His prayer for us...

Over the past semester I have been extremely stressed with school and changes involving relationships with significant people in my life. The Sunday school answer for dealing with stress a lot of the time is to open up God's word and pray. BUT....I have learned over the past few months that reading and praying can be be some of the hardest things to do when you are stressed and even sometimes frustrated with God. It is easier just to find something else to do that will divert my attention away from the bad situation. Leading a Bible study this semester was a good way to make sure that I was spending time studying the Word but I don't want my relationship with God to be forced. I desire to desire God. I know that my being reluctant to spend time with the Lord comes from my sinful nature and the evil one. A lot of the time I ignore the fact that there is someone out there that hates when I spend time with my Creator. Someone who wants to see me fail and make bad decisions. I have found myself begging God for protection at times. Satan can cloud my thoughts with lies and desires that are not from God. There is one place in scripture that I have turned to over and over again this past semester as I have been battling school, relationship struggles, and Satan. What better way to pray than to pray like Jesus did for his disciples (us!) in John 17. Jesus had given his disciples a message to share with the world. The time had come for Jesus to be glorified through his death and resurrection so that He could glorify his father. Jesus asked God to protect his followers because he would be leaving them soon. He was going to be with the father and the disciples were going to be staying in the world. Jesus knew the world would hate his followers and prayed specifically for protection from the world and evil one in John 17:15. I have found myself praying this chapter over and over again this semester. God didn't take his followers out of the world. He left them here to tell the world the amazing news of the Gospel. You may be wondering why I am writing about this because I am definitely not a Bible scholar:) but I just wanted to share something that has helped me push forward in challenging times. We have been commanded to take the Gospel to the ends of the Earth (Matthew 28) and we have also been promised that the world will hate us. Praying the words of my Savior seems like a good way to take on this life...