if not all of us, fall into both those categories!  For us, this means being willing to pray for the wider society and world, and particularly for believers who are persecuted for their faith, as we take on their pain as part of the same Body we are members of. “Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.” (Ephesians 6:18b, NLT)

 Do have a read of John 17, and pray accordingly.

       Alan