Creation is groaning, believers are groaning and the Spirit of God is groaning. We know that God has something big in mind, but our minds and words are too weak to understand or express it. The Spirit knows your pains, He knows the dreams you have lost, He knows you in all your inadequacies and weaknesses and He goes to God for you! Many things happen to us in life that are much too painful to be captured by words. The sorrow brought on my a divorce, a death, an illness or a miscarriage cannot be expresses by human thought or language. Here is a comforting thought: the Spirit of God is interceding for you. He looks into your heart and thinks about you with favor. We should be like God in this and intercede for others. We should be involved in offering up prayers not only for ourselves but also for God's community. Take a moment and pick the first person that comes to your mind. Offer up to God a few minutes worth of prayer for them. Think about the hurts they have experienced, the things they are struggling with, the hopes they might have for the future, think about where they really need God right now. Try to picture the Spirit of God, like wind pushing a sail, guiding you forward in prayer. Let His words and groans become yours as you intercede for your neighbor.
There are ideas in our hearts, there are wishes, there are aspirations, there are groanings, there are sighings that the world knows nothing about; but God knows them. So words are not always necessary. When we cannot express our feelings except in wordless groanings, God knows exactly what is happening. -D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones
Soul Purpose Week 7
I thank my God every time I remember you. Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:3 & 6
And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Phil. 1: 9-11
A Christian fellowship lives and exists by the intercession of its members for on another. To make intercession means to grant our brother the same right that we have received, namely to stand before Christ and share in His mercy. It is also a daily service we owe to God and our brother. He who denies his neighbor the service of praying for him denies hi the service of a Christian. -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
If you can, read Acts 12:1-19. It was a part of my study for day 2. It shows a lesson in the POWER of PRAYER.
When we are praying for others, it's hard to be angry at them. When we know others are praying for us, it's hard not to love them. When we are praying for each other, not only is our fellowship with God strengthened, but our fellowship with one another! -M. Copeland
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone. Colossians 4:2-6
"Prayer: Finding the Heart's True Home" by Richard J. Foster
If we truly love people, we will desire for them far more than it is within our power to give them, and this will lead us to prayer. Intercession is a way of loving others.
...nothing is more important than Intercessory Prayer. We CAN make a difference... if we will learn to pray on their behalf.
As priests, appointed and anointed by God, we have the honor of going before the Most High on behalf of others. This is not optional; it is a sacred obligation- and a precious privilege- of all who take up the yoke of Christ.
Jesus is entering his eternal work as Intercessor before the throne of God, and, as a result, we are enabled to pray for others with an entirely new authority.
"There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 tim. 2:5) He opens the door and grants us access into the heavenlies. Even more: he straightens out and cleanses our feeble, misguided intercessions and makes them acceptable before a holy God. Even more still: his prayers sustain our desires to pray, urging us on and giving us hope of being heard.
The content and the character of our praying must be, of necessity, in unity with His nature.
Persistence. Keep asking, keep seeing, keep knocking.
George Buttrick recommends that we begin with prayer for our enemies: "The first intercession is, "Bless so-and-so whom I foolishly regard as an enemy. Bless so-and-so whom I have wronged. Keep them in Thy favor. Banish my bitterness." The great value of Buttrick's counsel it that it keeps us moving beyond our provincial little concerns and into a broken and needy world.
God will make it clear who and what are to be our prayer concerns.
I thought this week's study was really good. I usually do like the studies. I know there's a lot of information here, but I have 5 days to go through, and I pull out what seems to impact me the most. I hope someone can find it worth the time spent to read it. ~Jaime
1 comment:
This is a wonderful study, Jaime. I love to read about prayer and be encouraged to faithfully pray. Often when I am praying, I pray as the Rom. 8 scripture in your post. It is so exciting to see God working through the prayers of his people! Thank you for sharing. Blessings,
Sandy
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