Pray Like Jesus By Pastor Mark DriscollEsimerkki

The High Priestly Prayer Part 3: Pray for Non-Christians 

Lastly, Jesus prays for those who didn’t yet know Him. When Jesus prays, “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word…” He was praying for you. It is a bit staggering to consider that, with His own complex life to manage and death to endure that we were in His heart and on His mind.

Not only does Jesus model for us the importance of praying for lost people, but He also prays for us to talk to lost people about Him as they come to “believe in me,” Jesus says, “through their word.” Jesus alone saves people, but you and I are sent to speak to people about Him. 

God not only oversees the ends of things (who is saved) but also the means (how they are saved). Jesus prays for evangelism and unity because unity provides the power for mission. When a group of people unifies around a mission, willing to pay the price to complete it and stick together, big things can happen.

For this reason, not only does Jesus pray for people to become Christians, but He also prays for Christians to speak to non-Christians. Likewise, every Christian should, out of love, have a list of people they know and pray will become Christians. By praying for them, we are asking God the Holy Spirit to prepare them to hear about Jesus and prepare us to speak with them about Jesus.

One of the easiest ways to begin warming people up to Jesus is simply telling them you care and asking them whether there is anyone or anything you can be praying about for them. Most of the time, even a non-Christian appreciates someone regularly praying for their need, and this opens the door of an ongoing conversation about how they are doing and how you can lovingly support them. Eventually, these relationships that start with praying for someone will transition to conversations with them about Jesus.

Unlike the rest of us, Jesus Christ came down. For eternity, He sat on a throne, surrounded and served by divine beings including angels, had worship songs sung to Him, lacked nothing, needed nothing, had all power, all wealth, and all authority ruling over all Creation. Then, He gave it all up to come down to be with us, to be like us, and to serve us.

Jesus’ riches-to-rags story seems a bit odd to those of us who are hoping that our lives will be a rags-to-riches story. Jesus’ journey from glory to humility and back into glory sounds to us as foolishness, which the Bible says it is to some who hear it. While on the earth, theologians like to say that Jesus’ glory was veiled so that we saw merely a humble, poor, powerless Galilean peasant.

Think of glory in terms of weightiness and majesty. Regarding weightiness, there are people and things in our life that matter most to us—meaning they outweigh other people and things. For the Christian, an example would be that the Bible outweighs all other books and that the relationship with your spouse outweighs all other human relationships.

Regarding majesty, something in us as created beings feels a sense of worshipful awe when we are in the presence of something far bigger and stronger than we are. For example, where we live in the desert of Arizona, when monsoon seasons arrive, massive clouds roll in, rain pours from the sky, and lightning lights up the night. The power and strength of a monsoon cause people to stop what they are doing and stand in awe at its power. Similarly, a few-hour drive north of us is the Grand Canyon. People from around the world travel to see what is basically a very large hole in the ground. Why? When you stand or sit on the edge, you feel incredibly small and insignificant—something surprisingly satisfying to the soul made for the glory of 

God’s presence.

Jesus prayed that we would see Him in glory. When all is said and done and we are together forever, His prayer will be answered forever and ever. In the meantime, we live for God’s glory until we see the God of glory. Jesus’ prayer reminds us of four great truths about glory:

1. Our God is glorious. More powerful, wonderful, joyful, helpful, and incredible is our God than anyone or anything, or everyone and everything!

2. Our message is glorious. To have the great honor of telling people about the glorious love and grace of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ, is an incredible honor. In a world filled with gory bad news, we get to tell people the good news of Jesus’ glory!

3. Our mission is glorious. No matter where we go or what we do, the underlying mission is always the same for the Christian—to bring glory to God because God is glorious and alone worthy of glory. The Christian who eats their meal, washes their dishes, changes their baby, works their job, suffers their grief, forgives their enemy, and evangelizes their neighbor does it all to God’s glory, which is the source of our joy!

4. Our future is glorious. One day there will be no more politicians or elections, tears or fears, or fights or funerals. One day, everyone and everything that belongs to Jesus will be together in glory, forever healed, unified, and glorified with Jesus forever.

Reflection:

1. Who prayed for you to become a believer? Write about your thankfulness for this person.

2. Which non-Christians can you start praying for?