May all our physical and mental activities that we engage in for temporal outcomes, here and now, whatever they may be, may the standard we use before engaging, be that it must glorify You Father…we pray.
I think it is interesting that when Yeshua prayed for His disciples He said this:
“…I don’t ask You to take them out of the world, but to protect them from the Evil One…” John 17:15 CJB.
When we pray for one another and ourselves we, in effect, pray for deliverance from some burden, to be freed from the trouble it is imposing on us in our lives. What Yeshua prayed to the Father wasn’t for deliverance from circumstances but protection from the Evil One’s efforts to separate them from Yahweh by means of circumstances.
So is it incorrect to pray to be delivered from troubles some of which are minor, some of which are enormous?
What prayer asks for more in the way of wanting deliverance from personal trials or the trials of others than Yeshua’s prayer in the garden?
“…My heart is so filled with sadness, that I could die!...My Father, if possible, let this cup pass from Me!... Matthew 26:38, 39 CJB
He asked to be spared the ordeal, just as we ask in our prayers but with genuine submissiveness, His greatest desire was…
…Yet-not what I want, but what You want!...Matthew 26:39 CJB
He prayed to be spared but His Father’s will and He were in unity regardless.
We see Yeshua’s prayer for His disciples was answered in His own need.
“…I don’t ask You to take them out of the world, but to protect them from the Evil One…”
“There appeared to Him an angel from heaven giving Him strength…” Luke 22:43
The Father then, answering prayer for protection, with strength to be faithful to the end…
“…I glorified You on earth by finishing the work You gave Me to do…John17:4 CJB
To God be the glory! May the rule we apply and the desire of our heart be that Yahweh be glorified, in the plans we make and in the manner in which we live them out.
Something else of value I think we can glean from Yeshua’s experience.
“…My heart is so filled with sadness that I could die!
Remain here and… stay awake… with Me…” Matthew 26:38 CJB.
How do you put into words what we see going on here? I haven’t got them. Maybe you either see it or you don’t… I don’t know.
Yeshua is standing close, facing these men He loves and who love Him. Are they not aware something is wrong, something is seriously wrong?
He knows they can’t change what is happening but could it be that just their company and companionship would be a comfort, give some relief to Him in the face of the coming ordeal?
When someone asks us for prayer aren’t they, on a certain level, doing the same thing Yeshua did? In that request are they not asking for the comfort of companionship as well as deliverance of some sort?
Could it be that they feel alone and by themselves and are simply asking… saying “Be with me for a little while in these circumstances… that may or may not turn out well.”
Would our joining them not be an expression of love, in body, in spirit, that would encourage them, strengthen them?
Father, that we would be willing companions to those who ask us to join them in prayer.
May a spirit of comfort go out to them as we respond to their request.
In Yeshua’s name we pray,
Amen.
May God’s love be in us all.
Elder.
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