INTERCESSORY PRAYER

"Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (2 Timothy 2:1-4).

Devotion 4 of 17 Spiritual discernment

The kingdom of God does not operate on automatic pilot! Those who lack spiritual understanding have no power in prayer. Prayers that are characterized by insight touch the heart of God. Divine fellowship, after all, is found in our thoughts. As it is written, "Many, O LORD my God, are Thy wonderful works which Thou hast done, and Thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered" (Psa 40:5). And again, "O LORD, how great are Thy works! and Thy thoughts are very deep" (Psa 92:5). And again, "In the multitude of my thoughts within me Thy comforts delight my soul" (Psa 94:19). David's expression in Psalm 139 depict a person in fellowship with God. "How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with Thee" (Psa 139:17-18). Spiritual discernment is the result of godly contemplation. Although it comes from God, it is granted in the experience of fellowship. Magic and mysticism belong to heathendom, not to new covenant life! "Life and immortality," two essential elements of this world and the one to come, have been "brought to light through the Gospel" (2 Tim 1:10). The Lord Jesus "abolished death," and its attendant shroud of ignorance, inducting an era of blazing spiritual light. As Malachi prophesied, "But unto you that fear my Name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall" (Mal 4:2). Growing up as "calves of the stall" involves the maturity of our understanding. Paul prayed for the Colossians regarding spiritual perception. "For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding" (Col 1:9). The fulfillment of this desire in the Colossians would give them divine utility; i.e., God would work in and through them to fulfill His good pleasure. It will do the same for you!

GIVE GOD NO REST!

The knowledge of God is liberating to the soul. With it comes an awareness of the nature of God, a nature that yearns for involvement with His sons and daughters. We have not been reconciled to God simply to deliver us from the lake of fire. Justification is not a mere stay of execution, as it were. We were delivered from sin and death in order that we might enjoy divine fellowship. God is working in the earth! In fact, the "whole earth is full of His glory" (Isa 6:3). His desire is to work in and through us in the fulfillment of His "eternal purpose." The prophet Isaiah again exposes us to the nature of the living God. How precious it is to see this aspect of our heavenly Father! "I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence. And give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Thus saith the LORD, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for My servants' sakes, that I may not destroy them all" (Isa 65:6-8). How marvelous! God made provision for Himself, to ensure that He could show mercy upon His people. He set watchmen upon the walls of His city. Their role was to remind Him of His people. They were "never" to hold their peace, day or night! When it came to prayer--intercessory prayer-- they were to give the Lord "no rest." The NIV says the watchmen were to "give themselves no rest, nor give God any rest!" The intercession was to be consistent, and without failure. This was the Lord's provision for Himself! It is how He chose to preserve His people. One might argue that God is omnipotent, and can do anything He wants. Why would He need "watchmen" on the walls of the city when He can see everything clearly? But such arguments only show the impotence of human logic and a surface understanding of Scripture. The point of God's dealings with humanity is not to establish what He CAN do, but what He WANTS to do! He would never set watchmen on the walls of His city to cry out to Him, if He was not intent upon blessing His people! The point to be seen here is this: we see in this arrangement the heart of the Lord. It will provoke thanksgiving when it is perceived. It will also challenge those discerning the Lord to seek the role of a watchmen--an intercessor! Intercession is not obligatory; i.e., it is not something God demands of His people. It is an outgrowth of divine fellowship; one of the means He has chosen to fulfill His will. He honors such prayer because He loves the people that offer it. They are close to Him by nature, preferring His fellowship to that of the world. Those who prefer Sinai to Zion, or Law to grace, know nothing of intercession. It is only attractive to those that reject the world in preference for a walk with God.

-- TOMORROW: PRAY FOR PEACE! --