Introducing 15 blow your mind Truths on prayer

They gathered in a circle and prayed. "Our Father who Art in Heaven..." The Lord's prayer is one of the most quoted prayers from Jesus.

Jesus believed in prayer, and we are blessed with multiple prayers he said in our Bible. Last week we learned about when Jesus prayed while he was overwhelmed.

This week I wanted to share another lesson I'm learning from when Jesus prayed. We are going to look at Jesus's longest prayer. We find this prayer in John 17, it was during this prayer Jesus prayed for multiple groups of people. We can learn plenty from this prayer.

Jesus started his prayer by praying for himself.

Jesus prayed for himself.

After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

“Father, the hour 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 know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing 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. - John 17:1-5

What can we learn from this?


1. It is okay to pray for yourself.
2. God is the only true God. 
3. God gave Jesus the ability to give us eternal life.
4. Jesus brought God glory, by doing the work God gave him.
5. Jesus was with God before the world began. 

Jesus didn't only spend time praying for himself.  He prayed for those God had given him. He prayed for his disciples. God gives each of us people we are to lead and teach. So we can use this as a model to pray for those people as well.

 Jesus prayed for His disciples

“I have revealed you to 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 17:6-19

We can continue to learn from Jesus praying. Let's see what we can learn.

6. We should pray for those God asks us to lead.
7. We should know that God gives us those we are to lead, it isn't us, but who God has given us. God gave Jesus his disciples and God gives us people. Those God as asked us to lead are a gift, a blessing.
8. Just like Jesus brought glory to God, we can bring glory to Jesus and to God by following the lessons Jesus taught.
9. Jesus protects his followers. It is okay to pray for protection.
10. We are not of this world, we should ask God to sanctify us, in truth. We should live our lives as if we believe that truth.

Jesus ended his prayer by praying for all believes and our relationships with others.

Jesus Prayed for all Believers.

“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.

“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.” - John 17:20-26

Let's see what else we can learn from Jesus praying.

11.We believe in God and Jesus because of what we learn from more mature Christians. This is a cycle as we become mature we should lead others to Christ.
12. We are to live in Unity with fellow believers. This comes through Christ in us.
13. God's love for Christ is also on us. (We're loved by an all powerful, and amazing God)
14. We have the same Glory Jesus had in him, through the Holy Spirit that lives within us.
15. Jesus gives us knowledge of God's glory and love.

Jesus prayed for himself, for his disciples and then for all believers. We can learn so much from this prayer. We can even model our prayers after this prayer. We can pray for ourselves, those Christ has given us, and all believers after this prayer.

Which part of this prayer do you relate to the most? Do you model your prayers after any prayers you find in scripture?