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Jesus the Mighty Petitioner, March 10
Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe
on me through their word.
John 17:20
.
Think of Christ, the adored of angels, in the attitude of a suppliant. He
was a mighty petitioner, seeking at the hands of the Father fresh supplies
of grace, and coming forth invigorated and refreshed, to impart His lessons
of assurance and hope. Look at His kneeling form, as in the moonlit hours
He pours forth His soul to the Father. Behold the angels watching the
earnest suppliant. His prayer rises to all heaven in our behalf....
The disciples often witnessed Christ kneeling in prayer, their hearts
broken and humbled. As their Lord and Saviour arose from His knees,
what did they read in His countenance and bearing? That He was braced
for duty and prepared for trial. Prayer was a necessity of His humanity, and
His petitions were often accompanied with strong crying and with agony
of soul as He saw the necessities of His disciples, who, not understanding
their own dangers, were often, under Satan’s temptations, led away from
duty into wrongdoing.
Christ’s life was pure and undefiled. He refused to yield to the temp-
tations of the enemy. Had He yielded on one point, the human family
would have been lost. Who can tell the agony that He endures as He sees
Satan playing the game of life for the souls of those who claim to be His
disciples, and sees them yielding point after point, allowing the soul’s
defenses to be broken down? We can form no conception of the agony
that He endures at this sight. One soul lost, one soul given up to Satan’s
power, means more to Him than the whole world.... What an argument of
power in the prayer, “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. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given
them; that they may be one, even as we are one” (
John 17:21, 22
).
Christ is represented as hunting, searching, for the sheep that was lost.
It is His love that encircles us, bringing us back to the fold, giving us the
privilege of sitting together with Him in heavenly places.
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