The Son Of God Is Praying For You by David Burnette

It’s a great comfort to know that other believers are praying for us. When difficult times come, or even amid the normal anxieties and struggles of life, we want to know that someone is pleading with God on our behalf. James tells us that the prayer of a righteous person has great power (Js 5:16).

But as comforting as it may be to know that we are being prayed for by other believers, nothing compares to the comfort of knowing that we are being prayed for by Jesus Christ Himself. That’s right, Hebrews 7:25 tells us that the Son of God is interceding on our behalf: 

“Consequently, he [Jesus Christ] is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

Take comfort, believer, knowing that your faith can stand firm in the midst of worries, trials, and suffering in this life. Your confidence is not ultimately in your own faithfulness, or even in the faithfulness of other believers to plead with God on your behalf. Your confidence should be in the faithfulness of Christ, who lived, died, rose again, and now intercedes on your behalf. Your endurance in faith is a direct result of His intercession.

Consider briefly three reasons to be confident in Christ’s intercession:

1) As Lord of all, Jesus knows exactly what to pray for you.  You may struggle to know exactly what it is you need, but Jesus never has this problem. He knows us intimately, and He knows precisely what will work for our eternal good. Nothing in your life perplexes Him or catches Him off guard.

2) As the Savior who has died for you, His goal is your eternal good. You can be confident in the heart of Jesus. Not only does He know what you need, but also He wants to bring it about. Whatever your desire may be for your own holiness and faithfulness, His is greater.

3) As the beloved Son of God, Jesus’ prayers are always answered. The Father’s answer to the Son’s petition will never be “No,” for the Son’s will is perfectly aligned with the Father’s. As our Advocate, Jesus intercedes on behalf of sinners, and we know He is heard because John tells us that our Advocate is also our propitiation (1 Jn 2:1-2). He intercedes with the Father on the basis of His perfectly sufficient death on the cross.

Just as Jesus prayed that Peter’s faith would be able to overcome Satan’s faith-destroying purposes (Lk 22:31-32), so He sustains believers today through His faithful intercession and by the power of His Spirit. So no matter how you are tempted or how bleak your circumstances may seem, if you belong to God you can be confident of this: Jesus Christ is praying for you. And His prayers are always answered.

A Quote From Donald Whitney on Meditation

"You are the cup of hot water and the intake of Scripture is represented by the teabag. Hearing God's Word is like one dip of the tea bag into the cup. Some of the tea's flavor is absorbed by the water, but not as much as would occur with a more thorough soaking of the bag. In this analogy, reading, studying, and memorizing God's Word are represented by additional plunges of the tea bag into the cup. The more frequently the tea enters the water, the more effect it has. Meditation, however, is like immersing the bag completely and letting it steep until all the rich tea flavor has been extracted and the hot water is thoroughly tinctured reddish brown” 

(Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, 44). 

- Donald Whitney

Sam Storms on Anxiety and Prayer

 Anxiety is rooted in self, while prayer is rooted in God.

 Anxiety is the fruit of a narrow, constricted view of life. The only thing one can see is the problems or perplexities surrounding us. Prayer is the fruit of a broad and expansive view of life in which God is so big that everything else, even our worst problems and worries, shrink into insignificance.

 Anxiety is horizontal in focus. Prayer, on the other hand, is vertical in focus. That is to say, when you worry you are consumed with looking to the left and to the right, forward and backward. When you pray, you can’t help but look up.

 Anxiety never raises your eyes above your problems, your situation and circumstances. Prayer raises your eyes above and beyond yourself to God and his power.

 Anxiety looks to self to solve problems. Prayer looks to God to endure problems.

 When you are anxious, your circumstances and problems control you; they have sovereignty over you; you invest in them a power and authority to shape your life. When you are prayerful your circumstances shrink and are devoid of any such power to shape your life.

 Anxiety is a concern over circumstances you can’t control Prayer is confidence in the God who controls your circumstances.

 Anxiety is an expression of fear. Prayer is an expression of faith.

(Notes from a sermon by Sam Storms)

C.S. Lewis on Daily Devotions

"That is why daily praying and religious reading and churchgoing are necessary parts of the Christian life. We have to be continually reminded of what we believe. Neither this belief nor any other will automatically remain alive in the mind. It must be fed."

—C.S. Lewis

Spurgeon on Worry and Prayer

A farmer stood in his fields and said,

I do not know what will happen to us all.

The wheat will be destroyed if this rain keeps on.

We shall not have any harvest at all unless we have some fine weather.

 

He walked up and down, wringing his hands, fretting and making his whole household uncomfortable.

And he did not produce one single gleam of sunlight by all his worrying—he could not puff any of the clouds away with all his petulant speech, nor could he stop a drop of rain with all his murmurings.

What is the good of it, then, to keep gnawing at your own heart, when you can get nothing by it? . . . .

In the same sermon Spurgeon offers another illustration:

I have often used the illustration (I do not know a better) of taking a telescope, breathing on it with the hot breath of our anxiety, putting it to our eye and then saying that we cannot see anything but clouds!

Of course we cannot, and we never shall while we breathe upon it.

- Charles Spurgeon 

Teach Us To Pray: A Prayer From John Stott

"Heavenly, Father, You have told us through Your Son Jesus Christ that we ought always to pray and not to faint; teach us to pray. Our spirit is willing but our flesh is weak. Give us grace each day to be concerned as much for Your glory as for our need; and in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving to make our requests known to You, until all our lives are gathered up into Your presence and every breath is prayer, through Jesus Christ Your Son, our ransom and mediator."

- John Stott

A Prayer of Amy Carmichael

“Give me the Love that leads the way
The Faith that nothing can dismay
The Hope no disappointments tire
The Passion that'll burn like fire
Let me not sink to be a clod
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God” 

― Amy Wilson-Carmichael