Tag Archives: joy

In the Final Hours of His Life, Jesus Prayed for YOU. Think About That.

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If you’ve been reading these blogs for the last 70 days, we just finished devotionals from every book in the Bible. Amazingly enough, although written by many authors over such a long period of time, the Bible contains a consistent narrative about God’s plan to bless and redeem mankind. It tells the story of believers who hoped and prayed for a coming Messiah. It reveals Jesus as God’s only Son. It portrays him as the Redeemer who came to offer himself as a substitutionary sacrifice. And it teaches us that everyone who accepts his grace by faith is saved. During his life Jesus called and trained disciples, but he also stayed committed to his primary mission. As he waited in the Garden of Gethsemane, he knew his time had come, and that his mission was about to be fulfilled.

Priorities in Prayer

In the Garden, approaching his final hours, Jesus prayed for his disciples (naturally enough). They were about to be faced with a world without his protective presence. Since he knew his time on earth was short, I would imagine he prayed for what was absolutely most important to him, wouldn’t you? Here’s what he said to the Father:

“But now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” (John 17:13-17, NIV)

I think it’s significant that Jesus prayed for his disciples; after all they were his best friends, the guys into whom he had poured his life and mission. But, when Jesus prayed for his followers, what he said is revealing (and surprising!). In verse 20 he made it clear that he prayed not only for the disciples who were with him in the garden, but for you as well. He said, “My prayer is not for them alone. I pray alsofor those who will believe in me through their message.”

Remember the Alliteration

These few verses of Jesus’ prayer echo down the corridors of history to reveal His position, His purpose, His prediction of persecution, His protection, and His process. “I come to you”: Jesus is petitioning the Father, and places himself under the Father’s authority. Jesus prayed often (Mark and Luke both remark upon this habit more than once), and here in his last hours, he prayed for all of us who would someday believe in Him.

He is on God’s mission, and he makes it clear that God is in control. He acknowledges the Father’s ability to take his disciples out of the world, or to protect them in it. And he asks his Abba to complete his mission in ALL of his followers. And, what’s the purpose of that mission? “I speak these things in the world that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves.” Wow! Jesus came to provide JOY!? How many joyful people do you know? His stated purpose was to share his own joy and have it fulfilled in his followers.

What Did Jesus Want For Us?

In John 15:11 he said, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” If you are one of his followers, that applies to you. Let that sink in: Jesus prayed for you during the last hours of his earthly life. I’ve always loved a little note which John snuck into John 13:1; “when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” That’s me. That’s US. We are in that story! Are you joyful? Is joy being fulfilled in you and because of you? Isn’t it cool that He prays for our joy? Of all of the characteristics of eternal life, this is my favorite. Joy is a fruit of the Spirit; it is a characteristic of the Kingdom of Heaven; it’s the natural result of the resurrection! It’s the reason Jesus came to earth, and it is essentially why we are here.

Stop for a moment and just choose to feel joyful no matter what your circumstances. It may seem almost impossible, but it is a choice available to us regardless of what is going on around us. The joy Jesus refers to is not dependent upon comfort or affluence or having perfect circumstances. My friend Carter Smith likes to say that JOY is “Jesus ON You”! Perhaps it is. Perhaps that is why He also prayed over believers who will experience persecution both from the world and from the evil one. “The world has hated them because they are not of the world” is both an acknowledgement of what his disciples experienced and a prophecy about what is happening today.

Set Apart in Prayer

If you experience opposition as a Christian, take heart! It means you are not of the world, and that Jesus held you in his heart that stressful night in Gethsemane. Jesus prayed protection over you and asked his Father to protect all of His children from the evil one. No matter how dark our circumstances, Jesus’ prayer seems to indicate that there is hope beyond the difficulty. Has life got you down? Ever feel discouraged or alone? Jesus has been there, and he knows not only how you feel, but what you need.

Jesus asked the Father to reserve us to himself, and told us how that happens. “Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth.” Sanctified means “set apart”. Are you? Is your life entwined with things of the Spirit or things of the world? Do you read social media or watch TV more than you read God’s word?

Connect the dots here. Jesus says he spoke these things “that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. But I have given them Your word…” The process for sanctification comes from the Word of God, and so does Joy! Has life got you down? The more time you spend with God’s Word, the greater both your sanctification and your joy will be. Dive into the deep waters of Jesus’ prayer for you and you will find them both.

