Exodus 30:1“Moreover, you shall make an altar as a place for burning incense; you shall make it of acacia wood.”
This is symbolizing the messiah before the presence of God. The aroma represents His prayers for his people rising up to God. Jesus prayed for His people in John 17. Here is what He prayed for: 1) verse 11 “they are in the world…keep them in Your name…”, 2) verse 13 “they may have My joy made full in themselves”, 3) verse 15 “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one”, 4) verse 17 “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth”, 5) verse 21 “that they may all be one”, 6) verse 21 “that they also may be in Us”, 7) verse 26 “the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them”. A few hours before at the last supper, Jesus prayed for Peter that 8) his faith wouldn’t fail and that 9) he would strengthen his brothers.
Here is the list: keep them in Your name, have His joy, kept from the evil one, to be sanctified through the Word, to be one, to be in God, to have God’s love, Jesus to be in us, our faith doesn’t fail, to strengthen others. I’ll group these. Some have to do with a) protection, while others speak of b) quality of relationship.
Here are the protection prayers: kept in Your name, kept from the evil one, faith doesn’t fail, to strengthen others. The remaining ones have to do with the quality of which God wants us to attain: have joy, sanctified, to be one, to be in God, to have His love and for Jesus to be in us,
On the alternate days, I’m going through Ephesians 6 on the topic of spiritual armor. Spiritual warfare is real. It’s easy to go through our day and be ignorant of it. That’s one of the devil’s tactics, to be unaware of him and the battle. Jesus prays for us to be protected.
Ephesians 2:1-3 says there are three enemies of our soul: the world, the flesh and the devil. The devil strategically plots our downfall, the world has it allure and peer pressure and our flesh has it’s gravitational attraction away from God. We have to intentionally resist to avoid the slow drift of corruption or the keen attacks of the devil.
Our life in God is an active one. If we aren’t aware of it, then we aren’t living it. The devil has won. We would be aware if we spent time with an individual. An effort has to be made. If we can’t recall communication with God or time spent with Him, then it probably isn’t happening. Start now.
Once in God, Jesus prayed for us. That we remain on the team, that we are kept from the evil one, that our faith doesn’t fail and that we can strengthen others.
The other half of Jesus prayer is about the quality of our experience in Christ. It starts out with joy. We all seek joy in many things. Seeking joy in substances is not good. Eph 5:18 says, “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,” The passage goes on to speak of thankfulnes. When the Spirit fills us, we are filled with joy. We seek joy in hobbies and in other things. This is fine as long as it isn’t against the bible and our devotion to it isn’t so great that it’s out of balance. Then it becomes an idol. This means it’s taking the place of God in our hearts.
The next quality topic of Jesus’ prayer is sanctification. This is the slow, never ending process of the Spirit making us more Christlike. We don’t give everything up at conversion. While God sees us as perfect in Christ, He molds our character and everything about us to be like Him. Any unloving and selfish mindset will be dealt with. We are not aware of it all. As we are in the bible, it’s like looking into a spiritual mirror (James 1:23-25). We see things that we want to change. We can hear messages at church that prompt us to change. We also get challenged by our friends.
Next Jesus prays for us to be one. We are to be unified. It’s been said, “In the essentials, unity, the non-essentials, liberty, in all things, charity.”
Jesus then prays for us to be “in God”. John 15, Jesus describes himself as the vine and we are the branches. As we abide in Him we will bear much fruit and His joy will be in us. This is a great picture of our relationship with Him.
Jesus next prays for us to have His love. The previous topic is required for this. As we abide in Him, God’s love flows in and through us. As we look in the biblical mirror, we see our impatience, selfishness and so on. We ask Him to help us. As we abide in Him our attempts at being patient get filled with His love. It’s a beautiful thing.
Lastly, He prays that He will be in us. If we’ve accepted Christ and are walking with Him, this is a present reality.
Lord, Thank You for Your prayers for us. Prayers for protection and for a quality of experience in You.
Once in God, Jesus prayed for us. That we remain on the team, that we are kept from the evil one, that our faith doesn’t fail and that we can strengthen others.
The other half of Jesus prayer is about the quality of our experience in Christ. It starts out with joy. We all seek joy in many things. Seeking joy in substances is not good. Eph 5:18 says, “Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,” The passage goes on to speak of thankfulnes. When the Spirit fills us, we are filled with joy. We seek joy in hobbies and in other things. This is fine as long as it isn’t against the bible and our devotion to it isn’t so great that it’s out of balance. Then it becomes an idol. This means it’s taking the place of God in our hearts.
The next quality topic of Jesus’ prayer is sanctification. This is the slow, never ending process of the Spirit making us more Christlike. We don’t give everything up at conversion. While God sees us as perfect in Christ, He molds our character and everything about us to be like Him. Any unloving and selfish mindset will be dealt with. We are not aware of it all. As we are in the bible, it’s like looking into a spiritual mirror (James 1:23-25). We see things that we want to change. We can hear messages at church that prompt us to change. We also get challenged by our friends.
Next Jesus prays for us to be one. We are to be unified. It’s been said, “In the essentials, unity, the non-essentials, liberty, in all things, charity.”
Jesus then prays for us to be “in God”. John 15, Jesus describes himself as the vine and we are the branches. As we abide in Him we will bear much fruit and His joy will be in us. This is a great picture of our relationship with Him.
Jesus next prays for us to have His love. The previous topic is required for this. As we abide in Him, God’s love flows in and through us. As we look in the biblical mirror, we see our impatience, selfishness and so on. We ask Him to help us. As we abide in Him our attempts at being patient get filled with His love. It’s a beautiful thing.
Lastly, He prays that He will be in us. If we’ve accepted Christ and are walking with Him, this is a present reality.
Lord, Thank You for Your prayers for us. Prayers for protection and for a quality of experience in You.