Jesus Prays for Your Faith – Part 2

Here's Anne Graham Lotz on today's Living in the Light... You have Peter, James, and John who are the closest to Jesus, and so you've got 12 disciples. Out of that, the three who are closest to Him, and then John is the one who's intimate with Him. The beloved disciple, the one that sat next to Him at His last supper, leaned his head on his shoulder, and he describes himself as the one whom Jesus loved.

So, had precious relationship. I think he was very sensitive, he was quiet, but at the same time, he was called Jesus, nicknamed him the Son of Thunder, so he had a fiery temper. But you wouldn't know it when you read his letters in the New Testament. 1st, 2nd, 3rd John, he comes across as the apostle of love, and teaches us how we're to love each other, and if we don't love each other, then we can't say that we love God, and so is a message of love that John gave. So he wrote also the Gospel of John, presenting the Gospel to the whole world. I love the Gospel of John.

And in the end, in chapter 20, he says, I've written these things that you might believe. And today, people are still reading what John wrote and believing because of what he said. He must have said it to the wrong person, because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, and somebody got offended, and they slapped him when he was an old man on Patmos, put him in exile. He had been a pastor at Ephesus. In fact, he was the one that Jesus at the cross, do you remember, asked John to take care of his mother for the rest of her life, which John did. So he took care of Mary, and we believe maybe she was in Ephesus with him when he pastored that church, but at the end of his life, they put him in exile in Patmos, so he's cut off from his friends, he's cut off from his church, cut off from everything you would think he would have a complaining spirit after I've served you, after I've been an evangelist, I've pastored churches, and here I am stuck on a rock in the middle of the Aegean Ocean. But he was in a right spirit, he was in a sweet spirit, and he looked up, and he received the vision of the glory of Jesus that we know as the book of Revelation.

So giving hope and encouragement to people, even now as we see the things beginning to unfold in our world. So those are the twelve disciples minus one, I'll talk about Judas in a minute. But they're such a diverse group, and I went through it because I want you to see the diversity, and I feel like there's somebody here that you think if you put your faith in Jesus, you think if you follow him as a disciple, that you have to be like somebody else. And maybe the somebody else you're thinking about is serious and dour and they don't ever take a joke and they have no sense of humor, but they carry a big Bible and they're severe and judgmental and you think, ah, I don't want to be a follower of Jesus if that's who I have to be.

Or maybe it's somebody who's just all over the place, they're just excited and they're gifted and they're doing some of these wild, weird things. I'm afraid I don't want to become like that. But the wonderful thing is that Jesus calls each one of us to be a disciple with our own unique personality, our unique gifting, our unique skill set. You don't have to be like somebody else.

So there's a diversity in our unity. But feel free to be yourself. And as you surrender to the Holy Spirit and let him fill your life, he will begin to conform you to the image of Jesus, but that doesn't mean that we're all the same. So think about the disciples.

Which one are you most like? You know, there are no women amongst the apostles, the twelve disciples and that's for appropriate reasons, but women can be disciples too. And Mary Magdalene teaches us that. She was the first one that Jesus appeared to after the resurrection and he told Mary, I want you to go into Jerusalem and you tell my eleven disciples, you tell eleven men who you've seen, your encounter with the risen Christ and then give them my word to go back to Galilee. And Mary ran and she took that message so she really was commissioned as the very first evangelist. Women can be disciples. So just because they're not one of these eleven men, don't let yourself off the hook. And I know they can be disciples because I'm one.

This is my point in going through all of them. Jesus said in verse 8, he says, I gave them the word you gave me. They accepted them. They believed them. So Jesus gave them God's word and these men wrote it down, they believed it, they accepted it, they wrote it down and this is what we have in our Bibles. This is the word that they've passed down to us and our faith is established on the word of the apostles and the prophets in the Old Testament. Jesus said in Luke chapter 24, all the scripture speaks of himself and he was speaking at that time of the Old Testament. So all of scripture speaks of him.

