It is an amazing moment when we realize that our Savior and God Jesus not only rescued us from sin but prayed for us and is still praying for us today. How could we be so blessed? Oftentimes we can push prayer to the side and ignore the absolutely amazing connection that we have been given with the Father. Jesus reminds us that prayer is impactful and worth our time. Today we will look at encouraging Bible verses that remind us that Jesus prays for us.
John 17:20-26
While in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus prays for His disciples, his closest friends on earth. Then, He prays for all believers.
John 17:20-23 says, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
Jesus knew that His impact was not just on those He encountered physically while on earth, but He was the Redeemer of many generations. He not only prayed over the present believers, but all who would come. He prays that just like God the Father and Him are One, that those who believe in Him would be one and unified in Christ. He prays a prayer of love over all His children. What is truly incredible is when we ponder the fact that this includes us. If we have placed our faith in Jesus, we are among those whom He was praying for, even before we were born on this earth.
In verses 24-26, He goes on to ask the Father that His believers would see His glory and that He has made God known to humanity and will continue to so that the world would know the love of God in their hearts.
Hebrews 7:25
The book of Hebrews is all about Jesus as our High Priest. In chapter 7, Jesus is compared to Melchizedek, the priest/king of Salem in the Old Testament who ministered to Abraham. As the author goes on, He describes Jesus as the priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. (Hebrews 7:17,21)
Hebrews 7:25 says, “Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.”
Jesus fully saves those who accept His sacrifice. The second part of this verse shares that Jesus always intercedes for believers. The role of a high priest was to be a mediator between broken people and God. Jesus is the perfect High Priest who never sinned. He became God in flesh, and His one-time sacrifice covers all sins: past, present, and future. What is beautiful is that He is not sitting back on His throne in heaven, just relaxing until it is time for His return, He is always interceding, praying to the Father on behalf of His people. Right now, Jesus is praying for those who love Him. This is a miraculous love in and of itself.
Romans 8:34
We also read this powerful verse, Romans 8:34 which says, “Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”
Jesus is at the right hand, interceding for us (those who believe in Him). If you have placed your faith in Christ and you ever have a moment where you begin to believe that you are forgotten or not loved, remember that Jesus is praying for you. You are so loved by the King of kings.
Our Response
I love to say, “If it is good enough for Jesus, it is good enough for me.” The way that Jesus prays teaches us that since He has been glorified to Heaven after His resurrection and He finds it a valuable use of time to pray, who are we to neglect prayer ourselves? Why would we not want to communicate with the Lord?
Jesus is in constant prayer for His people. He is modeling to us the importance of calling on the name of the Lord. So often, we can become discouraged in our prayer lives and believe that it is pointless or that “God’s going to do what He is going to do anyway.” This is not healthy thinking. Spiritual awareness and talking with the Lord involve intimacy, worship, praise, confession, thanksgiving, and faith. Prayer is a gift for us to communicate with the Lord.
Knowing that Jesus is praying for us gives us a newfound hope that we can do this. He is reminding us in His word that even though we will have troubles in this world, He has overcome them. We can live out of a place of victory and great joy knowing that He is over all and He defeated the enemy. At any moment, we can stop and remember that Jesus the Savior is praying over us who believe in Him.
We can also know that we stand forgiven. Jesus is referred to as our Advocate to the Father. (1 John 2:1) When we feel as if we fail God, we can be reminded that we are forever His and Jesus’ death and resurrection were enough. Jesus is even advocating for us in that way. We are called to live by the Spirit and the flesh, and the process of sanctification is ongoing on this side of Heaven, but we can be assured that Jesus was, is, and always will be enough.
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Emma Danzey’s mission in life stems from Ephesians 3:20-21, to embrace the extraordinary. One of her greatest joys is to journey with the Lord in His Scriptures. She is wife to Drew and mom to Graham. Emma serves alongside her husband in ministry, she focuses most of her time in the home, but loves to provide articles on the Bible, life questions, and Christian lifestyle. Her article on Interracial Marriage was the number 1 on Crosswalk in 2021. Most recently, Emma released Treasures for Tots, (Scripture memory songs) and multiple books and devotionals for young children. During her ministry career, Emma has released Wildflower: Blooming Through Singleness, two worship EP albums, founded and led Polished Conference Ministries, and ran the Refined Magazine. You can view her articles on her blog at emmadanzey.wordpress.com