Posted on by Abe Austin

How Do We Pray for Others- John 17:1-3

These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

COMMENTARY

Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.
Jesus has previously taught that the son can do nothing but what he has seen from the father. He reinforces that notion here in his prayer. He has to be glorified by God first, and then he can glorify God.
If we are to do good to others, if we wish to be used as an instrument to bless the lives of others, then first we need to be shown God’s goodness ourselves. It is not selfish to pray to receive, when our intent is that by the receiving we may then have to give to others.

As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
Jesus has been given power and also the people which he is meant to exercise that power for. This means he has a calling, a specific thing he is supposed to do. I think much of our uncertainty when praying for others will be lifted if we better understand what our calling to them is.
What was the purpose God had in mind when He put us in their lives? What power did he give us to then carry out that purpose? Knowledge of these two things informs us of both the need and of the resource. Then we just let those two halves meet within us.

Posted on by Abe Austin

How Do We Pray for Others- Question

Lately I’ve realized that my prayers are very inwardly focused. I’ve made great progress in exploring my heart, I am learning how to separate the wants from the needs of my soul, and I am better praying for my will to be aligned with what is actually “right.” All of that is good, but I still feel at a loss when it comes to praying for others.

My greatest hesitation is simply due to the fact that I can’t examine someone else’s soul in the same way that I can search my own. I find a lot of my prayers for other people follow a pattern of “please allow that they may have this blessing…unless that’s not really what they should have…in which case, I don’t know, just bless them with whatever it is they actually do need?…”

It’s not at all a question of whether I should be praying for others, but more of how I can do so in a way that lends real confidence to those prayers? I know the scriptures have some mighty examples of people praying for others, and I have decided to try and glean from their examples.

And with that in mind I suppose I might as well go straight to the source. I will conduct my study with a prayer directly from Jesus Christ’s own mouth, one entirely focused on those he cares for. I am talking, of course, about the Great Intercessory Prayer found in John 17.

Tomorrow we’ll get started with verses 1-3 of this chapter. In the meantime, is this a common dilemma for anyone else? If you’re willing to share, I would love to hear what you have done to bring more power to your prayers!

Thank you.

Posted on by Abe Austin

The Cup

He climbs, he crawls
He slips, he falls
The filth slides in his mouth
She yearns, she begs
Amidst life’s dregs
The bile to spit out

God save us, they plead
How we hurt, we bleed
The night on us descends
Take away this cup
And bind our wounds up
Or else our lives here end

And Christ fell on his face
As he felt their disgrace
And he call’d to Father above
Wilt Thou let this cup pass?
Yet I’ll do as thou asked
Then he drank to show us his love

God’s children beg, for mercy pray
While Jesus seeks another way
To give us mercy, forgiveness show,
God first must tell His own Son “no”
From each of us he takes the cup
Then asks his Son to drink it up

We shudder when we have our sip
But we’re not meant to taste all it
So come, dear one, and let us be free
For all was paid in Gethsemane