Robert Murray McCheyne is quoted as saying, “If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me.”

The Bible tells us, “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but [Jesus] holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. 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 7:23-25).

I’ve known the last verse for decades. However, it never occurred to me to wonder what Jesus prays for us until I saw the topic discussed in An Ocean of Grace by Tim Chester. He quotes a Scottish pastor of the nineteenth century, William Symington, as saying that we can assume Jesus’ prayers in heaven are similar to what He prayed on Earth.

That makes sense. I imagine He prays things for us that are beyond our imagination or consideration. But it’s logical to think that His current prayers would mirror what He prayed while here.

So what did He pray when He lived in human form on Earth?

When Jesus foretold that Peter would deny Him, He said, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan 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).

What a comfort and encouragement. Jesus knows our temptations, our weaknesses, and our enemy’s ambushes–and He prays that our faith will not fail.

In what we call Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17, He prays not only for the disciples He had then, but also “for those who will believe in me through their word”–us!

He prays first for God’s glory to be manifested through the Son.

Then He asks His father to keep us in His name., and later, to keep us from the evil one even as we live in this world.

Jesus pleads that we may be one, just as He and the Father are one.

He wants us to have His joy fulfilled in ourselves.

He prays that we might be sanctified in God’s word, which is truth.

And finally, He asks that we be with Him where He is, to behold His glory.

In a sense, Jesus might also be praying for all His expressed will in the Bible to be fulfilled in us, like Colossians 1:9-12 or Ephesians 3:14-21. He might include the things He taught His disciples to pray in what we call “the Lord’s prayer“: that we might reverence His name, for the coming of His kingdom, the provision of our needs, our forgiveness and forgiving, our leading, and our deliverance from evil.

But it touches my heart to think that Jesus is currently praying for me some of these same specific things He prayed when He was here. I’m sure He doesn’t pray in generalities, but for specifics. He prays as One who has been where we are, who has faced temptations as we do, who can sympathize with our weaknesses. What a boost to our faith and confidence. What a clarification of priorities. What an evidence of love.

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