Can we see into the future?
Well…no.
Is there hope for the future?
Well…yes.
Can we anticipate the future?
Jesus anticipated the future.
The Longest Prayer
In the longest prayer of Jesus in the Bible, Jesus prayed
“I pray for those who will believe in me through their [his disciples] message, …”
John 17: 20.
Jesus was praying for people who had yet come to believe in him. He knew they would believe one day. And, he knew they would believe through the work of his disciples.
This verse is becoming one of my most favorite verses in the bible. The more time I spend with it, the more it entices me. The more I pray this prayer along with Jesus, the more excited my spirit becomes.
Obviously, I cannot pray these words as Jesus did. Change the words just a bit though, and look what happens:
“I pray for those that will believe in Jesus through the message of those I have led to Jesus.”
Now there is a thought. There is a prayer that is very intriguing.
Seeing the Future
Can you envision the people who will come to know Jesus as a result of someone you have introduced to Jesus?
Here are a few examples of what I see:
- A 14-year old girl, I baptized over twenty years ago, leading someone else to Jesus.
- The alcoholic, who Jesus set free from his addiction, bringing others with addictions to know the power of Jesus.
- The soldier, I baptized in a public swimming pool, leading her friends to recommit their lives to Jesus.
Actually, I don’t have to envision this because I witnessed it firsthand. But, on the days I was baptizing these people or leading them to Jesus, I wasn’t thinking about the people they would lead to Jesus. The thought had never crossed my mind.
Jesus teaches us to anticipate beyond the immediate. He teaches us to pray for those not yet but who one day will be. That is a powerful prayer. It is certainly a prayer worth praying. Not that all prayers aren’t worth praying, but this prayer…. this prayer will change the way you see yourself and the way you share your faith with others.
Hope
As disciples of Jesus, we are a people of hope. The Bible teaches us a lot about hope. Here are few verses.
For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
Romans 8:24-25
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11
And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Romans 5:5
The prayer of Jesus teaches us not just to have hope for ourselves. Jesus teaches us to have hope for others. He teaches us to have hope for those not yet but one day will be.
More on praying the prayers of Jesus can be found in the book below.
