April 24
Jesus Prays for Us!

Luke 22:14-34             J.B. Phillips New Testament (PHILLIPS)

^14-16 Then, when the time came, he took his seat at table with the apostles, and spoke to them, “With all my heart I have longed to eat this Passover with you before the time comes for me to suffer. Believe me, I shall not eat the Passover again until all that it means is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

^17-18 Then taking a cup from them he thanked God, and said, “Take this and share it amongst yourselves, for I tell you I shall drink no more wine until the kingdom of God comes.”

The mysterious words which were remembered later

¹⁹ Then he took a loaf and after thanking God he broke it and gave it to them, with these words, “This is my body which is given for you: do this in remembrance of me.”

^20-22 So too, he gave them a cup after supper with the words, “This cup is the new agreement made in my own blood which is shed for you. Yet the hand of the man who is betraying me lies with mine at this moment on the table. The Son of Man goes on his appointed way: yet alas for the man by whom he is betrayed!”

Jesus again teaches humility

²³ And at this they began to debate among themselves as to which of them would do this thing.

²⁴ And then a dispute arose among them as to who should be considered the most important.

^25-30 But Jesus said to them, “Among the heathen it is their kings who lord it over them, and their rulers are given the title of ‘benefactors.’ But it must not be so with you! Your greatest man must become like a junior and your leader must be a servant. Who is the greater, the man who sits down to dinner or the man who serves him? Obviously, the man who sits down to dinner—yet I am the one who is the servant among you. But you are the men who have stood by me in all that I have gone through, and as surely as my Father has given me my kingdom, so I give you the right to eat and drink at my table in that kingdom. Yes, you will sit on thrones and rule the twelve tribes of Israel!

The personal warning to Simon

^31-32 “Oh Simon, Simon, do you know that Satan has asked to have you all to sift like wheat?—but I have prayed for you that you may not lose your faith. Yes, when you have turned back to me, you must strengthen these brothers of yours.”

³³ Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go to prison or even to die with you!”

³⁴ “I tell you, Peter,” returned Jesus, “before the cock crows today you will deny three times that you know me!”

******************************************

What an amazing thing to know that the Messiah, the King of Heaven, would love a person enough to pray for him so that he would not lose strength and would not lose faith.

 

Just as He prayed for Simon Peter, so He prays for YOU!

Jesus wants us to perservere, to succeed in our walk of faith. 

He knows that it takes more than an act of our own will to be successful. 

We MUST have an ALIVE relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ that will cause Him to pray for our faith to be strengthened.

Each one of us has weakness that we can't overcome in our own strength.

We NEED the help of our Savior to go beyond our self.

We NEED him to get through those tough times that come to us in this life.

We NEED him to help us reach out into the world around us, to show others the way to Him.

He proves Himself faithful to us over and over again.

How wonderful to know that He is praying over us, cheering us on, every step of the way!