Before You Ever Prayed, Jesus Was Praying for You

There is something remarkable about knowing someone is praying for you. I feel it nearly every week when members of our life groups send me an email: Pastor, I'm praying for you this week. Any needs? It blesses me deeply. I have a small group of intercessors—maybe five or seven—whom I text when I'm traveling or facing something urgent in ministry. I know they will bring that need before the Lord on my behalf.

But as encouraging as that is, there is something far more remarkable: Jesus is praying for you. Right now. Before you ever breathed a breath, before you ever whispered a prayer, he was interceding for you. And he never stopped.

John 17 gives us a rare glimpse into the intercessory prayer life of Christ. It is not a prayer his disciples learned from him, like the Lord's Prayer. It is a prayer they overheard—Jesus praying aloud so they could catch something of his heart for them and for everyone who would ever believe. If Jesus were teaching a workshop on prayer, this is what he would call it: The Power of Intercessory Prayer.

What Intercessory Prayer Really Is

T.W. Hunt and Claude King define intercessory prayer as "praying for others and praying for kingdom purposes to be completed in their lives." That is exactly what we find in John 17. Jesus prays for himself, yes—but briefly. Then he prays for his disciples. And then, in one of the most stunning moments in Scripture, he looks down the corridors of history and prays for us.

The Bible tells us that Jesus often withdrew to desolate places to pray. I imagine many of those times were simply sharing life with the Father. But I also imagine he was praying for people—by name, with specific purpose, for kingdom ends. We see this clearly in Luke 22, in the same context as John 17. Jesus tells Peter:

"Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail."— Luke 22:31-32

Jesus was an intercessor. And he still is.

The Foundation: Prayer for God's Glory

Before Jesus prays for anyone else, he prays for himself—but not in the way we might expect. He prays for glorification:

"Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."— John 17:1-3

Jesus has just finished the Last Supper. He knows what awaits him in the garden: betrayal, arrest, the cross. The weight of this moment is almost unbearable. And yet he lifts his eyes to heaven and addresses God the same way he always has: Father. He begins with relationship. And he prays for the glory of God.

Here is what we must not miss: the answer to this prayer is the cross. The Son will glorify the Father by going to the cross. The Father will glorify the Son through the resurrection and ascension, restoring to him the glory he had before the world existed. All prayer—including intercessory prayer—finds its foundation here: the glorification of God's name. When we pray for others, behind every request should be this deeper longing: that God would be glorified in their lives.

For His Disciples: Protection and Sanctification

From praying for himself, Jesus turns to his disciples. In verses 6-10, he does something fascinating: he tells the Father things the Father already knows. He reminds God of his own commitments, his own word. This is classic biblical intercession. We are not informing God of anything he does not know. We are aligning ourselves with his purposes, demonstrating that we know him and love him.

Then Jesus asks. First, he prays for their protection:

"Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. While I was with them, I kept them in your name... I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled."— John 17:11-12

Notice what Jesus does not pray. He does not pray for escape. We often pray that way for people we love: Lord, get them out of this situation. Remove them from this hardship. Fix this problem. Those are honest prayers, and God welcomes our honesty. But Jesus prays for endurance. He knows the world is under the power of the evil one. He knows his disciples are about to face unimaginable pressure. So he asks the Father to preserve them, to protect them from the evil one—not by taking them out of the world, but by keeping them faithful in it.

Second, Jesus prays for their sanctification:

"Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth."— John 17:17-19

Sanctify means to set apart, to make holy. Jesus is doing the work of a priest here—representing his disciples before God, accomplishing for them what they could never do for themselves. At the cross, he sets himself apart so that they can be set apart. He is, in this prayer, the answer to his own prayer.

For Us: Unity and Glorification

Then the prayer expands beyond the twelve to everyone who would ever believe:

"I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me."— John 17:20-21

Jesus prays for unity—not uniformity, but oneness around truth. We are diverse in background, experience, and personality. But Jesus prays that his true church would be one in mind, purpose, and heart, rallying around the non-negotiables: the exclusivity of Christ, the authority of Scripture, the substitutionary atonement, the physical resurrection and return of our Lord. And the fruit of this unity? Evangelism. The world will know that the Father sent the Son by our oneness.

Finally, Jesus prays for our glorification:

"Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world."— John 17:24

Salvation is past, present, and future. We have been justified—declared righteous in a moment. We are being sanctified—conformed to Christ's image day by day. And one day, we will be glorified—finally and forever with Jesus, seeing the glory that no one in this life has fully seen. Moses caught a glimpse of God's back and had to be hidden in a cleft of rock. The disciples saw Jesus' glory veiled in flesh. But Jesus prays that we will see his glory unveiled, face to face, in the presence we were made for.

What This Means for Us

Notice something crucial: Jesus only asks the Father to do what only the Father can do. Only God can protect from the evil one. Only God can sanctify in truth. Only God can bring true unity. Only God can glorify us and bring us safely home. And because Jesus prays only the will of God, we can be confident that the Father always hears him.

This gives us two profound takeaways.

First, be thankful for the intercessory prayer life of Jesus. Your glorification depends on God answering the Son's prayer—and God the Father always answers the Son. But Jesus was not just praying for you in John 17. He is praying for you right now:

"Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them."— Hebrews 7:25

"Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us."— Romans 8:34

And the Holy Spirit, too, is interceding for you "according to the will of God" (Romans 8:26-27). When you do not know what to pray, you can take confidence: the Spirit in you does, and he is praying for you.

Second, if Jesus prayed for others, we should pray for others. The ministry of intercession is the greatest ministry many of us can participate in. Through prayer, you accompany missionaries to the ends of the earth. You contribute to the ministry of pastors and church planters. You touch the suffering and mediate the healing love of Jesus. As Wesley Duewel wrote, "You can influence more people for God and have a greater role in advancing Christ's cause by prayer than any other way."

So how do we grow in this? Pray for people by name. Jesus did. Simon, Simon, I have prayed for you. What greater gift can you give? Pray God's word over them. The will of God is the word of God, and when you pray Scripture, you pray with confidence. Adopt a "pray now" lifestyle. When someone says, "Would you pray for me?" stop and pray right then. Let your home, your marriage, your workplace be filled with "snowflake prayers"—brief, frequent, accumulating into something powerful.

Before you ever prayed, Jesus was praying for you. And he has not stopped. Let's go and do the same for someone else.

Adapted from a sermon by Jarrett Stephens.