THE LORD'S HEARTFELT PRAYER - PART 3

MONDAY 03 JULY 2023

Jesus said, "will build my church." And it is quite obvious and observable that He started building His church through the right means. One of them is prayer. He prayed for all who would come to God through Him by faith.

Reference: John 17:14-15 New International Version (NIV) "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."

The next versified statement I'm expounding in today's article is, "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one." For proper understanding, I have divided the statement into two segments.

The first is: "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world" And the second: "But that you protect them from the evil one."

Remember that Jesus publicly prayed this prayer for His disciples (John 17:13 CEV), and shortly after that, He prayed for all of us who would believe in Him in this world, which is now the solid ground on which the body of Christ is based on earth today. This is noted in John 17:20-24, which reads,

"I am not praying only on behalf of my disciples, but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their testimony, that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me. The glory you gave to me I have given to them, that they may be one just as we are one— I in them and you in me—that they may be completely one, so that the world will know that you sent me, and you have loved them just as you have loved me. "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, so that they can see my glory that you gave me because you loved me before the creation of the world" (NET).

And to the glory of God, His prayer was answered on our behalf, which I will shed light on, in part 4 of this topic. Besides, to explain further, the first part says, "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world", meaning that we are called to occupy the earth till He comes back. That equally implies that born again Christians are built on unshakeable foundation known as prayer. So I consider this prayer, which is "Christ's prayer" as part of the foundation of the church, and no man can lay other foundation, apart from it. And if it is true that God answered this prayer, then it means that you can always stand your ground on this prayer both to strengthen yourself in God's service and to navigate your world victoriously in the day of adversity.

"My prayer is not that you take them out of the world" - simply means that as a born again Christian, you can live as long as you wish on earth to fulfil your purpose in Christ because that's the perfect will of God for all the saints. Then the second part, "But that you protect them from the evil one", simply means that while you are on earth, you have an automatic right to divine protection from your Heavenly Father. He will protect and keep you far from all the works of enemy and snares of the wicked, meaning that you have nothing to fear in this world. Beloved, from my exposition, you can understand that Jesus prayed the will of God for them. What is the exact will of God He prayed for us? Stay tuned for part 4. Shalom!

Scripture Reading - Mark 6:46; Luke 3:21; Luke 6:46; Luke 11:1; Hebrews 5:7.

Exuberant Declaration: I acknowledge that Jesus prayed for me, and that I'm a product of God's perfect will on earth, functioning as a daily revelation of the Lord's prayer. Therefore, everything that is not part of God's plan for my life vanishes away, but God's will remains unfailing in my life. Hallelujah!