Did you know that somebody's praying
for you? At every moment of the day, at each hour of the night somebody's
praying for you. For every need you have, every heartache you experience, somebody's
praying for you. Every joy you embrace, every gift you receive is in direct
relationship to the fact that somebody's praying for you.
Who is praying for you? Who is praying
for you right now? I'll tell you who. Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit are
praying for you right now.
There is within our one, true, living
God a relationship as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We
cannot always intellectually comprehend the divine mystery of that oneness. So,
God helps us by revealing himself to us in these three ways. He wants us to
know him in his fullness. He characterizes and reveals himself to us as the
Father who creates, loves and judges righteously; the Son, who is our friend, redeemer
and advocate; and the Holy Spirit who intercedes, convicts, fills and guides. Throughout
Scripture we can find the evidence of God praying for us.
We have a record of four profound
documents by John, the beloved disciple of Jesus Christ. He was the youngest
disciple and lived the longest. We read in Mark 3:17 that, along with his
brother James, he had the moniker of one of the Sons of Thunder. For all the
noise and rattle that this title holds, his documents are some of the most
profoundly descriptive of the love of God and some of the most theological.
John wrote his Gospel, the story of Jesus, along with three letters 1, 2 and 3
John.
In 1 John 2:1-2 John wrote to the
Christians of his day in this way: My dear children, I write this to you so
that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the
Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our
sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. Jesus
Christ is our advocate to the Righteous Father. He stands up for us, by his blood
and body. He speaks a word for us, when no one else will. He holds session with
Father God and argues our case. He strides into the great courtroom of God and
declares that we are his to defend, his to justify.
The Apostle Paul also wrote about the
incredible work that Christ does on our behalf. In Romans 8:31-35 he wrote: What,
then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be
against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how
will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring
any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then
is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was
raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who
shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or
persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
When Jesus Christ intercedes for us,
the world and our lives are very different. To "intercede" means that
he intervenes. He breaks in between God who judges the righteous and the
unrighteous and seeks reconciliation for us. When Jesus came to earth, he
jumped right in the middle of a sinful mess and started cleaning up. And he
hasn't finished yet! He still is interceding for us!
There is one other who is praying for
you as well. That is the Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul wrote earlier in Romans
8:27: And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because
the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
The Apostle John remembered Jesus
saying something about the Holy Spirit—something wonderful and beautiful. In John
14:16-17a, Jesus told his disciples: And I will ask the Father, and he will
give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of
truth.
In John 17:6-26, the disciple-author
captures the essence of Jesus' prayers during his days just before he was
crucified and rose again. This an incredible view into the prayer life of
Christ. Jesus prayed for his closest disciples as the days of trouble and
crucifixion approached. In John 17:6 we read: I have revealed you to those
whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and
they have obeyed your word. Here Jesus acknowledges the gifts the Father
bestowed on him in the disciples and in their obedience to his mission—namely
the spreading of the Gospel to the whole world.
Jesus went on to recall in prayer the
disciples' acceptance of the Gospel. Let’s read verses 7-11b. Now they know
that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you
gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you,
and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the
world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is
yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will
remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming
to you.
Here Jesus gave one of the most
concise descriptions of a disciple: they heard the word, they accepted
the word, they knew it with certainty, and they believed that
Jesus was sent from God. He also described his understanding of their need for his
intercession. As he prayed for them, he acknowledged that he would not be with
them much longer and that the Holy Spirit would be coming. So, he prayed for
them in very specific ways. This band of first-generation believers needed
protection, unity, joy, sanctification and love. Read John 17:11b-19 (emphasis
added).
Holy Father, protect
them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may
be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them
safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to
destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.
I am coming to
you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they
may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your
word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than
I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but
that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even
as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As
you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I
sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.
That was Jesus' prayer for the
disciples with whom he walked on the earth. He prayed for them because he knew
how critical it was for them to be safe and pure so that the Gospel could reach
us today! Which brings us to the reality that Somebody's praying for you.
Jesus moved from prayer for his contemporaneous
disciples to pray for all of his disciples in the future! What an
incredible thing! But, then again, he is God and he is longing for the restoration
of his entire creation.
Let’s read how Jesus prayed and is
praying for you in John 17:20-23.
My prayer is not
for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their
message [That’s you!], that all of them
may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in
us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the
glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in
me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that
you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
The overarching theme of Jesus’ prayer
for you is twofold: that you find unity with your brothers and sisters in
Christ Jesus and the world can know him and his great love! Sin has broken us
apart, brothers and sisters. We can see it in church divisions, broken
marriages, feuding families, alienated friendships, corrupt business deals and
abuses of all kinds—all of which Jesus knows about! He prays that we would
believe in him, thereby destroying those things that would tear us from each
other and from him. Can you hear his heart of love as he prays for you? (vs.
24-26)
Father, I want
those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the
glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world.
Righteous Father,
though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have
sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in
order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in
them.
Not only does Jesus pray for you, but
the Holy Spirit intercedes for you! Paul wrote in Romans 8:26-27: 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 through wordless groans. And
he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit
intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.
The Spirit of God longs so deeply for
restoration and unity that words are inadequate. It’s like a mother hovering
over her sick child. The child has been in a fever for several days. The mother
breathes prayers to God, asking for her child to be delivered from this
ravaging illness. On the fourth day the fever is not subsiding and the child
must be taken to the hospital. The mother is now covered in hospital gown,
gloves and mask. The doctors and nurses are speaking in hushed tones as she strains
to hear about any progress. Tears no longer come to her eyes. They have gone
dry with weeping. As the child seems to have no improvement, the mother leans
against the wall and a deep groan comes from her heart and throat. If only she
could take the child's place! If only if she could remove the fever! That is
the kind of deep prayer of intercession the Holy Spirit prays for you. When
words are not enough and the pain and the sorrow is too great, the Holy Spirit is
praying to the Father for you!
Somebody's praying for you today! Do
you sense it? Do you know that your point of pain or struggle is not a lonely
struggle? Do you understand that the loss or the regret has an intercessor?
Somebody's praying for you!
What shall we do in response to these
great acts of love? Psalm 116 is great to read in whole. Here is Psalm 116:7
and 17 which can reflect what our responses can be.
Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has
been good to you.
I will sacrifice a thank offering to
you and call on the name of the Lord.
Let us move forward now, resting in
the truth that Someone is praying for us. Let us raise mighty thank offerings
to our great God and King and call on him today and every day!
Amen
M.R. Hyde
Copyright
2020
