JULY 2

OUR PERSONAL PROMISES

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Hebrews 7:25

“Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

Hebrews 7:25

“Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

Matthew 5:44

“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,”

1 Timothy 2:1

“Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,”

Luke 18:1

“Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart,”

Luke 5:16

“So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.”

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We are reading a book by Corrie ten Boom, with daily recordings she made to broadcast over Trans World Radio.  Her Dutch family  sheltered Jews during the Nazi invasion of Holland.  As a result, she, her sister Betsy and their father were taken to concentration camps in Germany. The Lord did many miracles to allow both Corrie and Betsy to bring the Gospel to the other women in their camp.   Their father was murdered in an extermination camp and Betsy was sick, dying just two weeks before Corrie and the rest were freed.  After her freedom, Corrie traveled the world, telling everyone even in remote areas, about salvation through Christ, besides radio and writing many books.  This one is entitled, “Not I, but Christ.”

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PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER

When Paul is writing about the armor of God which we need in order to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, he says in Ephesians 6:18-20:   “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—  and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,  for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.”

There are many ambassadors for Christ who need these prayers right now.  A missionary was in great danger and one evening was alone in his house.  Enemies wanted to kill him, but nothing happened.  The next day one of these came to him and said:  “Last night we intended to kill you, but we could not.”

“Why not?”

“There were too many men around your house.  There were only four of us and about seventeen men stood around your house.”

The missionary wrote this to his friends at home.  They came to the conclusion that on this particular night they had had a prayer meeting – seventeen had come to pray.

Seventeen believers prayed at home.

Seventeen angels stood around the missionary’s house.

Satan laughs when we exert ourselves.  He sneers at our wisdom.  But he trembles when we pray.

When you pray for others, it is as if you went and stood beside the Lord and together you talked about their needs.

There are some who say you must have compassion on others in a humanistic way.  But I believe we should be careful with this.  I don’t believe it’s right to try to identify with a person who is in danger of perishing in need or in sin.  This can infect and break us.  And it is not necessary.  God does not ask this of us.

Jesus bore all our griefs and sins on the cross, and He finished the work of salvation.  Is there anyone else as able to understand our griefs as He who bore everything on the cross?

Is there anyone who can fathom the dangers of sin better than He who paid for these sins with his blood and so great a love, the ocean of God’s love?

Therefore, together with Him, we can understand sorrows and see sins in their true color.  The chastisement of our peace was upon Him.  With His stripes we are healed.

Then intercession does not become the patching up of a person’s soul, but the soul’s breaking to contact with God.  We can only really intercede if we pray with the reality of God’s redemption in Jesus Christ as a starting point.

As an intercessor in God’s kingdom you must be careful to keep in pace with the reality which God is showing you, for otherwise you can well be overrun.  If you know too much, more than God gives you to know, the situation will so terribly oppress you that you cannot penetrate to the reality of the situation.

Intercession is very important. 

A little girl prayed for her friend till she also found the Lord Jesus as her Savior.  Together they began to pray for a third girl.  Then the three of them for a fourth and the four of them for a fifth – the chain reaction in the hearts of little children by intercession.

Will you not ask the Lord to use you for this chain reaction – that this may begin in your heart and then continue?  Pray for one, then together for a third, then the three of you for a fourth.

In 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Paul says:  “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men:  for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”

I have experienced that nothing makes us as free as interceding for others.

What a heavy task!  But how glorious!

Lord Jesus, will You make us real intercessors?  We dare to be such, together with You, and we praise and thank You that Your redemption on the cross is a greater reality than all the pains and sins of those around us.  Hallelujah!  Amen.

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