Tag: Intercession

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John Devotionals

He prays for us 

Jesus praying

I pray for them. (John 17:9)

For some reason, those words stood out to me this morning.

Jesus prayed for his disciples.

Jesus prayed for us. (John 17:20)

And even now, he continues to do so. (Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25)

He prays for our protection. (John 17:15)

He prays that we would know and live by God’s truth. (John 17:17)

He prays that we would know him and the Father more intimately. And he prays that as our relationship with God deepens, that our relationship with one another would also deepen. (John 17:21-23, 26)

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. How much more intimately does Jesus pray for those he loves?

We often say, “Jesus loves me.”

But today, let’s consider this truth. Let it ring in your soul: “Jesus prays for me.”

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Philippians Devotionals

Praying for others. Praying for ourselves.

Praying the Bible

As I was reading Paul’s words today, I started to pray some of his prayers for the Philippians for the people on my prayer list, for my family and small group in particular, but also for my pastor and his wife.

I pray that <name>’s love will keep on growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that <name> may approve the things that are superior and may be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to your praise and glory, God.

I believe you started a good work in <name>. Please carry it to completion.

Let <name> live a life worthy of your gospel, and may you be highly honored in <name>’s body. (From Philippians 1:6, 9-11, 20, 27)

As I was praying, though, I realized I needed those prayers too. And so I prayed for myself as well.

Father, I pray that I too will keep growing in knowledge and every kind of discernment, so that I may approve the things that are superior and be pure and blameless in the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to your praise and glory.

You started a good work in me. Please carry it to completion.

Let me live a life worthy of your gospel, and be highly honored in my body, in my life today. In Jesus’ name, amen.”

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Luke Devotionals

A prayer to Jesus

Luke

Simon, Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you [all] like wheat. But I have prayed for you (i.e. Simon) that your faith may not fail.

And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. (LUke 22:31-32)

Lord, the day will come when you will reign and we will reign with you (2 Timothy 2:12). A day when we will eat at your table, enjoying sweet fellowship with you.

But that time is not now. We will face trials as Peter and the other disciples did. And through those trials, Satan desires to sift us all like wheat.

So Lord, as you prayed for Peter, pray for me and your people. Intercede for us.

Lord, I know myself too well. I know there will be times I will fall. But when I do, pick me up. And use me to strengthen my brothers and sisters, reminding them that the grace that you gave to me is also available to them.

And in the times when I’m down and feeling far from your grace, use my brothers and sisters to strengthen me.

In your name, I pray, amen.

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1 Samuel Devotionals

The God who sees and judges

1 Samuel

If there is one thing we don’t often like to think about when we consider God, it’s his role as judge of the whole earth. As our judge.

But he is our judge and the day will come when we all will be judged.

As Hannah sang,

…the Lord is a God of knowledge, and actions are weighed by him… (1 Samuel 2:3)

And again,

The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. He will give power to his king; he will lift up the horn of his anointed. (10)

That ultimately will be fulfilled when Jesus returns and reigns as God’s anointed King, as our Messiah.

And ultimately, on the day of judgment, those who honor God will be honored, and those who despise him will be disgraced. (30)

We see a picture of that in the judgment God passed on Eli and his sons.

And we see it in the way he honored Samuel and his mother.

The truth is, though, we all sin. We all deserve to be judged, because all of us have sinned against God. Eli said,

If one person sins against another, God can intercede for him, but if a person sins against the Lord, who can intercede for him?” (25)

But the good news, is that when Jesus came, he was both God and man. And as both God and man, he can and does intercede for us before the Father.

He is our faithful priest, who always lives to intercede for us. And because of that he is able to save completely those who come to God through him. (Hebrews 7:24-25)

So let us fear and rejoice.

Let us fear God, honoring him as holy, knowing that he weighs our actions and will judge us.

But let us rejoice that in Jesus we have one who intercedes for us who love and honor him.

