JESUS' PRAYER
And I will pray the
Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for
ever.
— John 14:16
I can’t
begin to imagine how alarmed the disciples must have felt when Jesus told them
that He would soon be leaving them. Jesus had often warned them that He would
be leaving, but that evening in the Upper Room, as they spent their last hours
together, the full weight of this reality began to dawn on the disciples — and
it put them in a state of panic and dismay. John 14:2 tells us that Jesus was aware that their
hearts were troubled.
It was
natural for the disciples to feel sorrowful at the news of Jesus’ imminent
departure. Living and walking with Jesus was more than they had ever hoped for
in this world. With Jesus at their side, their lives had been filled with
adventure, excitement, joy, victory, power, healing, and miracles. What would
life be like without Jesus? Would it ever be the same? Was this the end to
their dreams?
Feelings
of insecurity and uncertainty would have been normal for any human being in the
disciples’ position. They had grown dependent upon the physical, visible
presence of Jesus — something we’ve never experienced and therefore cannot
fully comprehend. But in the midst of the disciples’ fears, Jesus promised
them, “I will not leave you
comfortless…” (John 14:18).
As we saw
in yesterday’s Sparkling Gem, the word “comfortless” is from the Greek
word orphanos, which is where we get the word orphan. As noted
before, the word orphanos could describe children who had lost their
parents, or it could describe students who were abandoned by their teacher. In
both cases, it is the picture of younger, less educated, less knowledgeable
people feeling deserted by those they trusted and looked to for guidance.
Jesus had
become a spiritual Mentor to the disciples. For more than three years, these
men had walked with Jesus and depended entirely upon Him. During those three
years, Jesus’ voice had been the only voice they had followed. They walked in
His footsteps, and they explicitly followed His directions. As a Mentor, Jesus
had taught them everything — how to cast out demons, how to heal the sick, how
to travel in ministry, and on and on. The full extent of the spiritual training
Jesus imparted to His disciples includes far too many truths to list here. In
fact, Jesus had taught them everything they knew regarding spiritual
matters.
But in John 14, Jesus made it clear
that He would be leaving His disciples. Later that night, He was to be arrested
in the Garden of Gethsemane, judged before the religious leaders of the city,
sent to be judged by Pilate, then by Herod, and then back to Pilate again. And
following these harrowing experiences, He was to be scourged, crucified, and
buried. All of these events would occur in a mere matter of hours from those
moments when Jesus sat with them in the Upper Room and told them that He would
be leaving. They simply had no idea how quickly He would be physically taken
from them.
But Jesus
knew. That is why it was so important for Him to take that last evening to
teach the disciples about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew they
would need to depend on the Holy Spirit as completely as He had depended
on Him. So Jesus took His last hours to instruct them about the ministry of the
Holy Spirit and introduce them to this spiritual Partner who would be become
their new Teacher and Guide in the world.
Jesus
told the disciples in John 14:16, “I will pray the Father, and he shall
give you another Comforter….” The word “pray” is Greek word eratao,
which was a legal word that described a lawyer who would argue a case in a
court of law. It is interesting that this is the Greek word most generally used
in the Gospels to describe Jesus’ prayer life. This particular word indicates
that it was so crucial for the survival of the disciples that the Comforter
would be sent that Jesus was going to the Father to present His case in that
matter. This case would be so concrete — so clear and unmistakable —
that the Father would respond to Jesus’ request by sending the Comforter, the
Holy Spirit, as His replacement to the disciples.
Imagine
how important the ministry of the Holy Spirit must be for Jesus! Jesus was
making the case clear to the Father that He must send the Holy
Spirit, for the disciples — and then later the Church — would not survive
without the Holy Spirit’s help and assistance. The very fact that the
word eratao is used to describe Jesus’ petition to the Father tells
us that the coming of the Holy Spirit was imperative. Jesus treated this
request as one of the utmost importance. And if Jesus treated this subject so
importantly, then we must treat it with equal importance.
So I
encourage you to seriously ask yourself this question today: How
importantly do I treat the subject of the Holy Spirit in my life? And
whatever your answer, make it your priority in the days ahead to learn how to
cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s work in your life on a deeper level than you
ever have before!
MY PRAYER FOR
TODAY
Holy
Spirit, I admit that I have often neglected to acknowledge Your presence in my
life. I repent, and I ask You to please forgive me. It’s not that I’ve tried to
ignore You; I have just been ignorant of Your role in my life and how deeply I
have needed Your fellowship. I confess that I’ve even had fears about opening
my heart more deeply to You because of things I’ve seen and heard others do
that seemed a little strange. Forgive me for being closed to You when, in fact,
I cannot live the Christian life without Your power and Your help. Right now I
take the next step to invite You to move powerfully in my life. I take down all
the guards, and I decide to trust You to bring Jesus closer to me. I pray this in Jesus’ name!
MY CONFESSION FOR
TODAY
I declare that the Holy Spirit works mightily in my life. I am not afraid to
surrender to the Holy Spirit’s power. I acknowledge that I cannot successfully
live the Christian life without His involvement, so I open every part of my
life to Him and to His powerful workings. As a result, I am filled with
spiritual power; I am supernaturally led by the Spirit of God because I am a
child of God; and I am being transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. As a
result of my fellowship and obedience to the Holy Spirit, my Christian life is
filled with victory and adventure! I
declare this by faith in Jesus’ name!
