The Lord's Prayer (1)

Sunday August 29, 2021

The Lord's Prayer (1)

“It is for them that I pray. I'm not praying for the world, but for those that You have given me, because they are Yours.” John 17.9

In His prayer for His own, Jesus presented several requests to His Father. He asked that we can see His glory : “I want where I am those whom You have given me to also be with me so that they may contemplate my glory, the glory which You have given me” (John 17.24) . When Moses was in the presence of God, his face shone with extraordinary radiance (Exodus 34:29). When Isaiah saw the divine glory, he fell face down on the earth and cried out : “Woe to me, I am lost, for my eyes have seen the King, the Eternal, the Master of the universe” (Isaiah 6:5). Notice that only an attitude of thanksgiving and praise brings the glory of God into the midst of His children. David declares that God dwells in the praise of His people (Psalm 22.4). Too often we step into the glorious divine presence ready to receive from Him rather than worship Him. Because they used to carry their emperor to an imposing throne, the Japanese translate this verse thus : “When we worship God we create a great throne on which He comes to sit !” He will sit by our side, wherever we are, when we offer Him a seat of praise, and He will reveal His glory to us ! He also prayed that we would experience true joy : “Now I come to you, and I speak thus... that they may have in them My joy, complete” (v. 13). Isaiah had already declared : "You will draw water with joy from the fountains of salvation" (Isaiah 12.3). The source of joy is within us, not in external circumstances. Paul even in prison could say : “Rejoice in the Lord always ; I repeat : rejoice !” (Philippians 4.4). Don't you think this joy should show on our face ? Adoniram Judson, missionary in Burma at the end of the 19th century, was nicknamed by the Burmese “Mr. Glorious Figure”, while he did not yet know how to speak the language of the country, because of the expression of joy expressed without stop his face !

Source (His Word for Today)