And because of him, we can say with confidence and joy that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

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Numbers Devotionals

Standing between the living and the dead

Numbers

(Aaron) stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was halted. (Numbers 16:48)

Those words really struck me today.

On one side of Aaron, thousands were dead because of their rebellion.

On the other, thousands were saved through his intercession.

As God’s priests, we stand in the same position as Aaron.

Many around us are dying because of their sin. And we have a choice.

We can just do nothing and watch God’s judgment fall.

Or like Aaron, we can pray. We can intercede. We can reach out to them, sharing God’s gospel of repentance and forgiveness.

Lord, give me the heart of Aaron. There are so many people hurting and dying because of their sin.

Give me Aaron’s compassion. Give me your compassion. Show me what I can do to reach out.

And use me to bring your salvation into their lives. In Jesus’ name, amen.

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Genesis Devotions

Remember me

Genesis

“But when all goes well for you, remember that I was with you. Please show kindness to me by mentioning me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this prison.”…

Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph; he forgot him. (Genesis 40:14, 23)

It must have been discouraging to Joseph that the cupbearer forgot him.

How much hope did he have those first few days after the cupbearer was released, especially when Joseph undoubtedly heard that he was restored to his position, just as Joseph had said?

But days passed. Weeks passed. Nothing happened.

People are fallible. They will fail us.

The good news is, God doesn’t.

Four times it says in chapter 39 that he was with Joseph.

And he would continue to be with Joseph throughout his life, even though Joseph couldn’t always see it.

Thousands of years later, another man begged, “Remember me!”

And on the cross, Jesus said to him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

But unlike the cupbearer, Jesus remembered him and interceded for him before the Father.

He does the same for us. (Hebrews 7:22-25)

So whatever we’re going through, let us always hold on to the hope we have in him.

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Numbers Devotionals

Separate, but interceding

Numbers

As I was reading different passages from the Bible today, several things struck me, but perhaps this passage most of all.

Some of the Israelites had rebelled against God, and Moses told the community,

Get away from the tents of these wicked men. Don’t touch anything that belongs to them, or you will be swept away because of all their sins. (Numbers 16:26)

The truth is, if we become too entangled with the people of this world, we can get entangled with the consequences of their sin.

There is a reason we are called to be separate from this world. (John 17:14-17; 1 John 2:15-17)

And yet, we are not called to completely abandon those headed for destruction either, at least while there is still time for their salvation.

So in chapter 17, when destruction was headed for the Israelites because of their rebellion, Moses told Aaron to make atonement for the people.

Aaron raced into their midst, and it says in verse 48,

He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was halted.

We too are called to stand between the living and the dead.

We ourselves cannot make atonement for those who are spiritually dying. But we can introduce them to the One who can. And we can pray.

So as God’s priests, let us find that balance.

Let us not so entangle ourselves with sinners to the point that we get caught up in their sin and the destruction that comes with it.

But let us also intercede for those who are dying, that they too might find the life we ourselves have so graciously received.

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Hebrews

Why we can dare to draw near

Hebrews

How would you like to have your whole life exposed for all to see? Nothing hidden. Your life an open book for the world to see?

Now think of standing before God on judgment day with that book open before him and him asking, “What do you have to say for yourself?”

The writer of Hebrews tells us,

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Hebrews 4:11-13)

That is a scary thought. Not only will every action will be exposed, but every thought, every attitude will be laid bare before God. There will be no hiding of anything on the day of judgment.

If you’re totally honest with yourself, that ought to scare you to death. And yet, we can dare to draw near to God. Why? Because of Jesus.

The writer continues,

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin. (4:14-15)

We saw before that Jesus blazed the path to salvation before us as our pioneer. And now he goes before us into heaven before the Father to intercede for us.

And when the Father sees him, he delights in him. He’s not like some judges who have an adversarial relationship with criminal defenders. Rather, he himself appointed Jesus as our priest. (Hebrews 5:4-6)

More, when Jesus stands before the Father, he intercedes for us with compassion because he understand all we go through.

