Jesus Constantly Prays to God the Father and Not to Himself
Posted by Zia H. Shah MD - Twitter: @ZiahShah1
Collected by Zia H Shah MD
The Church of Mary Magdalene
“Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” (Luke 22: 39-44)
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Perhaps hundreds of examples can be cited from the Bible about Jesus praying to God the Father and not to himself, yet the Christians insist on his divinity. Here, I have simply copied the whole of John 17 from New International Version, from Bible Gateway, in the hope that by seeing so many prayers and three headings about prayers, they may wake up from their slumber.
Jesus Prays to Be Glorified
After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
Jesus Prays for His Disciples
“I have revealed youto those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power ofyour name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe bythat name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them bythe truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
Jesus Prays for All Believers
“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.
“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
“Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made youknown to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.” (John 17: 1-26)
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The Church of Mary Magdalene (Russian: Храм Марии Магдалины, Khram Marii Magdaliny) is a Russian Orthodox church located on the Mount of Olives, near the Garden of Gethsemane in East Jerusalem.
Posted by Zia H. Shah MD - Twitter: @ZiahShah1
on January 17, 2013. Filed under Christianity.
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Paul Harland
February 5, 2013 at 5:52 am
I am so grateful to Zia H Shah for this article about the prayer life of Jesus the Messiah. He has quoted some of the most famous prayers from the life of Jesus as he writes:-
Perhaps hundreds of examples can be cited from the Bible about Jesus praying to God the Father and not to himself, yet the Christians insist on his divinity. Here, I have simply copied the whole of John 17 from New International Version, from Bible Gateway in the hope that by seeing so many prayers and three headings about prayers, they may wake up from their slumber.
The passage he has quoted from John 17 is very important and we know more about the prayer life of Jesus than probably any other prophet. In the first chapter of John explains why one of the titles of Jesus is Kalematullah – the Word of God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God at the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” (John 1:1-3) Then lower down the same page John writes:- “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
St. Paul explains the same truth when writing to believers in the city of Philippi in Greece. “Your attitude (of humility) should be that of Christ Jesus: Who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to death even death on a cross ! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven an on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:5-11)
From these passages we can see that Jesus did possess many divine qualities in the 33 years he lived on earth but He was constrained in a human body to be at one time in one place like all other human beings. He had powers to heal the sick, to raise the dead, to still a storm or to feed thousands from a few loaves of bread and fish. So He had contact with the creator God who was controlling and preserving the universe and constantly creating more life on earth. He prayed to the Father in heaven to receive guidance and power for His teaching and miracles. Jesus prayed like this as an example to His disciples who also received wisdom and power to heal the sick.
A good summary of the status of Jesus the Messiah is given in 1 Timothy 2:4-6
“God wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men; the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men – the testimony given in the proper time.”