"The Prayer of Jesus"

 "After saying these things, Jesus looked up to heaven and said, "Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son so he can give glory back to you."" (John 17:1 NLT) 

  "I lift my eyes up to you, O God, enthroned in heaven. We keep looking to the LORD our God for his mercy, just as servants keep their eyes on their master, as a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal." ((Psalm 123:1-2 NLT) 

 Just a little different twist of this chapter, as the rest of the Lord's prayer will be broken up into three parts: "The High Priestly Prayer," "The Disciples in the World," and "Their Future Glory." In a way, this is the continuation of the last verse of Chapter 16; what Jesus said to His disciples, He will now pour out before His Father.

 If you have ever preached a message that you knew God was going to do a work through, then you know that you need to pray something that is similar to what Jesus is praying, but with quite a lot more humility and meekness! Never go into a message unprepared, but always go expecting God to speak! Most of the time, God gives us something that is easy to understand and articulate, but then He will expand what we prepared for, by giving His heart on the matter.  

 In this case, Jesus knows full well what is going to take place, yet He also knows that there will be part of Him that will be tempted to make it stop. And He could make it stop, if He wanted to, with just a word! However, He was being a Servant! The Greatest Servant there ever was on this earth! You can't imagine what it would have been like, to have so much power, yet to be able to take so much punishment; let alone the shame, as everyone looked upon His beaten and stripped body, as He hung upon the cross. 

 As I shared yesterday, the way we fix the things we have that are messed up in our lives, isn't done by what we can do, we must give them to God, and then focus upon what we can do for the Lord. It is by God's strength that we changed, because He has already changed us, we just need to walk out the change we have been given, as His servant. 

 The reason I made such a big deal about the lame man that carried his mat, was not just because he forgot about saying, "stand," but because it was Stand that changed him! When Jesus gave the word, stand, it was by that word that the man stood up; he was changed in an instant. The mat that he was so dependent upon, was now somewhat of a burden that he carried, as he walked through the Temple, while in his changed condition. 

 If he had focused on the change, instead of the burden he was stuck with, he might have expressed the wonderful healing, more than the reason he was carrying his mat...

"You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal's death on a cross. Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:5-11 NLT)