Hebrews 7:25-26 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
Romans 8:26-27 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.
One of the most important aspects of prayer is understanding how God Himself is interceding for us in ways we cannot fathom or comprehend. While Yeshua’s (Jesus) atonement was completed on the cross 2000 years ago, His continuing work of intercession rests soundly on the basis of it. He now lives … to make intercession for us! As our Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever [Hebrews 13:8], He is “faithful and true” and will always intercede according to the Father’s will, both in personal, individual matters, and also as we take up battles in prayer for others, including every arena of spiritual warfare.
In this light, our opportunity in prayer is simply to “show up” for it. This can be a real relief for many, who might say or think, “I’d like to be more involved in prayer, but I just don’t know how or what to pray.” The passage in Romans 8, above, is such an encouragement. The Lord has already acknowledged our ignorance and helplessness in prayer, “For we do not know what to pray as we ought…”
But if we resolve to simply “show up” as His volunteers [Psalm 110:3], He will immediately “show up” to help us and to inspire and even interpret the prayers His Spirit in us prays, even with “groanings too deep for words”. You see, we don’t even need words to know how to pray.
Prayer may be the most multi-faceted spiritual activity, since it can find expression in virtually every realm of human existence. It is praise, counsel, cries for help, desperation, vindication, deep love, compassion, rescue, comfort, appreciation, gratitude, confession, sorrow, grief, groaning, intercession, intense joy, etc.etc.etc. There is and never will be a limit to the possibilities of prayer. This is why Paul unhesitatingly encourages believers to “pray without ceasing”.
Don’t worry about saying the “perfect prayer” or having the “perfect words” … just “show up” with your faith and resolution to commune with God’s Spirit in prayer. If you persevere in this, casting away every vain thought, determined to connect with Him, pour out your heart, express your cares and concerns, fight your battles, you’ll discover a depth of relationship with God which you’ve always longed for, and be piling up treasure with and for Yeshua.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]With the war breaking out in Ukraine there is a lot of speculation that we are in the end of days with the apocalypse on the horizon. Everyone who knows me knows I’m not a gloom and doomer, that I do acknowledge the days we are living in, but remain expectant and focused on the birth of the Kingdom.
The children of Israel were delivered into the hands of the Philistines for 40 years for doing evil in the sight of YHVH. Then a wonderful event takes place: an announcement to a barren and childless woman that she will conceive and bear a son. The announcement is given by one who is called “malach-YHVH”, literally “Angel (of) YHVH. This messenger, in two separate appearances, reveals God’s commandments concerning the boy to be born. At the angel’s behest, the couple offers a sacrifice to YHVH, then they ask to be told his name.
This interesting passage speaks of a time when Israel had no blacksmiths to make weapons and was without any armament to defend themselves. The enemy had succeeded to disarm Israel by removing their weapons, and those who forged them! He’s attempting the same tactic today.
From the moment we were conceived we began aging, growing older by the day. We may slow down the physical aging process by exercising, eating right and other natural techniques – but we cannot ultimately stop it. This mortal flesh, our outer man, is “wasting away” and moving toward decay as we await the immortal bodies promised us in the Resurrection.
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul reveals the prophetic nature of Shabbat and the Biblical Feasts as “shadows of things to come”, whose substance is the Messiah Yeshua (Jesus). My study of the feasts therefore seeks to discover their relevance to the Lord, His identity, work, and purpose for my life in relationship to Him.
A few years ago, I was in a debate with an atheist who had a legal background, and the Lord gave me a revelation about the tactics of the enemy. At Yeshua’s first coming, his tactic was to destroy the infant before He could grow up; [Revelation 12:4-5]. After the Lord’s death and resurrection, Satan continued his direct assault by attacking the church through persecution, which lasted through the first three centuries. The tactics of the enemy were to destroy any “eyewitnesses” of God’s goodness.
An interesting parallel exists between these two passages of scripture: Isaiah 53:9 and Acts 3:15. Isaiah renders the “death” of the messiah in the plural form, “deaths” (“motav”). Acts renders the life of the Prince of Life as “lives” (“chaim”). Some scholars suggest that the plurality of the word death indicates a violent death this servant would suffer, and that making the noun plural is a way of emphasizing the terrible intensity of his experience. Jewish counter-missionaries suggest that the “death” in plural shows that the suffering servant is not an individual man, but a group of people, specifically the nation of Israel, thus denying that the passage refers to an individual messianic figure.