Old Testament, New Testament, our faith the Bible says is established on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. So when you think of your Bible I want you to see that these men are men with personalities and passions and some of them failed and they made mistakes and they're sinners like you and me but they're saved and they embraced what Jesus had for them and they wrote it down and they passed it down to the next generation and the next generation and the next generation and that's the word that has come to us. Praise God. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 23 says, for you have been born again not of perishable seed but imperishable through the living and enduring word of God.

For all men are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field for grass withers and flowers fail but the word of the Lord stands forever and then Peter says and this is the word that was preached to you. So your faith and my faith is not to be based on our feelings or our opinions or what somebody says or the way we were raised or what we've been taught. Our faith is established in the word of God. So read your Bible. Read your Bible. Put the roots of your faith down deep in the word of God. God's word does not change. God's word works. So Jesus is praying that you and I would have faith that would not fail and faith that doesn't fail is established in the word of God and secondly faith that doesn't fail is secured by the will of God. This is going back to verse 6.

He says, you gave them to me. God has chosen you to be a disciple. And that's a problem for some people. You know, predestination. My mother taught me to tiptoe through Calvin's tulips you know so maybe that wouldn't mean anything to you but I just take it lightly but I know that Jesus said God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life. That's the most inclusive invitation there is and so whosoever you put your faith in Jesus you come to him and you turn around and you discover oh my goodness God knew I would make that decision and before the foundations of the world were laid he chose me to belong to Jesus. And the fact that you're chosen by God to be a disciple secures your faith. So you're secured by the will of God. They were secured because God had given them to Jesus and the proof of it, their obedience in verse 6, they've obeyed your word and then their acceptance in verse 8, I gave them the word you gave me, they accepted them, they accepted Jesus' words as God's words.

And you know some people have red letter Bibles which I don't like because I think all of God's word is God's word you know but the red letters at least emphasize the words of Jesus, they are God's word. So when Jesus was speaking that's God speaking and the disciples believe that. They were confident in verse 7 and 8, now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. They know with certainty that I came from you and they believe that you sent me. So while the enemies were blaspheming Jesus and say he's come from the devil and he's you know whatever and the disciples knew with certainty that he was the Son of God, that he was the Messiah. So they were obedient, they were confident, they were acceptance and then the most important thing, verse 11, that they may be one as we are one. And I believe he's looking towards Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down and the Holy Spirit came and indwelt them and made them one with Jesus, Jesus one with the Father and they were one with each other because they're each indwelt by the same Holy Spirit. So there's somebody here doubting your salvation, lacking the assurance of your salvation.

So let's just check the proof okay. This was the proof that they were disciples and apostles in this case. Do you have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit? Have you come to the cross, confessed your sin, told God you're sorry, asked him to forgive you, received eternal life, believed that he rose up from the dead to give you eternal life and you've received him.

You open up your heart, you invite him to come in and you say well Anna didn't feel anything. Remember our faith is not based on our feelings. And so the Bible says when you confess your sin, he's faithful and just he will forgive you. And the Bible says you ask him to give you eternal life, he will give you eternal life. And the Bible says you open up your heart and invite Jesus to come in. He will come in living inside of you in the person of the Holy Spirit, never to leave you, never to forsake you. And to have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 1 says that's God's seal on your life. Nobody can break that seal. God has put the Holy Spirit, he's your down payment, he's your engagement ring.

You know when Danny Lotz gave me an engagement ring I was so excited because I knew it carried with it the promise that he was going to marry me. And the Holy Spirit is your engagement ring, it's the promise that God's going to one day bring you to his heavenly home and you're going to live with him forever, that you belong to God. You're a child of God. So the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and then we'll go back up, are you confident that Jesus is the son of God when down here you know they call him maybe a man, a great man, maybe they'll even say he's a great prophet but they don't believe he's God walking the earth in a human body. They don't believe he's a unique son of God. We're all sons of God, you know, no we're not.

There's only one unique son of God and his name is Jesus and that doesn't mean God junior, you know that. It means God in the flesh, all that God is in human form, fully God, fully man. And acceptance, you accept Jesus' words as God's word. And obedience, because it's God's word you obey it, yes sir, you know, you do what he says. So there's somebody who lacks that assurance of salvation, I just encourage you, maybe one more time you need to pray that prayer, this time by faith, put your faith in God's word and then you just get on with your Christian life.

