Intercession

Isaiah 53, "Who has believed our message? To whom will the LORD reveal His saving power? ...I will give Him the honors of one who is mighty and great, because He exposed Himself to death. He was counted among those who were sinners. He bore the sins of many and interceded for sinners."

Last night I was able to spend a short amount of time with a friend, in rejoicing with her in her new home. She is a young woman that has had a hard path to God. She does not yet see the full reward of His love, but she is experiencing it. I met her one day while I was driving in town. She was walking and I had the overwhelming feeling that I needed to give her a ride. We have been friends ever since. We would continually run into each other and we have remained in each others lives; not because of anything that we were doing, but because of God. She does not know it, but I have been praying for God to reveal Himself to her heart for over a year now, every day. I pray for her and through my prayers I have felt a very powerful bond with her, I love her with His love.

Genesis 15:17, "As the sun went down and it became dark, Abram saw a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch pass between the halves of the carcasses. So the LORD made a covenant with Abram that day..." In the old customs when a covenant was made, the ones making the pledge would take an animal, cut it in half and walk between the pieces. What this was saying was, "If I do not fulfill my pledge to you, then you can do this to me; If you do not fulfill your pledge, I can do this to you." When God made the covenant with Abram, only God passed through; He knew that Abram and his descendants could never fulfill their end. So God took on the whole covenant responsibilities Himself. Jesus was the fulfillment of God's covenant. Isaiah 53:11ff, "When He sees all that is accomplished by His anguish, He will be satisfied. And because of what He has experienced, my Righteous Servant will bear all their sins...He bore the sins of many and interceded for sinners."

Christ has interceded for all of us. Mark 14:24, Jesus said, "This is My blood, poured out for many, sealing the covenant between God and His people." My sins were many, but He bore them all for me. When we pray for others we do not know what they need. I do not know what my friend needs, but God does. I pray for her, then the Holy Spirit takes over from there. Romans 8:26ff, "And the Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words...the Spirit pleads for us...For God knew his people in advance and He chose them to become like His Son...And having chosen them, He called them to come to Him."

When I pulled over that rainy day and picked up this woman that I did not know, God knew her. I listened to Him and have been praying for her ever since. We do not have to do anything. Jesus has already done it all. All that we have to do is to lift up a name to Him; the Holy Spirit intercedes for us; and Jesus works. He has paid the price that we owed. We could have never fulfilled our end of the agreement, so He walked though it for us. He has already interceded for us, our part is to love and walk in His love. We are to pray. We do not have to pray specifics, the Holy Spirit does that part for us.

Oswald Chambers, "My Utmost for His Highest", This morning!! "The Spirit of God uses the nature of the believer as a temple in which to offer His prayers of intercession. '...your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit...' Have we come to realize that our 'body is the temple of the Holy Spirit'? ...We have to remember that our conscious life, even though only a small part of our total person, is to be regarded by us as a 'temple of the Holy Spirit.' He will be responsible for the unconscious part which we don't know..." We are responsible for the things that we know. When we pray, He takes care of the part that we do not understand. Pray so that God can work for others in their lives...Stay open to God, so that He can work in your life. Christ has paid the price for all of us. He interceded, when we needed it the most. God knows His children; He is calling you to be like His Son. Pray and the Holy Spirit will intercede for you.