He understands temptation. He understands how difficult it is to follow the Father’s will in a world as broken as we live in.

While he was on earth, daily he offered up prayers with loud cries and tears before the Father. And at the garden of Gethsemane, he sweated blood in his anguish to obey the Father’s will.

He knows how hard it is. And yet, he obeyed his Father in everything, to the point of going to the cross. And now, he has become our source of salvation if we will just follow in the path of faith that he has blazed for us (Hebrews 5:7-10)

And when we falter, when we act ignorantly and waywardly, he deals with us gently, picking us up and setting us back on the right path. (5:2-3)

For all these reasons, the writer of Hebrews now tells us,

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:16)

Do you have that confidence standing before God? Or do you feel like God is always looking down on you, ready to blast you for your sins?

Cast those fears aside. Jesus stands with you. He took your punishment for you. Punishment is no longer waiting for you. Rather, mercy and grace await you.

So draw near to the Father, knowing he loves you and will welcome you as his precious child.

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Psalms

When people hate us

Psalms

When I was a kid, I had a friend that I would often hang out with. But by the time we hit junior high school, we had kind of drifted apart, and it soon became evident that he really didn’t like me. To this day, I’m not completely certain why.

How do we deal with these kinds of people?

David certainly experienced this. Though David did nothing to deserve it, he experienced the wrath and hatred of King Saul. And it was perhaps during his time of fleeing from Saul that he wrote this psalm.

David opens by praying,

Contend, O LORD, with those who contend with me;
fight against those who fight against me.

Take up shield and buckler;
arise and come to my aid.

Brandish spear and javelin against those who pursue me. (Psalm 35:1–3)

One thing that we see about David is that when dealing with those who hated him, he always left the fighting in God’s hands. He said, “Lord, please fight for me. You be my defender.”

Even so, it was probably difficult for him to remember to do this and not take things into his own hands, and so he prayed,

Say to my soul, “I am your salvation.” (3)

In other words, “Remind me Lord that you’re on my side. Remind me that you will deliver me so that I don’t try to avenge myself.”

What’s really amazing to me is his attitude towards those who hated him.

Yet when they were ill,
I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting.

When my prayers returned to me unanswered,
I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother.

I bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother. (13–14)

You actually see this attitude when David heard about the death of Saul. When he heard of Saul’s and Jonathan’s death, he not only mourned for Jonathan who was David’s best friend, but he wept for the man who had tried to kill him.

It is the kind of attitude, in fact, that Jesus had. In fact, I see a lot of Jesus in this psalm.

Like David, Jesus had false accusers coming against him (11), and people mocking and slandering him (15–16).

And yet, he prayed for them, even as they were crucifying him.

God calls us to do the same. In 1 Peter, the apostle wrote,

To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps. (1 Peter 2:21)

In particular, Peter is talking about suffering for doing what’s right. And he’s saying that because Jesus endured suffering in order to save us, we should also endure suffering for righteousness’ sake.

But we also see in this passage more on how Jesus responded to those who hated him. And in this, we are to follow in Jesus’ steps as well. How did Jesus respond?

“He committed no sin,
and no deceit was found in his mouth.”

When they hurled their insults at him, he did not retaliate;
when he suffered, he made no threats.

Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly. (1 Peter 2:22–23)

How about you? When people hate you and hurt you without cause, do you follow in Jesus’ steps?

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Amos

When there’s no turning back

Plumbline

I suppose the tough thing about going through these prophets is that for many of them, especially during this time in the books of Kings and Chronicles, they seem to be beating the same drum—namely that of judgment.

I sometimes wonder if I can say much more on the topic without people getting bored.

But just a few things here. There was a very interesting dialogue in chapter 7 between Amos and the Lord, very reminiscent of the dialogue between God and Abraham in Genesis 18.

In both cases, God is preparing to judge the people, and in each case, he shows a willingness to relent when someone intercedes.

But in both cases, there comes a point when God says, “No more. There is no turning back for these people anymore. Judgment must come.”

