When my kids were little the most difficult item was any sort of new training.  How to eat without the mess everywhere!  Training on sharing and how punching is wrong.  Learning to put shoes on and leave them on. Yes and potty training enough said.  This alone can cause a momma to pray.  As my children grew older the training became more adventure filled.  Learning to ride a bike.  Kick a ball.  Swing a bat.  Soccer training.  And then we did the unthinkable and with 4 kids we brought into our family two dogs! Oh man the challenge of getting them to not eat my shoes, packages, or the UPS guy all had this mama in utter chaos.  We were going to master the art of dog training or Craigslist those dogs.  Good news they were trained thanks to my faithful husband.

In April we have daily track for the boys.  So lately I hear an awful lot on the aches and pains of developing, and strengthening muscles.  Attempting new activities stretch us.

In the College ministry I serve with we have a leadership group focused on prayer and we have been planning a Theology, Worship, and Prayer night for this Friday.  To contribute I have been studying prayer from Jesus perspective and what sort of training his example offers us.  Today I offer this reflective prayer practice to you.

What about your developed prayer life?  Are you serving God and find little time for prayer? I encourage you to dive in with the same enthusiasm as many youth attempting a new feature or skill!

Read the Passage:

Jesus Prays for His Disciples

John 17:6 “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word.7Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you.8For 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.9I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.10All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.11I 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 of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one.12While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

13 “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.14I 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.15My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.16They are not of the world, even as I am not of it.17Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.18As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.19For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

Jesus Prays for All Believers

20 “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message,21that 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.22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—23I 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.

24 “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.

25 “Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.26I have made you known 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.”

Take note on things which struck you within the Passage.  

Questions:

Do you have a kind of prayer life others would benefit from?

Do you find it easy or difficult to be a follower of Jesus in the area of prayer?

Identify your immediate circles (ie the disciples to Christ, your workplace, mom group, life group) and who are those individuals?

Write the names of those God has given you as friends, classmates, teachers, coaches, family that are your sphere to pray for.

Spend a few min on each name bringing them before God.  After you have prayed for those in your circles pray for those individuals in the circles beyond you that they can reach.

If you have additional time for reflection reread the passage and pray for God to be known in your family, city, college, and community.  Pray some of the phrases Christ uses in the above passage over your circles.