Day 21: The Grace in Intercession
The Grace in Intercession
I was struck when I read yesterday’s November 7 Oswald Chambers reading from My Utmost for His Highest (see Day 20 posting for text). I turned to Dan and asked, “Is Oswald Chambers suggesting that intercession is not just prayer but action?”
Note in particular the highlighted sentences from the reading’s first paragraph:
The circumstances of a saint’s life are ordained of God. In the life of a saint there is no such thing as chance. God by His providence brings you into circumstances that you can’t understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God brings you to places, among people, and into certain conditions to accomplish a definite purpose through the intercession of the Spirit in you. Never put yourself in front of your circumstances and say, "I’m going to be my own providence here; I will watch this closely, or protect myself from that." All your circumstances are in the hand of God, and therefore you don’t ever have to think they are unnatural or unique. Your part in intercessory prayer is not to agonize over how to intercede, but to use the everyday circumstances and people God puts around you by His providence to bring them before His throne, and to allow the Spirit in you the opportunity to intercede for them. In this way God is going to touch the whole world with His saints.
Chambers points to everyday circumstances, the things that occupy the normal routine of our lives, as the arenas where God can use us to bring others into a relationship with him.
In the scripture reference, Romans 8:28, the apostle Paul writes, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
Chambers echoes Paul in saying that the piddly details of our lives—and not grand expositions of heroic proportions—that are the molecules, atoms, and particles that are the stuff of God’s purposes.
Yikes! Does that mean when I pour out the ketchup on my burger and fries that I’d better be extra careful because a little condiment could determine eternity for some unsuspecting soul nearby? Do my actions determine the fate of the Universe, or the fate of someone six degrees of separation from me? [swell of orchestra music]
No. The whole point is to not be anxious about performing well. The idea is to not be overcome by fear of failure or haunted by the possibility of missing some divine appointment. The point is to not think God casts a tyrannical stare upon our lives, that He’s just waiting for us to mess up or weighing whether our actions are fit for heaven.
Romans 8 is in fact a message of Hope. It begins with the bold absolute, “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” No condemnation. It rises with a crescendo of “If God is for us, who can be against us?” [v 31], and wraps with the thundering, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” [vv 38-39]
The message is quite simply: RELAX.
It’s God’s work from beginning to end but we get to participate in it—not as bystanders but as players on the field in a game our God has already won.
Our Coach is the Holy Spirit, whom the Bible calls “advocate, counselor, and helper. The Spirit is God’s gift of himself, his intimate presence comfortable enough for human-sized capacity. The Holy Spirit lives in us, renewing and guiding us through our daily lives, and putting us in places where we impact the lives of others. All we need is to be available and watchful so that we recognize the movement of God and have the pleasure of seeing our lives intertwine with others so that we can praise God for it.
This idea brings a whole new understanding to intercession. Intercession doesn’t mean kneeling for hours on cold, hard floors, or finding the right words to pray for God’s help, or any activity that seems interminably boring, frustrating, helpless, or hopeless.
It does mean seeing others with God’s heart, feeling compassion for them, and taking that compassion to the Lord. It means stopping to listen, taking a moment to notice, turning when the Spirit moves us.
It might mean a kind word to someone having a hard day. It might mean giving to a ministry or cause that touches lives we can’t reach. It could require a simple “Thank you,” or “I’m sorry.” It might mean standing by someone’s side, or sitting in someone’s hospital room. It may be packing a child’s lunch in the morning, or tucking him in at night. It may be small words of blessing or loud shouts of, “Way to go!”
Intercession is what we do as part of our everyday lives as we walk with Jesus in the love of God. Intercession is all about grace, the grace of God within us that we spill out to others. For all we know, it may someday mean sharing ketchup with the table next to us.
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