Intercession: December 20, 2013

DECEMBER 20 2013. TODAY’S WORD FOR FRIDAY DECEMBER 20, 2013.

INTERCESSION

DEFINITION:

Prayer offered on behalf of others; to plead or meditate on behalf of someone.

SCRIPTURE:

Christ Jesus, who died, more than that, who was raised to life, is at the right hand of God, and is also interceding for us. Romans 8:34

This is the way you should bless the children of Israel. Say to them: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:23-26.

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayers of the faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up.

James 5: 14-15.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

We will today look at a third gift that God gave us through the birth of Jesus some 2000 years ago, Intercession. Jesus came to be the mediator between God and man. It is only through the shed bold of Jesus that we can come before the throne of God with our petitions. After Jesus rose from the dead He ascended to heaven and is there at God’s right hand interceding for us. Our prayers do not fall on deaf ears. Jesus pleads our case before God.

In Hebrews 4:15-16 we have two assurances about Jesus as our intercessor. First, Jesus is able to sympathize with our weakness because He was tempted in every way as we are. Secondly, we can pray in confidence that we will find mercy and grace in our time of need. Jesus is always available to hear our prayer. We can pray at any time and at any place. Be assured prayer changes things. We are to pray not only for ourselves but for others.  

We raised six children and one of the things we both learned from our parents and our study of the Bible was to pray daily for each of our children. In a simple way we felt we were the bridge between our children and our Lord, teaching them to know God and praying for that reality. Prayer is intercession and so important for all parents to understand.

The scriptures give us several purposes that we should adhere to when we pray not only for our children, our families but also others. We are to seek intercession for healing for people, to avert judgment, for deliverance from an evil situation, to give blessings to them, to obtain restoration and to encourage repentance. Yes, intercession (prayer) for others is not only a gift and a privilege given to us but is expected of us from our Lord.

Moses often had to intercede for the Children of Israel on their long hard journey through the wilderness. The people did not make it easy on Moses because when they had a discouraging moment they would complain. Their complaints were not only about the hardships in the wilderness, and the leadership of Moses but even about God. They questioned why God was allowing situations that they faced. Can you relate to this in your life?

In Numbers 21, God brought punishment in the form of fiery serpents to the Children of Israel because of their rebellion and sinful ways. When the serpent bit a person that person would die. Therefore, the people came to Moses and said that they had sinned because they had spoken against God and against you (Moses). They asked Moses to pray and intercede for them before God and ask Him to take away the snakes. Moses did pray and God responded by sparing the children of Israel from the serpents because of the intercession of Moses.

God gave Moses and the priests a prayer that they should pray to bless the Children of Israel. This is the verse we have put above under scripture from the book of Numbers. Have you thought about just praying and asking God to bless someone?

We are to intercede for others and when we pray we are told to plead on their behalf and be specific as to the needs we are praying for. We are to pray earnestly in faith believing we have the victory.

The uniqueness of our relationship with Jesus is that, as believers, we have Jesus as our intercessor between us and God. That is why when we pray we close our prayer in Jesus name. In James 5:16 we read that, “The prayer of the righteous man is powerful and effective.” Is there someone who needs you to pray for them and make intercession for? 

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in Romans 15:8.

For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.

PRAYER:

Thank You for Your wonderful gift of prayer. Thank You that You are my intercessor so that I can talk to God. Help me to understand through prayer and Bible reading how to be the intercessor You want me to be for others who need You in their time of trouble.