Sermon Nuggets Mon Oct 13
Theme- Prayer
Verses John 17:1-5 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: "Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him.
3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
4 I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
Personal Prayer
We have recorded for us one of the most intimate prayers of Jesus. Some will call this the real “Lord’s Prayer” whereas what we sometimes recite together from the illustration on prayer in Matthew might be called “The disciple’s prayer” teaching us how to prayer.
This is a personal time Jesus spends with His Father. It is communication and intimacy with one another while the Son is in the human body. We are blessed to be allowed to hear it as recorded by the Apostle John.
Fellowship with a Holy God produces holiness among us. That cannot be accomplished any other way than communication without Heavenly Father. I read somewhere, “Prayer is so simple; It is like quietly opening a door and slipping into the very presence of God. There in the stillness to listen to His voice; Perhaps to petition, or only to listen; It matters not. Just to be there in His presence is prayer.
One mother noticed her little girl was in her room a long time to say her prayers before going to bed. Finally when she was done her mother asked her what she was doing? “I was just telling Jesus that I love Him and He was telling me that He loves me. And we were just loving each other.”
I am afraid too many people miss out on that element of prayer. Prayer is not just the means by which we make requests of the divine and put in our orders like at McDonalds. It is seeking the presence of our Creator. It is the desire to know Him and His glory and to see His power and experience His love.
Prayer is not a ritual to go through, but heartfelt conversation with God. Here Jesus and His Father are loving one another in prayer. It was intended for our spiritual benefit as well. Prayer became the avenue of expression and receiving the comfort and strength prior to Jesus going to the cross. Gethsemane is yet to come when other matters need to be discussed and communicated. Now is just the time to share appreciation and enjoy the relationship.
Do you ever think aloud? Do you talk to yourself? How can one God expressed in three distinct persons have a conversation? God is talking to Himself in terms of the Son and the Father and the Holy Spirit.
After preparing His disciples for His departure and endurance on a cross Jesus is praying something like ‘Let it happen Lord, just like you planned.” This chapter 17 He prays for Himself His disciples and for all believers yet to come. But this week I want to just think together on the personal prayer communication with God the Father.
There is a glory that is to be revealed that is the plan of God for our benefit. There is a glory that is to be revealed for our benefit also in prayer.
I had a very intelligent professor at Bethel whose favorite Hymn was “In the Garden”. It wasn’t all the knowledge and insights he discovered and could pass on to his students that excited him as much as the intimacy of a personal relationship with Almighty God.
“And He walks with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own; And the joy we share as we tarry there, None other has ever known.” It is the personal communication that is just between the two of them that is most awesome.
Imagine that in your personal time with God there is a desire on His part to spend uninterrupted time just with you and you with Him. It is no one else’s business. But it is to be your delight.
Pastor Dale