Twice Amos, through his intercession, causes the Lord to relent from his judgment on the people of Israel. But the third time, God said,

Look, I am setting a plumb line (a kind of tool used to make sure a wall was built straight, similar to a modern-day level) among my people Israel.

I will spare them no longer. (Amos 7:8)

In other words, God had measured this wall that was Israel, and found it so crooked that he had no choice but to tear it down.

He called them in chapter 8 a basket of ripe fruit—ripe, that is, for judgment. (Amos 8:1–2)

How did the people get so crooked?

We’ve talked about this before. They had stopped really listening to the Lord.

As long as the prophets God sent told them pleasant things, they were willing to listen. But as soon as the prophets warned about God’s judgment, the people told them to shut up.

You see this in the last part of chapter 7 where a “priest” from Israel accused Amos of treason for predicting King Jeroboam’s fall, and told him,

“Get out, you seer! Go back to the land of Judah. Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there.

Don’t prophesy anymore at Bethel, because this is the king’s sanctuary and the temple of the kingdom.” (Amos 7:12–13)

When we take away the “level” of God’s word in our lives, we can no longer tell what is crooked or not, what is evil or not.

We see that very clearly in the world today. People call what is crooked, straight; what is evil, good.

And when we willfully ignore the word of God, there comes a point where God will no longer speak. In chapter 8, he told the people,

“The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord, “when I will send a famine through the land—not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord.

Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it.” (Amos 8:11–12)

God, in fact, would be silent for 400 years between the time of Malachi until John the Baptist came.

Is it any wonder that the people flocked to hear John when he came?

But as was usually the case with the prophets, God finishes with some words of hope in chapter nine, once again illustrating his faithfulness.

He promised that though he would punish Israel, he would also restore it. That though it would lie in ruins, it would be rebuilt.

He would do so, not because of their righteousness, or anything that they did, but rather out of his mercy and love for them.

As Paul wrote,

He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. (Titus 3:5)

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Genesis

Mirroring the heart of God

Genesis

It’s scenes like this one that show why God would choose someone like Abraham in spite of all his faults and failures.

In this interaction, you see in Abraham’s words and pleas what I believe was in the heart of God from the first: a desire to show mercy.

God tells Abraham that the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah was so great and their deeds so evil that he had come and see it for himself.

And Abraham knew what that would mean: judgment. But Abraham also knew that his nephew Lot and his family were living in Sodom, and so he started pleading for mercy.

It’s a very poignant scene. The two men (angels actually) leave for Sodom and the Lord and Abraham are left standing there, looking down on the city.

Perhaps they’re standing in silence knowing the judgment that is to come. But then Abraham slowly inches his way towards the Lord, and when he’s standing right next to him, he asks softly:

“Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?

What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?

Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked alike.

Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:23–25)

The Lord replies, “If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

Perhaps there is silence for a minute or two. Then Abraham asks, “What if the number of the righteous is five less than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city for lack of five people?”

The Lord immediately answers, “If I find forty-five there,” he said, “I will not destroy it.”

On and on, the conversation goes, as Abraham brings the number down to 40, 30, 20, and finally 10. One wonders how far God would have gone. Down to one? Perhaps God would have spared the city for even one.

Why did God let the conversation go as long as it did? Why do I think he would’ve even gone down to the number one?

Because while God must eventually bring justice, he also longs to show mercy as well. And I think it pleases him when his people mirror his heart and desire to show mercy as well.

So when his people mirror his heart and pray for his mercy on the lost, he is very quick to say yes.

How about us? Do we have that same heart of compassion and mercy for the lost?

Do we desire more than anything that they would know God’s mercy, and in so doing, find a relationship with the living God?

Or do we not give a rip?

How often do you pray for the people around you who don’t know Christ?

Do you pray for God’s mercy in their lives?

Or are you more likely to pray for his judgment?

Or do you not pray at all?

God’s desire is to show mercy. God’s desire for us is that we mirror his heart of mercy.

What is in your heart today, as you consider the lost people around you?