I remember that I was studying “Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer” during the time that my first-born was readying himself to leave home. It was an emotional time for us all. God has blessed my wife and me with a family that has a sincere love for each other. Our son, our daughters’ big brother, was leaving home and we all felt it deeply. It was all good - he was growing up and at that place in life that it was right to go on to the next adventure. But our love for each other made it difficult to see him go.

During that time it so happened that I was preaching through John 17. As I did I realized that God was giving me a pattern to pray for my own son (as well as for his sisters, or anyone else I loved!). I thought I’d share that insight with you today, with the hope that it is a blessing to you too.

Jesus’ prayer in John 17 can be distilled down to five requests. Those five requests can guide us as we pray for others. What are they?

Glorify Your Son

His first request begins in John 17:1

“Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.”

It is not an accident that this is where Jesus began. God’s glory is uppermost! As I pray for my son I pray that God will use him to bring glory to Jesus, and that in so doing God Himself will be glorified.

As parents we often pray for our children’s safety or comfort. But of what use is it if they are safe, but do not glorify God? Better they glorify God in uncomfortable circumstances than that they are comfortable and do not glorify Him.

Our first prayer for those we love is that they glorify God.

Keep them

Jesus’ second request is found in it’s shortest form in verse 11

“I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name…”

Later in verse 15 He is still praying about the same issue. He prays,

“I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one.”

Another way of saying this is: Protect them!

Jesus is praying that God protect the disciples. Jesus knows that there are many dangers in the world. He knows that the evil one, Satan himself, is active in this world, but He didn’t ask that the disciples be taken out of the world and away from that evil. Rather, He prays for God to protect them while they are in the presence and danger of evil. There is a job to do. There is a purpose for being here in this evil-tainted world.

And so I pray for my son that God protect him from evil.

And you too can make this your second prayer for those you love - Father, protect them!

Sanctify them

That leads to the third request of Jesus. Remember that He was not asking for God to take them away from the presence of evil because there was a purpose for them being here on earth. And so it is with my son, and for those for whom you love and pray. There is a purpose for their lives, and we ought to pray for them that God set them apart for that purpose.

Jesus prayed in verse 17,

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.”

Now, most of the time when we see the word ’sanctify’ we think of becoming more and more holy - of putting off sin and putting on righteousness. But remember, the basic meaning of the word ’sanctify’ is ‘to set apart.’ We are set apart for God’s purposes. This includes holiness, to be sure, but it also includes the direction and ambition and motivations of our lives. We are to be set apart for God’s purpose for our life. That is part of what it means to be sanctified.

So, I pray for my son that he will be dedicated to God’s purposes for his life. Yes, that will mean a progressive change into more and more holiness. It will also mean that when he faces decisions that alter the direction of his life he will be be submitted to God’s purposes and seeking God’s will with a heart determined to obey.

You can pray the same for those you love.

Give them unity with other Christians

The fourth request is found in verse 21,

“…that they may all be one”

Our unity is extremely important - more important than we realize - to the Lord. We are to love each other, and as we do our relationships with each other foster our growth in the Lord and proclaim the reality of Jesus to those who watch us (John 13:35).

I pray for my son that he finds real meaningful relationships with other Christians, no matter where he goes and what he does, and that he lives in those relationships in such a way that the answers to the other requests I am praying for are brought closer and more real.

Give him unity with other Christians.  That is our fourth request.

I desire that they…be with Me where I am

The last request surprised me, then enthralled me! Jesus prays in verse 24,

“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory…”

It is almost as if Jesus is seeing to the end of each of our lives - after we’ve glorified Him, been protected by God, been set apart to His purposes, and lived in unity with other believers - and then He prays that we will indeed reach heaven! He wants us to be with Him, to see Him in His glory and experience that! Amazing!

And so, I pray the same for my son.

You can pray the same for those who are on your heart!

Take those five

I pray those five requests for my son, for my two daughters, for those for whom I’m interceding. I don’t always consciously do this - but from time to time the Lord brings to mind John 17 and I then discipline myself to pray for others with the framework of those five requests shaping my prayers.

I recommend it to you.