Greatly to be Praised

I’ve recently started to read the bible differently. Lots of times, I would look up a word (like love or faith) and then read all the verses in the bible about them. From there I’d usually just skip around and let God tell me where to go.
Lately I’ve started to read full chapters…not that I haven’t read whole chapters before…but I’ve started reading the whole chapter not just bits and parts.

I read Luke 17 last night and it made me so incredibly happy, that I had to share it with you.

Take a couple minutes and please go read it!
Sometimes chapters in the bible have titles, and in this case Luke 17 is called “Jesus Prays to be Glorified”.

The first verse says “after Jesus said this”, now I hope all of you know, but whenever a verse or chapter starts with a word like after, or therefore, you should always go back and see what happened in the previous chapter.

In chapter 16, Jesus is talking to the disciples about when He will leave and the Holy Spirit will come. He is telling the disciples not to worry, that God is with them.

The chapter ends with Jesus telling us this:
“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world”.

(this verse alone is a sermon waiting to happen…can you just imagine Jesus saying this, pay attention to the exclamation point, ‘but take heart!’ it’s as if He’s giving us the pep talk for life)

Lets go back to Luke 17 now that we know Jesus was telling us that we’re going to run into trouble in life but that it’s all going to be okay…because HE came to overcome the world.
Luke 17 is Jesus’ prayer for us. Yep that’s right…Jesus Christ said a prayer to His Father in Heaven, the Creator of the Universe for you.

((PS I’d like to point out the obvious right now: the red in your bible is Jesus talking. IF YOU DON’T HAVE A BIBLE WITH RED WRITING GO GET ONE! IF YOU CANT GO GET ONE COME TO ME))

In verse 6 He says:
I spelled out your character in detail
To the men and women you gave me.
They were yours in the first place;
Then you gave them to me,
And they have now done what you said.
They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt,
That everything you gave me is firsthand from you,
For the message you gave me, I gave them;
And they took it, and were convinced
That I came from you.
They believed that you sent me.
I pray for them.
(The Message)

If you haven’t caught it yet…Jesus is clearly talking about us.

We’ve all been told that God had us written on His palm before we were born (Isaiah 49:16) and that Jesus came to this earth for our sins…but have you ever thought that while he was here Jesus prayed for us? It might seem like a thought we should have all thought at one point (what a tongue twister!) but have you really thought about it?

Jesus goes on to say that ‘I am not praying for the world, but for those that you have given me, for they are yours’ (verse 9). He’s praying for us…the Saved.

He goes on to ask God to protect us, He actually uses the words ‘Holy Father protect them’…that should send shivers down your back. Are you catching all that!?!?!? Jesus is asking GOD to protect us.

Often times, well every other time, we read in the bible about the writers praying to God for us (like Paul in Ephesians)…but this time it’s JESUS! Our Savior King is taking time to pray for us to God.

It makes sense when you really think about it. He came to this earth to live as an example for us, He died on the cross for our sins, and in this chapter He’s praying for us.
Jesus goes on in verse 15 to tell God that His prayer is not that we’ll be taken out of the world, but that He will protect us from the evil one, and that we’ll be sanctified in the truth.

Wow, wow, wow.

Jesus is telling God that we are going to run into trouble, but that we are equipped with what we need to make it through (Him).

Read the chapter again.
Pray about this. Realize that God really was thinking about you before you were even born.

You ARE someone special. You ARE a child of God.
So act like it.
Don’t you think that if Jesus had the time to pray for us, you could find the time to pray to His Father?

Our prayer lives need to be the center focus in our lives, next to God.
What we spend our idle time on reflects what is most important in our lives.
But if you fill that idle time with a wonderful prayer life…people will notice what’s most important to you.

God is waiting for you to pray to Him. He’s waiting for you to give Him your worries and concerns, and He’s also waiting for you to give up that thing you’ve been holding in.
Let God protect you. Let God keep you safe. Let God fill you with Joy. Let God fill you up.

Pray, pray, and pray some more! Meditate on this chapter. Let God open your heart to what Jesus is saying. You may come across something I didn’t mention. (and if you do, please share it with me!)

Your Sister in Christ,
Meg