What Does Jesus Pray For?

“Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for
us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for
us.”----------------------------Romans 8:34

What does Jesus pray for when He prays for us? What does He say when He intercedes for us?

In John 17 we find the true Lord’s Prayer, a prayer that only Jesus could pray. Here Jesus said,
“Now I am departing from the world; they are staying in this world, but I am coming to you.
Holy Father, you have given me your name; now protect them by the power of your name so that
they will be united just as we are” (verse 11 NLT).

Jesus prays for our protection. That’s His heart toward us.

The Bible tells us of a time when Jesus was with the disciples and turned to Simon Peter and
said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat” (Luke 22:31 NLT).

Now, would it freak you out if Jesus said that you? “Hey, the Devil has been asking about you
by name, that you’d be taken out of God’s protection.”

Jesus could have stopped there and just let that hang for a moment. But He went on to say, “But I
have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have
repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers” (verse 32 NLT).

Many of us know people who have made a so-called commitment to follow Christ, but they
mysteriously crash and burn. They fall away spiritually and are no longer interested in following
Jesus.

Maybe you’ve thought, “Wow, if someone like that could fall away, am I next?”

That’s entirely up to you, because God has given you a free will. He doesn’t want you to fall
away, but you have to do your part. The moment you fail to move forward spiritually is the
moment that you essentially begin to go backward.
Shadow Dwelling
“The LORD himself watches over you! The LORD stands beside you as your protective

shade.” ----------------------------------------—Psalm 121:5

Road bikers know that if you’re out riding and someone is ahead of the pack, you can draft if you
get right behind them. They can help pull you a little bit.

The psalmist wrote, “The Lord himself watches over you! The Lord stands beside you as your
protective shade” (Psalm 121:5 NLT).

If you want to stand in the shadow of God, if you want to draft behind God, you need to be close
to Him.

We have God’s assurance that He loves us and isn’t going to lose us. He isn’t going to forget
about us.

God instructed the Jewish priests to pronounce this blessing over the people of Israel: “May the
Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the
Lord show you his favor and give you his peace” (Numbers 6:24–26 NLT).

Then in the New Testament, 1 Peter 1:5 tells us, “And through your faith, God is protecting you
by his power until you receive this salvation, which is ready to be revealed on the last day for all
to see” (NLT).

Also, Jude wrote, “I am writing to all who have been called by God the Father, who loves you
and keeps you safe in the care of Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:1 NLT).

Let’s say, for example, that you’ve been able to pay off your mortgage. Don’t keep making
payments, because you own your home now. It’s yours, so enjoy it.

In the same way, you are continually kept by the Lord. You are safe. It’s a continuing result of a
past action, because Jesus paid for your salvation. He purchased it for you.
Live in it, enjoy it, and let it affect everything that you do.

Hold on Tight!
“Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto
eternal life.” —Jude 1:21

I don’t keep myself saved, but I keep myself safe.

God saves me. That’s established. But I keep myself safe, which means that I keep myself in the
love of God.

Though God’s love is unsought, undeserved, and unconditional, it’s possible for me to be out of
sync with His love.

Jude wrote, “Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal life” (1:21 NKJV). He was basically saying, “Keep yourself away from those things
that are unlike Him. Keep yourself from any influence that violates His love or brings sorrow to
God’s heart. And keep yourself in a place where God can actively show His love to you.”

In John 17 Jesus prayed to the Father, “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world,
but that You should keep them from the evil one” (verse 15 NKJV).

In this context “the world” refers to a mentality. It’s talking about a culture, a way of thinking,
and the world system under the control of Satan. That’s why the Bible calls the devil “the god of
this world” (see 2 Corinthians 4:4 NLT).

There is God’s part and our part. If you were on a diet, for example, you wouldn’t hang around
donut stores, would you?

Just as donuts aren’t good for diets, there are things that feed sin. That’s what Jesus meant when
He taught us to pray, “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one”
(Matthew 6:13 NLT).

Basically, that’s saying, “Lord, help me not to put myself in a place where I could fall into sin.”
So, God will keep you, but if you’re yanking your hand out of His hand, that’s a problem. God is
holding on to you. But the question is this: Are you holding on to Him?

Daniel 6:26-27

26 “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of
``Daniel. “For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed,
his dominion will never end. 27 He rescues and he saves; he performs signs and wonders in the
heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”

What Jesus Wants for Us

“I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are one—as you are in me, Father, and I
am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will believe you sent me.”

—John 17:21

Before I heard the gospel message, the love that Christians had for each other won me over. I
watched them on my high school campus and thought, “Is this for real, or are they making this
up? Is this an act? Do these people really love each other?”

After all, I was used to hanging around with people that I liked. Certain kids hung around certain
kids. But as I watched the Christians, I realized they were from every kind of background
imaginable, yet they obviously had something in common.

When Christians are unified and when they love one another, it’s a powerful witness to a lost and
divided world. And that is just what Jesus wants for us.

In John’s gospel we find His prayer for us: “I pray that they will all be one, just as you and I are
one—as you are in me, Father, and I am in you. And may they be in us so that the world will
believe you sent me” (17:21 NLT).

Now, I’m not calling for unity at any cost because the most important thing is truth. But
sometimes Christians divide over ridiculous things. They’ll get upset over some minor thing, so
they decide to leave fellowship altogether.
It reminds me of a story I heard about a man who had been stranded on a desert island. When
rescuers finally found him, they noticed he’d built three huts on the island.

“I built those huts myself,” he told them.

“Wow! What is this hut here?”

“That’s my house.”

“How about this one?”

“That’s my church.”

“That’s fantastic! And what’s the third hut?”

“Well,” he said, “that’s the church I used to go to.”

As Christians, we should seek to live in unity and love one another as Christ has loved us.

The Father of Lies

“For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he
does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there
is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the
father of lies.”-----------------------------------------------------------------------—John 8:44

Before I was a Christian, I don’t know that I actually thought of temptation as temptation. I
probably thought of it more like an opportunity. If something looked fun, I thought, “Why not go
for it?” I would give this or that thing a try.

So, when I became a Christian, other believers warned me, “Greg, watch out! The devil is going
to tempt you.”

“The devil? What do you mean, ‘the devil’?”

“Satan is going to tempt you,” they said.

“But how will I know when I’m being tempted?”

“You’ll know.”

I was in high school at the time, and there was a very pretty girl in one of my classes. I noticed
her, but she had never noticed me. She sat toward the front of the class, and one day after class,
she came walking up to me.

“Hi,” she said. “What’s your name?”

I was so stunned that I momentarily forgot my name. She was standing there talking to me, and I
had no idea why.

“You know, you’re cute,” she went on to say. “And you know what? My parents are gone for the
weekend. Would you like to come and stay at my house?”

And suddenly I realized what was happening. There it was, a temptation from the devil that the
other Christians had warned me about. How did I know? Because stuff like that never happened
to me. Trust me. It just didn’t.

So, I told her no, even though it wasn’t that easy to do.

I learned something that day: Temptation comes in attractive packages. Satan makes bad things
look good. He makes wicked things look appealing and makes deadly things look like they’ll be
the best experience you’ve ever had.

He’s a liar. And he’ll do whatever he needs to do to pull you down.

Isaiah 25:7-8

7 On this mountain he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all
nations; 8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from
all faces; he will remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.