The Lord’s Prayer – Praying For The Church
Our Father in heaven, just as your Son our Saviour prayed, we are praying that the church be one, as You the Father and the Son are one. We thank you that your Word does not and cannot change.
As Jesus raised His eyes to heaven in prayer in John 17 and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, so that Your Son may glorify You”. Father, we give you all the glory, all the honour, all the praise, in the name of Yeshua Hamashiach.
2 “Just as You have given Your Son power and authority over all mankind, now glorify Him, so that He may give eternal life to all whom You have given Him to be His—permanently and forever”. We thank you for this assurance that salvation comes to us through the second Adam, who became sin for us who knew no sin.
3 “Now this is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true Supreme and Sovereign God, and in the same manner know Jesus as the Christ whom You have sent”. There is no other way whereby anyone can be saved inside or outside the church except through Christ who is the Way, The Truth and the Life.
4 “I have glorified You down here on the earth by completing the work that You gave Me to do”. The salvation through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ is the complete and completed work which no one can add to nor subtract from.
5 As Jesus prayed, “Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory and majesty that I had with You before the world existed”. Also Father, glorify your church, send your power upon your church in this world in this generation to fulfill the words of the Prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass afterward, That I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your old men shall dream dreams, Your young men shall see visions”.
6 “I have manifested Your name and revealed Your very self, Your real self to the people whom You have given Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept and obeyed Your word”. The church, the called out ones, the chosen ones, are yours. We belong to you Father, and on one can pluck us out of your hand.
7 “Now at last they know with confident assurance that all You have given Me is from You. It is really and truly Yours”. We are indeed the people of Elohim, called by His name, called from the dark, and delivered from shame, one holy race, saints everyone; because of the blood of Christ, Jesus the Son. So hear us, O spirits of darkness, so you will know where we stand, we are his servants, purchased with scars, bought by the blood of the lamb.
8 “For the words which You gave Me I have given them; and they received and accepted them and truly understood with confident assurance that I came from You, from Your presence, and they believed without any doubt, that You sent Me”. As your word says in Chapter 1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by Him; and without Him was not any thing made that was made”.
“11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not. 12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”.
9 “I pray for them; I do not pray for the world, but for those You have given Me, because they belong to You”. Likewise I pray for your body, the body of Christ, who are many members yet they are one. Just as the physical body has many members which all depend on each other to function effectively, so is the body of Christ, the church.
10 and all things that are Mine are Yours, and all things that are Yours are Mine; and I am glorified in them. 11 I am no longer in the world; yet they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, so that they may be one just as We are”. Make us one, Lord, make us one; Holy Spirit, make us one. Let your love flow so the world will know we are one in you.
12 “While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and protected them, and not one of them was lost except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled”. Now that the Holy Ghost is come, we are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord, and I pray that all barriers, walls and partitions will be broken down, dismantled, shattered in the mighty name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
The Church in the World
13 “But now I am coming to You; and I say these things while I am still in the world so that they may experience My joy made full and complete and perfect within them, filling their hearts with My delight”. I thank God for Christ Jesus who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
Beloved, we are, even here and now children of God, and it is not yet made clear what we will be after His coming. We know that when He comes and is revealed, we will as His children be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is in all His glory.
As we are in the world as salt and light, empower and enable your church to give flavour and direction to those walking in darkness, stumbling over all kind of sin in their lives. Therefore, while we are in the world, sanctify and keep us pure from all defilement and carnal weaknesses.
14 “I have given to them Your word, the message You gave Me; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world and do not belong to the world, just as I am not of the world and do not belong to it”. You told us in 1John 2 15-17 – Do not love the world of sin that opposes God and His precepts, nor the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world—the lust and sensual craving of the flesh and the lust and longing of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, pretentious confidence in one’s resources or in the stability of earthly things—these do not come from the Father, but are from the world. 17 The world is passing away, and with it its lusts, the shameful pursuits and ungodly longings; but the one who does the will of God and carries out His purposes lives forever.
15 Jesus continues in His prayer for the church, “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but that You keep them and protect them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world”.
Keep us from deception of the evil one, open the eyes of your people, that we may walk in your truth. Let your church overcome all denominational labels, doctrinal and religious dogmas, and walk by faith.
Enable your church Lord, never to flow down the stream of every wind that blows, carrying all the garbage and stench of the world. Keep your church together under the blood stain banner of Jesus Christ. Only your truth can keep us, for you are Truth.
As your word says, “They went out from us seeming at first to be Christians, but they were not really of us because they were not truly born again and spiritually transformed; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out teaching false doctrine, so that it would be clearly shown that none of them are of us.
17 “Sanctify your believers in the truth, set them apart for Your purposes, make them holy; Your word is truth. 18 Just as You commissioned and sent Me into the world, I also have commissioned and sent them (the church) into the world. 19 For their sake, I sanctify Myself to do Your will, so that they also may be sanctified, set apart, dedicated, made holy in Your truth”.
20 “I do not pray for these alone, it is not for their sake only that I make this request, but also for all those who will ever believe and trust in Me through their message, 21 that they all may be one; just as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be one in Us, so that the world may believe without any doubt that You sent Me”.
Their Future Glory
22 “I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected and completed into one, so that the world may know without any doubt that You sent Me, and that You have loved them, just as You have loved Me”.
You are the mysterious God of the church, who have sanctified your body of believers, those alive now and even the unborn whom you have already predestined to be your elect by grace through faith.
24 “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given to Me as Your gift to Me, may be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, because You loved Me before the foundation of the world”.
As your Word declared in Romans 8 28 – 30, And we know with great confidence that God who is deeply concerned about us, causes all things to work together as a plan for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.
29 For those whom He foreknew and loved and chose beforehand, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son and ultimately share in His complete sanctification, so that He would be the firstborn, the most beloved and honored among many believers.
30 And those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified declared free of the guilt of sin; and those whom He justified, He also glorified, raising them to a heavenly dignity.
25 “O just and righteous Father, although the world has not known You and has never acknowledged You and the revelation of Your mercy, yet I have always known You; and these believers know without any doubt that You sent Me”. What then shall we say to all these things? If God is for us, who can be successful against us?
Who shall ever separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 Just as it is written and forever remains written, for Your sake we are put to death all day long; we are regarded as sheep for the slaughter.”
26 “And I have made Your name known to them, and will continue to make it known, so that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them overwhelming their heart, and I may be in them.”
For I am convinced and continue to be convinced—beyond any doubt that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present and threatening, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the unlimited love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Hallelujah, so let it be.