Chapter 12 directed our attention to 7 scripture passages to enlarge our understanding of the Biblical use of Intercession (with my personally assigned title for each passage):
Numbers 14: 11-20 (Intercessory love is greater than self-interest)
1 Samuel 12: 12-25 (Samuel’s intercessory prayer for the nation)
Psalm 106: 1-48 (The vicious cycle of sin and intercession)
Genesis 18: 16-33 (Abraham’s intercession)
Hebrews 7: 23-25 (Jesus is OUR intercessor)
Romans 8:28-39 (Our intercessor at God’s side)
1 Timothy 2: 1-8 (Pray with intercession, etc., for everyone)
The hymn for Chapter 12 was "Lord, As to Thy Dear Cross We Flee” by C. M. Windsor. (If you are not familiar with the song, just Google the hymn name and you will get multiple sources to read and/or hear it, as well as its history.)
The meditation selections included excerpts from the writings of George MacDonald (edited by C. S. Lewis), Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Thomas a Kempis, John White, Andrew Murray, Anthony Padovano, and Henri J. Nouwen. (Googling their names may give you some insight into their backgrounds and experiences, if that's of any interest to you.)
Some of the interesting quotes from the meditations included:
· “ Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual and the fellowship must enter every day. …Intercession means no more than to bring our brother into the presence of God… To make intercession means to grant our brother the same right that we have received, namely, to stand before Christ and share in his mercy.”
· “We should, therefore, bear with the tempers of others and endeavor to give no cause of uneasiness to anyone on account of our own.”
· “What does bless mean? Is the word an excuse on your part for not being specific (about something in the life of (Jack) the one for whom you are praying)? …But if nothing dramatic is happening to Jack, …how are you supposed to pray? Bless comes in handy. You probably use it at different times to mean such things, ‘Do whatever is best for Jack and make things work out for him. Make him a better Christian in some way or another. Make him happy,’ and so on. Are these the things God wants for Jack? What does God want? …I know you have been working in his life. What is it he most needs? …Play it God’s way. That is what partnership in prayer is all about.”
· “The thought of our fellowship in the intercession of Jesus reminds us of what He has taught us more than once before, how all these wonderful prayer-promises have as their aim and justification, the glory of God in the manifestation of His kingdom and the salvation of sinners. …Let us each find out what the work is, and who the souls are entrusted to our special prayers; let us make our intercession for them our life of fellowship with God…”
· “Prayer is a willingness to admit we can do something even if not everything and that, although nothing is done without God, God does nothing without us. …We have judged the value of prayer by the amount of time given to it rather than by its intensity.”
· “The power of the prayer of the heart is precisely that through it all that which is on our mind becomes prayer.”
What do any of these quotes (or any of the meditations in Chapter 12 not quoted) mean to you? I look forward to your responses.
John
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