You believe in Jesus, you accept his word, you start obeying his word and as you get on in your Christian life that assurance is going to come. But your faith is in the word of God and it's secured by the will of God and that brings privileges and we talked about the precious privilege last night about knowing God in a personal, permanent relationship. In verse 6 again he said, I've revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. And he revealed God to us as Father in that personal love relationship. So the one who had been in unapproachable lights, surrounded by thunder and lightning and frightening things, awesome, majestic, we have the privilege of knowing him in a personal love relationship. And another privilege you're being prayed for, verse 9 is my theme for this series, I pray for them, I'm not praying for the world but for those you have given me.

And Jesus is praying for you. In the Old Testament when the high priest went into the most holy place once a year to make atonement. So he would take the blood of the lamb and he would go into the mercy seat and he would sprinkle the blood there. But when he did he wore on his chest the breastplate of gold and embedded in the breastplate were 12 semi-precious stones. And on each stone was carved the name of one of the tribes of Israel. And it was to signify that when the high priest went into the presence of God he carried on his heart the names of God's children.

And Hebrews tells us that Jesus goes into the most holy place of God's presence up in heaven and he doesn't enter in through the blood of lambs and bulls and goats but his own blood. And he has access into the very throne room of God and he lives there to make intercession for us and he carries us on his heart. So he prays for you in his omniscience, means that he's never had a new thought which means he's always been thinking of you. You've always been on his mind, always been on his heart.

He's praying for you with full understanding. He knows your past. He knows the future.

He knows what's going on right now. He knows what you're afraid of. He knows what you hope for. He knows your dreams. He knows your thoughts before they become words. And he loves you and he's praying for you.

That's a privilege. And then he protects us. Verse 15, my prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. That he would protect us from the devil.

Ray Truth gave that startling illustration about authoritative prayer when the people came to kill and I can't remember if it was in Africa and had the machetes upraised and the man rebuked them in the name of Jesus and they dropped the machetes and they ran. That's God protecting them with the power of his name. So Jesus is praying for our protection from evil and I think increasingly we're going to need that for ourselves, for our children, for our grandchildren. God just protects us from the evil.

The sex trafficking, the pornography, the abusive situations and who knows when we get to heaven when God shows us what he's protected us from. And sometimes bad things happen to good people and sometimes we may have a cancer diagnosis or go through a robbery or get mugged or whatever. I've had some interesting experiences but I know when God lifts his hand of protection then it's because he's got a greater purpose. And his greater purpose for my good is that I become conformed to the image of Jesus and so everything that comes into my life is for that good to be used to conform me to the image of Jesus and then to bring him glory.

So he will protect us. Now remember when we were robbed and my front door was broken down and everything of value gone in my house and it's just the most violated feeling. They folded back my bed, they took my things, put in my pillow cases for my bed to take off my silver and jewelry and things and I felt so violated but I knew that God had lifted his hand of protection for whatever reason and sometimes you just have to trust God when you don't understand why.

I was speaking that summer at Amsterdam in 1983 I think it was and I got up and had no jewelry, no all the things that sometimes we think we have to have. And I feel like the Lord just showed me and the treasure you have to give to these evangelists is on the inside. So it's not our outward appearance. It's all the investment we've made in our walk with the Lord. So he will protect us. It doesn't mean bad things don't happen but when they do we know they're for a purpose. We know it's not an accident.

We know it didn't catch God by surprise. We know he wasn't on vacation, he wasn't neglectful, he's allowed it for a purpose and so we look up and I say, Lord why? But not like why did you do this to me? It's like what's your purpose? I want to fall in line with your purpose.

I want to use this for your glory. So you're kept by God. Holy Father he says, protect them by the power of your name. And if people don't know you belong to God and belong to Jesus then I don't know if that works.

So don't hide your lighter under a bushel. Let your light shine. Let people know.

And I feel like at least in my experience I just let it out there. I don't care if they invite me back. I don't care if I get whatever opportunity sometimes you get and people sometimes compromise their faith. They don't talk about Jesus because they're just so afraid they'll offend somebody then they won't get invited back to show.

