Intercessory Prayer

John 17

Intercession = Heb, from a root meaning to strike, hence it means to assail or encounter with a request. This is a word use prophetically of the ministry of servant of God, He bore the sin of the many, and made intercession for the transgressors

Is 53:12 “He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.”

In the Greek intercession means to meet, approach, or make an appeal

Jesus in verse 5 asked the Father to glorify Him “together” with Yourself

With that same glory I had with YOU before the world was.

As Christians, we all want to be gloried with the Father, but the Father declares in Is 42:8 ““I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.”

This suggest in order to be glorified with God we must finish the work God sent us here to do.

To pray team: Each of us has said we were called to pray, we wanted to be on the prayer team. Yet, we hardly pray as a prayer team. That is my fault.

As a prayer team the quintessential identifier of us should be prayer, but the only prayer we engage in is the prayer we do on Sunday’s when the prayer team is asked to come forward.

Glorify = to positively acknowledge, recognize, or esteem one’s

character

nature

or attributes (these characteristics are worthy of being compared to God) because Jesus live His life patterned after the Father, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can do only what He sees His Father doing, because whatsoever the Father does the Son does also.” John 5:19

This is why Jesus could boldly ask the Father to glorify Him or return Him to the glorious status He once had because He has honored God by completing the work that He was sent to do.

Where did Jesus intercede?

Jesus intercedes at the grave of His friend Lazarus John 11:41-42 “So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. “I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.””

Jesus prays all night on a mountain before selecting the 12 disciples Luke 6:12-13 “It was at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as apostles:”

John 17 considered the high priestly prayer illustrates the most complete account in scripture of and intercessory prayer by Jesus. He Jesus prays from Himself, He prays for the disciples, and He prays for everyone else

The objects of His prayer were

Himself (that He might glorify the Father and complete the work He was sent to accomplish

The disciples whom were chosen to spread the gospel after His departure (v8-9)

the entire family of believers (v20)

What was the goal of His intercession

the unity of God’s people (v 11, 21)

their joy in spite of hardships and discouragement (v 13)

their preservation from evil (v 15)

their sanctification by the Word of God ( v 17)

their eternal fellowship with Christ (v 24)