…men always ought to pray and
not lose heart. —Luke 18:1
{CHAMBERS} “You cannot truly intercede through prayer if you do not
believe in the reality of redemption. Instead, you will simply be turning
intercession into useless sympathy for others, which will serve only to
increase the contentment they have for remaining out of touch with God. True
intercession involves bringing the person, or the circumstance that seems to be
crashing in on you, before God, until you are changed by His attitude toward
that person or circumstance. Intercession means to “fill up…[with] what is lacking
in the afflictions of Christ” (Colossians 1:24), and this is precisely why
there are so few intercessors. People describe intercession by saying, “It is
putting yourself in someone else’s place.” That is not true! Intercession is
putting yourself in God’s place; it is having His mind and His perspective.[…] What
we must avoid in intercession is praying for someone to be simply “patched up.”
We must pray that person completely through into contact with the very life of
God. Think of the number of people God has brought across our path, only to see
us drop them! When we pray on the basis of redemption, God creates something He
can create in no other way than through intercessory prayer.”
{ELGIN} Are there people in
your life that you care deeply about.
You watch them as they struggle in life.
Making poor choices, suffering the consequences and then making more poor
choices. Do you believe that God can
make a difference in their lives? Has He
made a difference in yours? We tend to
look at what people might “do” differently rather than how they might trust
differently. People who choose poorly do
so because they have full confidence in their ability to accomplish whatever it
is that they must accomplish. They just
have to try harder. Watching them floundering
in life, we want them … try to wish them into … choosing better … to not give
in to whatever is disrupting any possibility of them experiencing joy. Often, with great sorrow, we have little
confidence that they will be successful. The problem is that we too, have lost
focus on the solution to their dilemma.
It is not doing more … but doing less and trusting on God. That is a faith transaction. No amount of wishing or wanting is going to
make that happen. So what to do. We must intercede for them with the One who
is able to do more than we can ask or think (Ephesians 3:20). The prayers
of a righteous man (person) are powerful and effective. (James 15:16) Do you believe that?
Someone once said that the only part of the Bible that you believe is
the part that you obey. If I could make
someone want to do right and act on it, I would, but I can’t. I cannot change a heart .. only God can do
that. So if I want a heart changed for
the good, I must turn to the One who can do that. BUT … He will not force His will on anyone ..
that person must yield their heart … and what of they don’t or more correctly won’t? Then you will be heart broken … just like the
Father is as He watches millions reject His great Gift and Hope, Jesus. Don’t lose hope .. don’t stop praying .. don’t
stop trusting .. don’t stop caring … Keep looking to the hills from which our
help commeth! (Psalm 121)
No comments:
Post a Comment