Helpful Intercession

Romans 8.26-28:  “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.  And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

This is awesome!  We have weak prayers, partly because we don’t pray but mostly because we are not usually in tune with what God wants to do.  But the Holy Spirit has three things going on: He hears our prayers, he knows our hearts, and he understands the will of God.  He puts all those together and “intercedes for the saints according to the will of God,” causing all things to work together for us within the good and perfect plan of the Father.

Imagine the communication (and deployment) system involved here.  Even if there are only(!) a couple of million people praying at any given time, everyone is constantly broadcasting the desires of their heart.  The Holy Spirit picks up all the information and processes it through His knowledge of God’s design for the universe and for his people. His intercession has a positive impact on ALL things. This rivals the complexity and wonder of having septillions of planets in the universe.

And Can It Be

This powerful Charles Wesley hymn, written in 1738, expresses the awesomeness  of what Jesus has done.  He not only died a painful and bloody death, but left his Father’s side to do so.  He died for ME and his entire chosen race.  I now can see, my heart is free, and I am no longer condemned!  It is a mystery why things are done this way but God, the creator and ruler of all things, decided that THIS was the way to do it.

 

1: And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior’s blood?  Died he for me, who caused his pain? For me, who him to death pursued?  Amazing love! How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

 

Refrain:  Amazing love! How can it be that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

 

2: ‘Tis myst’ry all! Th’Immortal dies; who can explore his strange design?  In vain the firstborn seraph tries to sound the depths of love divine. ‘Tis mercy all! Let earth adore, let angel minds inquire no more.

3: He left his Father’s throne above (so free, so infinite his grace!), humbled himself (so great his love!), and bled for all his chosen race. ‘Tis mercy all, immense and free; for, O my God, it found out me.

4: Long my imprisoned spirit lay fast bound in sin and nature’s night; thine eye diffused a quick’ning ray; I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; my chains fell off, my heart was free; I rose, went forth, and followed thee.

5: No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in him, is mine!  Alive in him, my living Head, and clothed in righteousness divine, bold I approach th’eternal throne, and claim the crown , through Christ, my own.

DIY

Measure twice, cut once, curse, buy more, cut again.

Engineer’s Motto:  If it isn’t broken, take it apart and fix it.

If you think space is the final frontier, you should see my garage.

Worldview Two

My friend and I had read a number of Christian-oriented books that I suggested:  The Case for Christ, The Case for a Creator, the Gospel of Mark in the Bible, and Christianity Explored.   Now we are looking at a book that he suggested – Undeniable; Evolution and the Science of Creation.  As we starting reading the latest book, I was struck by three things immediately.

First, the author seems a bit dismissive, referring to “Creationists and other uniformed people” or the “kooky ideas that Creationists teach their children.”  Second, our definitions are not in sync on the term Creationist.  The author uses the word to describe those who hold to a literal six 24 hour days as the timeline of the biblical creation story.  I view myself as a Creationist, believing that God created the universe and all that is in it. But I would be more in tune with one of the other four common interpretations of the Genesis text, as explained in the ESV Study Bible  (I gravitate toward the geological-age idea).   And third, the author assumes too much about my knowledge on things that are obvious to him, like the multiple species of finches on the Galapagos Islands as recounted in Darwin’s initial work.

As I described these things to my friend, he related to them, because he felt the same way about the Christian books we read.  We were both in tune with phrases like “obviously” or “apparently” which were used to make points that were not so clear from the supporting information.

One thing we do agree on is the starting point – there must be a God behind creation. I like the explanation in the words of Romans 1.20: “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.”  My friend says a “creator” makes sense to him because the Big Bang has scientific support and there must have been some force behind that event.  But we both stand in awe of the enormous, varied, and seemingly infinite universe that we live in.  And maybe we should collaborate on our own book.

Indecision

Speaking about his then-current batting slump Reggie Jackson reportedly said:

“So many ideas come to you and you want to try them all, but you can’t. You’re like a mosquito in a nudist camp.  You don’t know where to start.”

Prayer For A New Year

The following is an excellent example of a pastoral intercessory prayer during a worship service. It was delivered by Pastor Jason the second Sunday of the year. Note that there is a TIME theme and a bookend proclamation of the Potentate of Time.

Notice the quotes from scripture and hymns.  See that there is Praise and Adoration as well as Supplication.  In this particular prayer, the requests are general, for the whole congregation.

 

Lord, we praise you.

As the wonderful hymn says, Crown Him the Lord of years, the potentate of time.

You are the King of all ages, The Lord of time. There is none like you

 

And as we begin this new year we rejoice that You are our God and we are Your people.

Your steadfast love never ceases, Your mercies never come to an end.

Let us not forget that as we begin this new year They are new every morning.

Great is your faithfulness. And even as your mercies are new every morning, So they are new every year

 

As we enter into this year. There is none we would rather have at our side, Over our head,.Governing our souls and bodies than You.

We pray, O Lord, that you would keep us. Keep us in the palm of your hand.

Guard our hearts, guard our minds, guard our very souls.

Lead us not into temptation, deliver us from evil.

Grow us in our love for you and one another. Help us to consider others better than ourselves

 

For those entering this year with grief, comfort them. Give them a new day

For those struggling with sickness, illness, grant them bodily health. Give them new life

For those wrestling with dark thoughts, lift the cloud. Give them light

For those in our midst struggling with loneliness, Give them a companion, a friend, a wife or husband.

For those restless, anxious, and disquiet –  Give them peace

For those questioning, Give them answers.

For those lost, Give them You.

 

Ah, Lord, we would pray that for all of us

In this new year, give us more of You. We want to see more of You.   We want to delight more in You

We want to witness more of Your mighty hand, Your working, Your will being done on earth as it is in heaven

Your goodness ministering to the needy, Your peace coming to bear upon our souls and the souls of those around us, Your joy coursing through our hearts, Your love moving our affections

Give us more of You. That is our great prayer in this New Year

Give us more of You

 

The steadfast love the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul.  “Therefore I will hope in him.”

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him.

And in that we rejoice as this new year begins.

Praise to you, O Father of Ages, O King Eternal, O Potentate of Time

Adoration

This list comes from an outline by J Ligon Duncan III, as adapted from a Matthew Henry document.  It gives a strong set of prayer topics for which we can praise our God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

State that He is infinitely above us, and all other beings.  Particularly in our adorations we must acknowledge:

  1. He is an eternal and immutable God.
  2. He is omnipresent.
  3. He is omniscient.
  4. He is all-wise.
  5. He is sovereign Lord and Owner of all.
  6. He is omnipotent.
  7. He is pure, holy, and just.
  8. He is just and fair in the rule of His creation.
  9. His truth is inviolable, and His goodness inexhaustible.
  10. Our adorations fall infinitely short of God’s glory.

That last one is astounding.  Even if we praise God every day for all the splendid attributes on the list (and for all the other ones in the original document), we can never come close to describing His true magnificence.