Who is Jesus Praying For?

I found this passage interesting.  It comes from the Gospel of John.  My Bible is a red letter edition Bible meaning the words printed in red are words spoken by Jesus.  Take a look at this.

John 17:9-10(NKJV)

9“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours. 

10And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. 

John 17:20-21(NKJV)

20“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who £will believe in Me through their word; 

21that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 

Who is Jesus praying for?  He's praying for those who are already saved and He is praying for those who ultimately will be saved.  Who does Jesus say He is NOT praying for?  The world.  I take that to mean those who have rejected Him and will never accept Him.  Jesus isn't wasting any of His prayer time on those who reject Him.  Wow!

Is this cold hearted?  I don't think so.  And as I've written before, the reason I don't think it is cold hearted is that they are not being prayed for by Jesus because of a choice that they made. 

Jesus tells us that we are heirs with Him.  We are part of the family.  We are entitled to all of the benefits of being part of the family.  One of those benefits is Jesus praying for us. 

Because we have families we can understand this.  If you have kids you know that you are willing to share most everything you have with them.  You spend time thinking about them, caring about them, and worrying about them.  Why?  Because they are heirs, they are family.   

Now you run into people in your community everyday that need assistance.  You help out where you can.  You feel bad for them.  You may even think about their plight a bit.  But not to the degree and the emotional intensity that you do for your own kids.  Why not?  Because they're not family.

So for me the passages from John make perfect sense.  I don't see where Jesus is wishing them any ill will or anything.  They're just not part of the family and therefore not entitled to those benefits.

What I do find funny is all of the people that reject Christ but then would say that it isn't fair that He won't pray for them also.  Imagine how that makes Jesus feel.  Kind of reminds me of something a friend is going through.  He came to the aid of a friend and now the friend continues to take advantage of him and won't leave his house.  Here is what my friend posted recently.

"I came to the hospital cause your x said you were dying , I got you up and got you walking , I changed your ostomey bag " which is like wipeing your ass butt a lot smellier, I give you some where to live cause you have wasted most of your retirement and your soon to be x took the rest and you have no house cause the bank took it and you were headed to a nursing home . And Now I have told you to leave my home and you refuse cause I OWE YOU ...."

Reminds me of those people who reject Jesus and then turn around and say "well if He is really all about love like you say He is, He has to pray for me anyway."

Now here is the good news.  No one can stop you from enjoying all of the benefits of being heirs with Christ except you.  Jesus will accept you into the family in a heartbeat.  All you have to do is ask Him.

So would you like to have Jesus praying for you?  Think about that.  Would you like to have Jesus talking directly to God on your behalf?  Then just ask Jesus to be the Lord of your life.  It's really that simple and you'll be glad you did!