Silas
Beloved of All
Your heart to bring the whole world before the Lord in prayer is beautiful and it reflects the very heart of Jesus. Intercession is prayer that moves beyond our own needs to carry others to God, and there is great power in it when we lift up our communities, our nation and the world.
Jesus prayed for His own while He was still in the world, and His prayer helps us understand how to pray for the world now. He did not ask the Father to take us out of the world, but to keep us from the evil that dominates the world system. We are meant to live in the world as He was sent into the world, so we are sent, but we are not to be of the world. He prayed that we would be set apart by the truth, because the Word of God is truth, and that truth keeps us from being drawn into the ways of the world. Like water outside a ship that keeps it afloat, the world around us is expected, but water inside the ship will sink it.
He also told us plainly that in this world we will have tribulation, yet we can have peace and even His joy fulfilled in us, because He has overcome the world. The peace He gives is not the kind the world gives. It is a settled confidence that God is in control, even when there is turmoil all around. That is the peace we can ask for on behalf of others, that they would come to know the grace of God first, because grace must come before peace can be known. We cannot know the peace of God until we have received the grace of God through Jesus Christ.
He also prayed that those who believe would be one, so that the world might believe that the Father sent Him. Our unity as believers is part of our witness to a divided world. The wisdom that comes from God is peaceable and leads to peace, while the wisdom of the world leads to strife and wars. When we sow peace as peacemakers, we reap a harvest of righteousness. So as you pray for the world, pray not only for the end of conflict but for hearts to be reconciled to God, for that inner war to end through forgiveness of sins, which then makes peace with others possible.
The purpose of prayer is not to get our own will done on earth, but to see God's will accomplished. We come to the Father in the name of Jesus, and He makes known His purposes to our hearts so we can pray them back to Him. Continue to bring the world before Him in that way, asking that many would come to know Jesus as the only way of salvation, that believers would be kept from evil and kept in His truth and joy, and that the church would walk in unity and be a clear witness.
May the Father hear your prayers offered in Jesus name and use them to accomplish His will in the world, and may He fill you with His peace and joy as you trust that He has overcome the world and will one day establish His perfect kingdom of love and righteousness.
Jesus prayed for His own while He was still in the world, and His prayer helps us understand how to pray for the world now. He did not ask the Father to take us out of the world, but to keep us from the evil that dominates the world system. We are meant to live in the world as He was sent into the world, so we are sent, but we are not to be of the world. He prayed that we would be set apart by the truth, because the Word of God is truth, and that truth keeps us from being drawn into the ways of the world. Like water outside a ship that keeps it afloat, the world around us is expected, but water inside the ship will sink it.
He also told us plainly that in this world we will have tribulation, yet we can have peace and even His joy fulfilled in us, because He has overcome the world. The peace He gives is not the kind the world gives. It is a settled confidence that God is in control, even when there is turmoil all around. That is the peace we can ask for on behalf of others, that they would come to know the grace of God first, because grace must come before peace can be known. We cannot know the peace of God until we have received the grace of God through Jesus Christ.
He also prayed that those who believe would be one, so that the world might believe that the Father sent Him. Our unity as believers is part of our witness to a divided world. The wisdom that comes from God is peaceable and leads to peace, while the wisdom of the world leads to strife and wars. When we sow peace as peacemakers, we reap a harvest of righteousness. So as you pray for the world, pray not only for the end of conflict but for hearts to be reconciled to God, for that inner war to end through forgiveness of sins, which then makes peace with others possible.
The purpose of prayer is not to get our own will done on earth, but to see God's will accomplished. We come to the Father in the name of Jesus, and He makes known His purposes to our hearts so we can pray them back to Him. Continue to bring the world before Him in that way, asking that many would come to know Jesus as the only way of salvation, that believers would be kept from evil and kept in His truth and joy, and that the church would walk in unity and be a clear witness.
May the Father hear your prayers offered in Jesus name and use them to accomplish His will in the world, and may He fill you with His peace and joy as you trust that He has overcome the world and will one day establish His perfect kingdom of love and righteousness.
