Heavenly Father, I praise You for the example of Christ praying often and when he prayed for sinners. I praise You for the example of humility that Christ exhibited and that His prayers came from love and desire for relationships. I praise You for His prayers for us who are believers also.
As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, let us clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Teach us to bear with each other and forgive one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts, since as members of one body we were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell in us as we teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in our hearts. And whatever we do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father. We need to devote ourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Help us to humble ourselves in the sight of You, so You can then lift us up. Help us to pray for anyone among us who is suffering. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Help us to hold them up in intercessory prayer. Teach us how to confess our sins to each other and pray for each other so that we may be healed. We understand through Your word that the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. [Colossians 3:12-17; Colossians 4:2-6; James 4:10; James 5:13-15; James 5:16]
Help me to believe in and absorb Christ’s prayer for us when he prayed: Now I’m returning to you. I’m saying these things in the world’s hearing so my people can experience My joy completed in them. I gave them Your word; the godless world hated them because of it they didn’t join the world’s ways. Just as I didn’t join the world’s ways. I’m not asking that you take them out of the world but that you guard them from the Evil One. They are no more defined by the world than I am defined by the world. Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth; Your word is consecrating truth. In the same way that you gave me a mission in the world, I give them a mission in the world. I’m consecrating myself for their sakes, so they’ll be truth-consecrated in their mission. I’m praying not only for them but also for those who will believe in me because of them and their witness about me. The goal is for all of them to become one heart and mind—Just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, So they might be one heart and mind with us. Then the world might believe that you, in fact, sent me. The same glory you gave me, I gave them, so they’ll be as unified and together as we are—I in them and you in me. Then they’ll be mature in this oneness, and give the godless world evidence that you’ve sent me and loved them in the same way you’ve loved me. Father, I want those you gave me to be with me, right where I am, so they can see my glory, the splendor you gave me, having loved me long before there ever was a world. Righteous Father, the world has never known you. But I have known you, and these disciples know that you sent me on this mission. I have made your very being known to them—who you are and what you do—and continue to make it known, so that your love for me might be in them exactly as I am in them. (Amen) John 17:13-26, the Message