The Prayer For These Times*

Considering the times in which we are living, a quote from one of our nation's founders, Thomas Paine, is very appropriate: "These are the times that try men’s souls; the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph." from The American Crisis, 1775. These words apply not only to physical hardships, but to spiritual struggles as well. There is an ongoing struggle for spiritual fullness and maturity in the Body of Christ. The prayer that speaks to our goal of the fullness of Christ was prayed by Jesus, Himself, for His disciples, but also for those who would later believe as a result of His disciples' Word, which includes us (Jn. 17:20). Jesus had a vision for His believers, and He prayed accordingly to His Father in heaven, and that prayer is especially timely for all of us today who believe in Him. Jesus had been preparing His disciples for the coming tribulation, and then said: "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." (Jn. 16:33). Jesus then prayed to His Father that His hour had come (to die), and asked Him to glorify His Son, so His Son might glorify Him. The Father had given Jesus authority over all flesh so that Jesus should give eternal life to all who were given to Him (Jn. 17:1-3). Jesus prayed to His Father about the glory that He had with the Father from the beginning, and that He had finished the work which the Father had sent Him to do (v. 4-5). The presence of Jesus was in the very beginning of the Book of Genesis, and is found within the Hebrew language used in chapter 1 and verse 1 for the word "God", in the phrase "In the beginning God...". This word "God" is written as Elohim-aleph tav. The "aleph tav" is the same as the Greek "Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, ...the beginning and the end", by which Jesus is identified in the Book of Revelation. John Ch. 1 also identifies Jesus as the Word of, in, and with God at the beginning of creation. As Jesus continued to pray to His Father, He said: "I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world...they have kept thy word." (v. 6). In His prayer to the Father, Jesus spoke repeatedly of the Word, the glory, the Father's Name, the truth, and the love which had been received by His disciples from Him, as they had believed Him (v. 8-19). This was the finished work Jesus spoke of to the Father which was accomplished through Him: "That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me...the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me." (v. 21-23). Our oneness with Jesus and the Father brings the believers into the fullness and perfection needed, not only for our own spiritual life, but as an illustration of the truth of Jesus and the Father to the world. This is the purpose of the new birth, to become one with Jesus in our hearts, yet, we see divisions within the Church and the individual believers over political and social issues, race, and doctrines. The apostle Paul in Ephesians 4 also wrote about the connection that the unity in Christ has with the fullness of Christ: "And he gave some, apostles;and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge (epiginosko (Grk) - to know thoroughly and accurately, to recognize, to perceive who a person is) of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ..." (Eph. 4:11-13). The Body of Christ has difficulty accepting the ministry of apostles and prophets, but they are appointed by God until the Body becomes unified, perfect and full in the stature of Christ. We have not attained these goals in Christ yet. We are not to be separated and pulled away by deceiving doctrines of cunning men (v. 14). We are to speak the truth in love, and we also increase and edify the Body of Christ in love, Paul wrote (v. 15-16). The new birth produces a new man, who walks in righteousness and holiness, putting away the ways and thoughts of the old, corrupt man. We can walk in it by the renewing of the spirit of our minds (v. 17-24, also Phil. 3:13). We press, like Paul, toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. This is the path we walk to perfection. It is in Christ. (Phil. 3:12-16). Jesus prayed to the Father about His disciples becoming one in Him as He was one with the Father. Paul wrote of this as being his ministry, which fulfills the Word of God: "Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to His saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory...that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." (Col. 1:24-29). This is not accomplished by religion, but through the mystery that was not known before Christ prayed it: Oneness in Christ and His glory, Who is one with the Father and His glory. This newly manifested knowledge of God and of the Father, and of Christ, causes us to be knitted together in love. (Col. 2:1-2). Paul wrote: "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: Rooted and built up in Him, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving." (v. 6-7). Again Paul wrote, "...put on the new man", and that new man, who is renewed in knowledge and in the image of Him that created him, is not divided by racial, ethnic, cultural or social considerations because "Christ is all, and in all." (Col. 3:10-11). This renewing knowledge must change our attitudes and behavior, as our walk is a walk in Christ, where the Word of Christ dwells in us richly (see v. 12-17). Peter wrote that we were to humble ourselves before God, and resist the devil with our brethren, as God has called us into His eternal glory by Christ Jesus (1 Peter 5:6-11). In this we join a great multitude in heaven from among all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues who came out, and will come out, of great tribulation and now stand before the Lamb of God clothed in white robes. They have washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:9-13). This is the prayer of Jesus to His Father for all of us, and for this time. *Based on Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson's 8/21/2022 message to the church. To contact us, submit a prayer request, give a praise report, or to support this ministry: P.O. Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705 OR Everlastingcovenant@ymail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, theshroudofturin.org, and endtimeschool, also on Facebook.