Month: January 2022

THE PRAYER OF INTERCESSION

Intercede – means to act as go-between parties that are unfriendly.

By definition, this limits this type of prayer for people other than the pray-er. The prayer of intercession is a petition-type prayer.

Romans 8:26-27 says, “In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.”

 Romans 8:34 “…who is at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us.”

Hebrews 7:25 “Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come to God by Him because he lives to make intercession for them.”

Isaiah 53:12 “…He has poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” The whole work of the Cross was intercession on our behalf, not just what Jesus says or does at the right hand of the Father.

Intercession does not nullify personal responsibility. Jeremiah 7:16 “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them, so do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.”

Purpose for intercession – to pray God’s will into existence. To act as a priest on behalf of others who have not gotten God’s provision yet.

Examples: Moses -Exodus 32:7-14, Paul – Romans 9:1-3, 10:1, Jesus – Luke 23:34, and Stephen – Acts 7:60.

REMEMBER- generally speaking, our intercession works for others, but it is always based on the love and grace of God – along with what His foreknowledge has planned. He does not condemn anyone. John 3:17

   PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT

Tongues are a language of men or angels. 1 Cor.13:1

It is a language that one has not studied and does not know. The person has the God-given ability to speak it, but the Spirit supplies the words and their meaning.

It is an expression of God’s divine presence and ability – Acts 10:10-44-46

How they operate:

• Speaking is a learned ability.
• With the infilling of the Holy Spirit we are given this ability.
• His knowledge and ability is not limited to ours.
• The ability comes through the human spirit. – 1 Cor.2:12-14
• Working together – Spirit gives utterance – person does the speaking.

The Place of Faith

Your faith will always work for you in things provided in the Atonement or the New Covenant. It may not always work for others you pray for.

• Mark 9:23  Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” NKJV
• Mark 11:22-24  So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. NKJV
• Why are there times that you faith may not work for others?
• The will of the person is involved. They can stand with you or you can agree with them on the promises of the Word of God; but ultimately if they are adults they are responsible for themselves to use their faith and trust in God. If it is a child or a new Christian, your faith will work for them for a short time. You may remember that even Jesus could do no mighty works in His home town because of their unbelief (Matthew 13:58).
• Your faith or prayer will not work if it is for something contrary to the will of God. We know God’s will from reading, studying and meditating in the Word of God.

THE PRAYER OF AGREEMENT

Matthew 18:19-20 “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”

1. Prayer of Agreement depends on all parties agreeing on the need and the outcome.The word AGREE in Greek is sumphoneo – which means to sound together.
2. To agree means that we say the same thing when we pray and afterward.
3. Prayer of agreement is a petition prayer to the Father.
4. Prayer of agreement involves the presence of God in our situations.
5. Jesus prayer life-

• Blesses children – Mt. 19:13
• Prays in the Garden – Mt. 26:36
• Prayed when baptized – Lk. 3:21
• Prays to Father to be glorified – John 17:1
• Prays for believers – Jn.17:20
• Examples of How Jesus ministered-

• Leper – no prayer – Matt.8:1-3
• Centurion’s servant – Mat.8:5-13
• Peter’s mother-in-law – Matt.8:14-15
• Paralytic man – Mt.9:1-6
• Raised girl from dead – Mt.9:18-25
• Healed woman with issue of blood – Mt.9:18-15
• Healed 2 blind men – Mt.9:27-31
• Head deaf man – Mat 9:35-36
• Notice that in none of these cases did He beg or ask the Father to do something. He touched them and/or spoke and the healings occurred!

    Jesus gives His ministry to us. Matt.10:1, Mark 16:17-18

• Preach kingdom – Mt.10:7-8
• Heal
• Cleanses lepers
• Raise the dead
• Cast out demons
• Freely received – freely give

    Hearing the Voice of God

To pray as Jesus did, we need to hear the voice of God speak to us. He speaks through His Word – the Bible – and by His Spirit within us.

Psalm 77:6 “I call to remembrance my song in the night; I meditate within my heart and my spirit (ruach) makes diligent search.”

Romans 8:11 “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

Romans 8:16 “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.”

1 Corinthians 2:12 “Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them because they are spiritually discerned.”

2 Corinthians 1:21-22 “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”

INTRODUCTION

I am teaching a class at New Life Church, Louisville on this topic on Wednesday nights during January and February. I will be posting an edited version of those teaching sessions here over the next several days.

All religions have an exercise that they call praying. To some it is chanting, reciting sayings, quotes, or thoughts from those they regard as holy people. Others may quote the Koran, Buddhists ideas, Old Testament statements, or New Testament passages. Still, others may talk to God as one might talk to a friend.

Prayer is very important. But to see results from our praying, one must pray Biblically. One day some of Jesus’ disciples came to you requesting “teach us to pray as John taught his disciples” Luke 11:1. In response to that He gave them the Model prayer. One does not have to quote word for word what He gave them, because this is an outline of things they and we can pray. Matthew 6:9 says, “In this manner, therefore, pray…” I would suggest that one read and re-read what He said until we absorb the concept of what is being said in the Model prayer.

To pray as we should it is necessary to know some things about the One we are praying to. What is He like?

God’s Personality

God’s personality is revealed by certain characteristics that show what He is like. Things are said in Scripture about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit that shows facets of His personality. We will confine ourselves primarily to the personality of the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 11:2 says “the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.” This is a prophecy about the coming Messiah. 

