Praying with Jesus

In John 14-16, we have the longest teaching block of Jesus’ ministry recorded for us, as Jesus comforts his disciples and prepares them for being sent out into the world. Immediately following, we have the longest prayer of Jesus recorded. While we often refer to the prayer in the Sermon on the Mount and in Luke 11 as ‘the Lord’s Prayer’, it was a model prayer that Jesus taught his disciples to pray. Here in John 17 we have what we can really call our Lord’s own prayer, as he personally interacts with his Heavenly Father. He prayed this prayer audibly, so his disciples (including us), could learn from and join with him. Prayer is often one of the most difficult components of a life as a disciple of Jesus. It is full of complexities, difficulties, and obstacles. No wonder Jesus’ disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray. One of the ways Jesus taught them to pray is by allowing them to listen in to his prayers. In addition to being an example of prayer, this prayer is also full of great truths that describe the riches we have in Jesus. Embracing all that is ours in Christ, we believe, will dispel many of our anxieties, fears and apathy towards prayer. Our hope and prayer for this sermon series that we would grow as a faith family in our discipleship to Jesus, specially in our expressions of private and corporate prayer.