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Don’t you love it when little children pray? I love hearing my children pray, anytime, anywhere. Not long ago, one of my children was praying earnestly for a dog. She prayed about many things, but mostly, about getting a dog. When we would play one of our favorite games at meal time, where each person would share one high point and one low point of their day, she often would say: my low point? I don’t have a dog! When it was her day to pray, she would often pray, at meal times, at bed times, at anytime: Lord, please give me a dog! It was precious…and effective. She now has a dog.

Here is a question I would like for you to think about: What is one thing you would like Jesus to ask God for, on your behalf? Go ahead and write it down. Don’t worry about getting the answer right. Your answer will be different than others. If you could ask Jesus to ask God for one thing, for yourself, what would it be? Write it down in the blank on your outline.

The reason I would like you to write something down, is because you can then compare what you wrote to what Jesus actually prayed for you. Maybe it will be the same thing…maybe not. As Jesus prepares to go die for our sins, He prays for His followers: for those that were present with Him that night; for those that had trusted Him over His years of ministry; and for all of us, who would come to know Him years later. We need to know what Jesus prayed for, because then we will know what is really important to Him; and perhaps what we should pray for as well. Let me first get this out of the way, because it is going to be our main focus this morning. Jesus is going to pray about Himself, and about what He wants the Father to do for His followers. But, we cannot miss that as it relates to our personal application of this morning’s message, Jesus was praying for you:

John 17:20 – “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word…”

So, as we look at this, let the truth sink in; that this is the only time, I know of, when Jesus was specifically praying for all of us who would trust Him in the future. This is real, this is personal, this is for you.