Notice that there are seven things mentioned about the Spirit that would rest upon Him:

He is the Spirit of the Lord; 

The Spirit of Wisdom; 

The Spirit of understanding; 

The Spirit of Counsel; 

The Spirit of Might; 

The Spirit of Knowledge; and

The Spirit of the Fear of the Lord.

The seven spirits of God are mentioned in the book of Revelation (Revelation 1:4). Perhaps these seven characteristics mentioned in Isaiah are the seven-fold Spirit of God mentioned there.

Many other characteristics of His personality are revealed in the New Testament. For example:

• He can be lied against – Acts 5:3
• Tested – Acts 5:9
• Resisted – Acts 7:51
• Insulted – Hebrews 10:29
• Grieved – Ephesians 4:30
• Blasphemed – Matthew 12:31
• Reveal – 1 Corinthians 2:10
• Speak – Acts 8:29
• Pray – Romans 8:26-27
• Testify – John 15:26-27
• Lead – Romans 8:14
• Inspire – 2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:21

His personality can be seen through symbols as well. They include:

• Wind – Acts 2:2
• Water – John 7:37-39
• Fire – Acts 2:3, Matthew 3:11-12
• Oil – Hebrews 1:9
• Wine – Acts 2:13-15
• Seal – Ephesians 1:13
• Guarantee – 2 Corinthians 1:22
• Dove – Luke 3:22
• Finger (KJV) – Luke 11:20

We can know God through the things that He reveals about Himself, but the best way to know Him is by our relationship with Him. We know our Father as such because we have been born again (John 3:3, 5). We know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior as a result of that experience. We know the Holy Spirit because He lives within us and by our daily experiences of listening to His voice. Just as we might know a spouse or friend by contact with them, in the same way we know the Spirit of God. If we constantly tune our spirit to listen to His voice we will get to the place where we readily respond without question when He speaks or urges us to obey Him. And through all of our contact with Him, we begin to know what He is like; we discover His personality.

As we get to know what He is like, we can learn to pray effectively and see our prayers answered.

• Before we can pray effectively, we must first determine what we believe about God. Is He good? Is He concerned about me? Does He really love me and want the best for my life.
• Hebrews 11:6  “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” NKJV We must know that He exists. We need to know that He will reward or answer us when we pray.

   2 Corinthians 6:1  “We then, as workers together with Him, also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain.” NKJV When we pray the will of God we are working with Him to establish His will on earth.

Matthew 6:9-10  “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”  NKJV

We need to know that there are different types of prayer – prayers of dedication, petition, praise, thanksgiving, supplication etc.  There is a place and time for each of these prayers to be prayed. They do not automatically work in every situation.

We need to know what we believe about the will of God.  Can our prayers change God’s will?  Do our prayers help to establish the will of God? 

• 1 John 5:14-15  “Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”  NKJV
• John 15:7  “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”  NKJV

Psalm 37:4  “Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”  NKJV

During 56 years of ministry, I have conducted over 200 funerals. In many of them, I have used John 14:1-23 referencing the home that Jesus has gone to prepare for the deceased. But is that all this passage is saying to us? In this short article, I am proposing that we examine it more closely for another viewpoint.

All Scripture passages have at least one interpretation but may have one or more applications. Some passages (prophecy for example) may have two interpretations – present and future.

As I have studied John 14 recently, I have seen more clearly that perhaps this passage is referring to the hereafter, but is also saying something about the present.

Jesus is saying to His hearers that as they have believed in God they should believe in Him. He explains elsewhere in this discourse that the Father is in Him, and He is in the Father, and they both would come to dwell in each of those in the audience who believed in Him (v.7,9,11,17,20,21,23). Knowing this should enable His hearers, and us, to not be troubled or agitated! I see that perhaps He could be referencing sometime in the future, but more so in the present time for them and for us now.

“In my Father’s house are many rooms…” This has most often been seen as our future home in Heaven. It could be, and/or it could be referring to the Father’s dwelling being in the spirit of the redeemed now. Jesus was then and is now preparing His disciples as a dwelling place of God through the Spirit (Ephesians 2:22).

They, and sometimes we, have a difficult time understanding the role of Father, Son, and Spirit and the seeming overlap that exists. Which one is speaking, who is doing what in the universe and in and with us? It seems to me, however, from this passage and others, that Jesus is saying from this passage that He, the Father, and the Spirit are all going to come and dwell within them and us, now. In my understanding, this in no way diminishes Heaven but empowers us now with God’s triune presence.

Other than a few special anointed people in the Old Covenant, the Spirit did not dwell upon or in people. But in the New Covenant, He dwells within every believer (Romans 8:9). This is what makes it so much better than the Mosiac covenant (Hebrews 7-10).

Jesus had to go to the Cross and die as us and for us. He overcame death and ascended back to the Father in Heaven so that they could send the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and thereafter indwell His disciples.

A present reality today is that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit live within each disciple. Notice these statements:

verse 9 “…he who has seen me has seen the Father…”

verse 11 “Believe that I am in the Father and Father is in me…”

verse 18 “I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you.”

verse 20 “…I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I in you.”

verse 23 “…we will come to him and make our abode with him.”

And we do not have to wait until we get to Heaven to experience this, it is a present reality! This should be an encouragement to all of us that we now have everything we need to live a victorious, overcoming, productive life in the Kingdom of God!