He Prayed for US

Agonizing in the Garden, facing his greatest trial,
Jesus knelt there in the night and prayed hard, for a while…
Knowing what he had to face and what he had to do,
Jesus took some time to intercede for me and YOU.
He prayed for our protection from what Satan might employ;
Then asked the Lord to sanctify us, and to give us joy.
He prayed for us as he prepared for Calvary’s rugged slope,
Knowing that his work would bring us joy and give us hope!
If life has brought you trials, and your heart has been dismayed,
Embrace the joy that Jesus promised to us when he prayed.
His mission bought salvation, then, for every girl and boy–
But Jesus said he REALLY came to bring his children joy!


To buy my latest book, Real People, Real Christmas: Thirty-one Days Discovering the Hidden Treasures of the Christmas Story, go here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1729034918/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For Slaying Giants: Thirty Days with David, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Slaying-Giants-Thirty-Devotions-Ordinary/dp/172568327X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535814431&sr=8-1&keywords=Slaying+Giants%3A+Thirty+Days+With+David
To buy my book, Beggar’s Bread, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Devotions-Ordinary-Guy/dp/1535457392/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-1&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread
For the Kindle Edition, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Bo-Jackson-ebook/dp/B01K5Z0NLA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-2&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread

Habakkuk Tells Us to Rejoice When Everything Fails. Really??

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Have you read Habakkuk lately? (That’s what I thought.) His book seems to have everything backwards. He warns us that things can fail. THEN, he tells us to rejoice in failure. “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” (Habakkuk 3:17-18 NIV)

Certainly, events over the last few years could have given Habakkuk’s situation a run for its money. We’ve experienced inflation, culture wars, political acrimony, the “divided states of America”, the Covid Pandemic, bombs over Iran, war in Ukraine, and the list goes on… The headlines in this world proclaim one “bad news” story after another.

As the past couple of years have shown us, there are times when everything seems to fall apart. Yesterday’s blog on Romans mentioned a cycle of suffering. It can be a major calamity or it can even be an accumulation of small things, but sometimes it seems like life is just not fair.

When it Rains…

There is a reason people say, “It never rains, but it pours”, because calamities and irritations seem to travel in a pack. Failure happens. Something mechanical breaks down. A relationship gets strained. A bill comes due, and there is no money in the account to pay it. Cable goes out just before the big game… And sometimes, it all seems to happen at once.

Habakkuk says that even in the midst of breakdowns and unfortunate circumstances, “Yet I will rejoice in The Lord, I will be joyful in God my savior”. Habakkuk says “I will”. He chooses to see the good God has done and refuses to dwell on the evil around him. God does not afflict us, He offers us salvation from affliction. In John 16:33, Jesus reminded us that bad things happen in this world.

God uses even bad circumstances for good–to build patience, to draw us closer to Him, or to make us more like His son. Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” I know that’s easy to say, and harder to believe, but God promises that He can provide the silver lining behind every dark cloud. Perhaps that’s why, after he warned us about the world’s tribulations, Jesus said, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33, NIV)

So when you encounter failure, the crops fail, and the fridge is empty, don’t give up! Like Habakkuk, say “I will be joyful”! Sometimes happiness is a matter of deciding to be, anyway. If you are experiencing something difficult, don’t despair. During England’s dark days under Nazi attack, Winston Churchill said: “When you are going through hell, keep going.”

Choose Joy

Habakkuk takes that challenge even further. He says we should flip the tables on it and rejoice. Joy is a choice we can make, and the Lord promises that He will work within even your worst circumstances for your good, and to give you reasons to rejoice. When the worst happens, we may not gain triumph over circumstances from an earthly perspective, but we can gain intimacy with God, and He can use circumstances to improve us. Habakkuk also says that we can choose to rejoice no matter what, so take heart. Choose joy.

Habakkuk says, when times are hard, that he will lift his voice,
And though his crops might fail, that he will still choose to rejoice!
Could it be, like trusting God, that joy can be a CHOICE?
When circumstances flail you, don’t allow them to derail you,
So whatever that entails and whatsoever may assail you,
Place your hope and trust in God, because He’ll never fail you!

To buy my latest book, Real People, Real Christmas: Thirty-one Days Discovering the Hidden Treasures of the Christmas Story, go here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1729034918/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
For Slaying Giants: Thirty Days with David, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Slaying-Giants-Thirty-Devotions-Ordinary/dp/172568327X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535814431&sr=8-1&keywords=Slaying+Giants%3A+Thirty+Days+With+David
To buy my book, Beggar’s Bread, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Devotions-Ordinary-Guy/dp/1535457392/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-1&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread
For the Kindle Edition, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Beggars-Bread-Bo-Jackson-ebook/dp/B01K5Z0NLA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1473336800&sr=8-2&keywords=Beggar%27s+Bread