A PRAYER FOR PROTECTION

Can I pray for you in any way?

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“I have revealed You to those whom You gave me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me and they have obeyed Your word. Now they know that everything You have given Me comes from You. For I gave them the words You gave Me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those You have given Me, for they are Yours. All I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine. And glory has come to Me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name You gave Me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”

“I am coming to You now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of My joy within them. 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. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As you sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”

John 17:6-19

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Death is a certainty. In fact, it can be more than a certainty than life itself, right?

I say this because we all know we’re going to die. It’s an inevitable part of the human experience. But life, this is more of an unknown. No one can say for sure that they know they’ll live through any one day and certainly there are stories every day of someone who came awake in the morning in perfectly good health only to have a sudden health emergency or an accident of some kind bring their life story to a close.

It’s these truths, the certainty of death and the uncertainty of life, that should motivate everyone to seal their future by believing in Jesus as Savior now. By doing so, there is no need to worry about when life ends because life really won’t. It will continue forever, free from all the worldly hardships and afflictions we deal with now.

But that’s another message for a different day. Today, we’re looking at the second of three special prayers Jesus speaks before heading to Gethsemane’s garden and His arrest. In it, we find Jesus concerned, not for His own well being, but rather for the protection of His faithful, hand-selected disciples He was leaving behind. His words are a primer for any person who might be nearing death and concerned for their loved ones who might be left behind. Look again at Jesus’ words here:

“I have revealed You to those whom You gave me out of the world. They were Yours; You gave them to Me and they have obeyed Your word. Now they know that everything You have given Me comes from You. For I gave them the words You gave Me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those You have given Me, for they are Yours. All I have is Yours, and all You have is Mine. And glory has come to Me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to You. Holy Father, protect them by the power of Your name, the name You gave Me, so that they may be one as We are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name You gave Me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.”

“I am coming to You now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of My joy within them. 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. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As you sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.”  John 17:6-19

Note three important things about this prayer of protection, two things we should incorporate into our own prayers when faced with a similar situation.

First, Jesus knew His future was set, despite death looming on the horizon. Yes, He was going to suffer deeply, mentally attacked for what He believed and then brutalized physically before nailed to a cross and lifted up to hang and die. Any mere human would be self consumed with worry, anxiety, and dread over what was ahead but we know that Jesus was no ordinary human. He was the very Son of God.

So Jesus wasn’t worried for Himself because He knew death would not be the end. Instead, He would be resurrected, rising up out of the tomb before ascending to once again dwell with His Father God in heaven. His future was secure.

But Jesus’ disciples weren’t following Him to His heavenly home. He was leaving them behind and He knew they would face grave danger just as He was about to. He knew His disciples would be hated because they were in the world but not of it, just as their Master Jesus was. And upon being emboldened by their false belief they had eliminated Jesus, the Jewish religious authorities would certainly come after Jesus’ followers next with the hope of eradicating Christianity altogether.

This is what leads us to the second element we find in Jesus’ prayer of protection. It was not self centered because Jesus knew He had nothing to worry about and this allowed Him to focus His concern on His disciples. Note that He gained great comfort in His prayer by knowing His Father God had the power to do all things, especially protect.

While Jesus was with His disciples, He provided the protection. He also provided instruction, showing His followers how to be obedient to God’s word while revealing Him to them. He also made sure His disciples knew that everything was an outflow from God, that He was the Master Orchestrator and Provider of all things.

Jesus had spent a lot of time educating and mentoring His disciples but now He was departing and so we find Him asking His Father to place a covering over His faithful ones, the followers who had been a part of His inner circle for three years running. He asked His Father to use the very power of His name to do this but to use that power while the disciples remained in the world. In other words, Jesus wasn’t asking God to take His disciples away from the world and the trouble they were going to experience. Rather, He allowed God to dictate the circumstances as He wished. Then as in now, God knows the plans He has for His people and He surely had future plans for Jesus’ disciples after their Savior departed. Jesus knew His followers would be in good hands.

And this leads me to the third element we see in a prayer of protection.

For these prayers are not self centered because of the promise and assurance of salvation at death. They also are prayers of complete trust in the power of God to protect anyone dear being left behind. And as we see in this third element, we find a prayer of protection carrying with it a component of concession, a concession that understands fully who people belong to.

In the end translation of things, all people belong to God, period. Jesus knew this and confessed it. The disciples belonged to God, first and foremost. God had loaned out the disciples to form Jesus’ special traveling ministry team and now Jesus was simply returning the care and protection of His followers to the One they truly belonged to. Jesus knew His disciples were as much His Father’s children as He was and so there was no need to worry because His followers would be in God’s hands, the best hands that anyone could be left in. Therefore, Jesus could depart and do so in peace.

We’re all going to die. Even Jesus did and He was the One and only Son of God.

But through His prayer of protection over His disciples, Jesus shows us how to pray for our beloved ones when out time comes to face the end of this worldly existence.

First, we need not worry about ourselves. Through Jesus, our future is secure and so we can focus our prayers on those we leave behind, asking God for their protection in our absence.

Second, we pray these selfless prayers of protection over our loved ones, knowing fully that God’s power can more than keep them safe. Our loved ones couldn’t safeguarded by anyone greater or better than God Himself.

Finally, we pray a prayer of protection, acknowledging that our loved ones don’t really belong to us but God and God alone. He simply loaned them out to us so we could love and share life with them. And we realize that they are His children as much as we are.

I give thanks to Jesus for this prayer and how it has equipped me to die when my time comes. It permits me to enter my salvation promise, free from worry over my family left here on earth. Whether my mother, my wife, my two daughters, or my grandchildren, the truth is that they all belong to God and God alone. They are His children and we know any good Father loves, cares, and protects His children.

Whether in death or in life, God is always in control. He is always with us and for us. And so, like Jesus, we have no need to worry.  

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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