Jesus Intercedes on Our Behalf

There is a passage in John 17 where Jesus prays for His followers.  I especially like “The Message” version, which has some key verses that are very empowering.

When Jesus prays for you and me (we are His followers after all), at one point He says, “Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life.”

Life really is a pursuit but it can be filled with a lot of traps.  We can be lured into things that draw us away from our relationship with God and not even know it.  Some things look appealing but down deep they are really dangerous. 

This is exactly why we need the Holy Spirit to help guard us.  The Holy Spirit serves as our fortress, our protection against the enemy of our souls.  But we have to be plugged into the Holy Spirit to get everything we need.  Each day we should pray, “Lord, guard my heart and mind.”  You just never know what is going to come against you that day and this way you are prepared.

There is another verse where Jesus prays, “But that you guard them from the Evil One.”  As already mentioned, we have an enemy lurking around and trying to do whatever he can to trip us up.  He wants to make our journey in life as unpleasant as possible and the only way that can really happen is if he can take us away from God’s purpose and plan for our life.

Isn’t it good to know that Jesus intercedes on our behalf and that the enemy has no more power over us than we allow?

Then Jesus prays, “Make them holy—consecrated—with the truth.”  We need the truth infused down deep in order to be holy.  Without the truth, God’s Word inside of us, we can’t be what He wants us to be.  We should pray that God’s Word would be evidenced in our life.

In the end what really matters is that we aren’t doing life on our own.  We have Jesus interceding on our behalf. 

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