Intercession
The Church has not yet touched the fringe of
the possibilities of intercessory prayer. Her largest victories will be
witnessed when individual Christians everywhere come to recognize their
priesthood unto God and day by day give themselves unto prayer. John R. Mott
Have you ever interceded on someone’s behalf
through intercessory prayer?
Intercessory prayer means that one person requests blessing, direction,
mercy or help for another person through prayer to God. If the Holy Spirit lives in us then he is
there to help when we in our limited knowledge, don’t know what to pray for and
on another’s behalf.
Jesus is the best example of intercessory
prayer. He placed Himself between us and God so that we could be reconciled to
God because of the sin of man. We blew
it and God knew it. So He sent His Son, someone
we didn’t know, to intercede on our behalf and take all the wrath of God
upon Himself for our sin.
I don’t know about you, but that is hard for
me to wrap my arms around. That someone
would give His life to die on a cross on my behalf because I had sinned, and
would continue to sin simply amazes me. If you think about it, our debt of
gratitude should be so great that we should gladly intercede on behalf of
others because how can we not.
You have heard me speak before about the
gentleman I met a CVS who is from Syria.
His circumstances in life are much worse than mine. I have parents who live 20 minutes from
me. They are healthy, active and are a
great blessing to me. This gentleman’s
parents were born in Syria but have fled the country due to persecution. He has not seen his dad in 10 years and his
dad is in poor health. Through
technology he is able to speak to them periodically but infrequently.
Every day of the week I drive by this
gentleman’s store and he always comes to mind.
Some days I stop to buy fruit cups for lunch or a carton of milk for breakfast. There are plenty of other stores I could go
to but there are times when something inside tells me to stop and speak to
him. Several weeks ago I stopped because
I had not seen or spoken to him for several weeks. After talking to him for several minutes and
asking about his dad I told him I would continue to pray for him and his
family. He told me that I was a good
person.
Those were such simple words and I am such a
sap because it brought tears to my eyes.
The very thing that God calls each of us to do for others is supposed to
touch our hearts. If our hearts aren’t touched by another’s suffering then we
don’t understand Jesus’ sacrifice to the extent that we should.
Prayer for the Day:
Heavenly Father, You have blessed me beyond measure and I don’t deserve
it. Give me a heart for others. Teach me what it means to intercede on other another’s
behalf through prayer. Jesus died a painful death on a cross so that I could be
in relationship with You. That is the
ultimate sacrifice for an undeserving soul.
Thank You for giving me a way back to You through the death of
Jesus. I am forever grateful.
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