They won't be able to do this. And I don't care if I'm ever invited back. You just let people know that you're a disciple of Jesus and God is your Father and you believe God's word and we're all sinners, we need a Savior. God has sent Jesus to take away our sin. He's the only way to God, only way to heaven. Put your faith in Him.

You just tell Him. He says He'll protect you by the power of His name and I found that people respect that. If you genuinely give out the truth in love but people respect it when you do.

They may not want to be your friend and they may not invite you to their party but they'll respect you and then when something bad happens you're going to be the one they come to. Kept by God. John 10, nobody can snatch you from the Father's hand. 2 Timothy 1-12, I know whom I have believed and I'm convinced He's able to guard that which I've entrusted to Him for that day. I've entrusted to Him my ministry, my family, my life, all that I am and He can guard it and keep it. And verse that my mother wrote in my first Bible when I was baptized, Jude 24, to Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before His throne. He's able to keep us from falling, falling away. He's praying for our faith that it would not fail, secured by His will.

And there's proof if you'll look for it but your faith is in the Word, right? But it brings with it privileges that only a child of God knows. Jesus from the cross prayed for sinners but in heaven He prays for saints. He prays for you and me. Everyone lives to make intercession for us. There's one prerequisite for this, alright, and this is verse 12.

While I was with them I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that scripture would be fulfilled. And he's speaking of Judas Iscariot. And Judas, can I describe him for a moment?

He was chosen to be a disciple and Jesus gave him the responsibility of being the treasurer for the whole group. Judas was in the boat when Peter walked on the water. Judas was in the boat when Jesus climbed in and calmed the storm and the disciples said, oh my goodness who is this that even the wind and waves obey him. Judas was there on that hillside when there were 5,000 people who are men and families that were fed with five loaves and two fish. In fact, Judas was one of the disciples that passed out the baskets of broken pieces and saw the whole crowd fed until they were satisfied. And Judas was there when the man who was born blind was given sight. And Judas was there in Bethany when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. So what was it about Judas that he would betray his Lord? And why would he have been chosen to be a disciple? When you know Jesus knew he would. God knew he would. So there are only two things I can come up with.

Maybe you can come up with some more. But one reason is maybe Jesus chose him to be his disciple because Jesus wants you to know he understands what it feels like to be betrayed. So if you've had a spouse that walked out on you for somebody else, you've had a sibling who stole your inheritance, you had a business associate that took the business from you right out from underneath your nose and you didn't know it until it was gone.

You had a best friend who you found has been slandering you behind your back and people are believing the accusations. Jesus understands what it's like to be betrayed by somebody that you love. So maybe that's one reason he chose Judas. But I think the greater reason probably is that Jesus chose Judas to be a disciple to underscore for you and me that while we're chosen by God to be a disciple of Jesus, we also have to choose. And Judas never chose to be a disciple. He followed Jesus.

He stole from the treasury. He saw all those miracles. He enjoyed being with Jesus for three years. I cannot imagine hearing Jesus, watching Jesus, being with Jesus for three years and yet not embracing Jesus. But that was Judas. And he fooled everybody.

The other disciples, they never guessed that he wasn't a real disciple because he just seemed so much like them. And the Bible says that within the church there are wheat and tares. And I think we have to be careful we can't go pulling up tares because it may be a baby wheat. And so Jesus says at the end of the age the angels will come and sort out the tares from the wheat and the sheep from the goats, but they're there. And sometimes you can hear them saying things in the name of Jesus, in the name of the church, things that are radically opposed to the Word of God.

There are tares in the wheat. So I don't believe there's anybody who is like Judas here, but I want you to just take note that yes, God chooses you and me to be a disciple, but we also need to make the choice. He doesn't want us just blind robots. We're not just, you know, on a chessboard where he moves us around. We have a free will, and he wants us to choose to belong to Jesus and give Jesus our whole hearts and lives, to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. Living in the Light is a weekly study in God's Word with teacher and author Anne Graham Lotz. Learn to listen to His voice, then start making the choice to keep on going and believing and trusting who God is. Go to AnneGrahamLotz.org. Take advantage of the many helpful free resources to get you started. Join us again for Living in the Light.