SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/8/2017
10:23 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-2 Introduction to John 17:1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 17:1
Message of the
verses: “1 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His
eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son,
that the Son may glorify You.”
In this 17th chapter of John we are witnessing
a prayer by the Son of God given to the Father and as we look back on the life
of Jesus Christ on earth before He was crucified we know that prayer was a very
important part of His earthly life and some may be surprised by this, but
Christ depended upon prayer while here on earth. John MacArthur quotes Puritan Thomas Watson
who wrote “A godly man cannot live without prayer. A man cannot live unless he takes his breath,
nor can the soul, unless it breathes forth its desires to God.” MacArthur adds “Prayer expresses the soul’s
longing for God (Pss. 42:1-2; 63:1; 143:6); it is the cry (Pss. 34:15, 17;
86:3) of God’s people to their gracious, compassionate (Ex. 34:6, 2; 2 Chon.
30:9; Neh. 9:17; Ps. 103:8) heavenly Father (Matt. 6:6, 9; 7:11).”
As we look at the Word of God it both commands prayer and
it also includes records of the prayers of godly people. Some of the examples in the Old Testament are
Abraham praying for his son Ishmael, and also for Abimelech. He also prayed for God to spare the people of
Sodom. We see in the longest chapter in
the book of Genesis, a chapter about God providing a wife for Isaac that
Abraham’s servant asking God for guidance in finding a wife for Isaac, and then
praying that Rebekah would come with him.
Isaac prayed for his barren wife Rebekah would have a child. We could go on to site other examples of
people in the Old Testament praying to the Lord, but I would like to add one
more prayer which happens to be one of my favorite prayers in the OT because
when I heard a sermon on this prayer in Daniel chapter nine the Lord used that
sermon to save me.
Just like in the Old Testament we find many prayers in
the New Testament. It seems that in many
of Paul’s letters that he begins them with prayer for the church or person he
is writing to and then in the end he asks for prayer on his behalf. We also see the apostles praying in different
situations and of course in this 17th chapter of John we witness our
Lord ’s Prayer, which should in fact be called “The Lord’s Prayer,” for in it
He is the One praying.
John MacArthur writes “But the supreme example of prayer in
Scripture comes from the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Curtis C. Mitchell writes ‘Beyond doubt the
greatest examples of correct prayer practice ever displayed were those
demonstrated by Jesus Christ. So
distinct was His prayer life that by simply observing it our Lord’s disciples
were motivated to request instructions on the subject (see Luke 11:1)’”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: Prayer is a very
important part of my life, but I surely would like to do a better job in
praying. I have been learning things
from these latter chapters of John’s gospel and my prayer is that as we study
this 17th chapter of John that I will have a teachable heart so that
I can learn more about prayer.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that the Lord will give me a teachable
heart.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Rebekah” (Genesis 27:6).
Today’s Bible
question: “What is the middle book of
the Old Testament?”
Answer in our next SD.
2/8/2017 10:53 AM
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