Get Specific

John 17

11/14/22

When you tell someone a story or something important, you try to be very specific. The story is important to you, and you want your listener to feel the same. You want the person listening to be engaged as you provide every detail you can.

John 17 is a beautiful prayer from Jesus. Look at the beauty of the prayer and how specific Jesus was. If you consider that Jesus knew His death was imminent, then you will see the beauty in Jesus’s prayer. Jesus could have begun His prayer refusing to go through with His death. Yet, He began His prayer, stating that God should be glorified (v.1).

He continues to praise God and prays for Him to be glorified. The rest of His prayer consists of praying for His disciples and future believers. Look at the choice of words Jesus uses when praying for others. He says things like, “Protect them,” “Sanctify them,” and “I want those you have given me to be with me where I am.”

Do you see the pattern here? Those three phases are specific. Jesus made His intentions clear when praying for His disciples and future believers.

Being specific in prayers is a struggle of mine. But prayers like Jesus’s in John 17 remind me that God wants to hear my requests. He wants to listen to yours as well. If we can be specific with people, then why are we not specific with God? Today, resolve to be specific in your prayers. I know I need to.