A composite called Intercession

‘A composite is a product formed out of two other products’. Today we are going learn about a composite that Jesus taught when He was on His grand mission to earth. In John 14:12 Jesus made it clear that true faith in Him is doing more than what He did. That means what Jesus did was a sample and we ought to do more than what He did to save the world.

Of the many principles Jesus taught the two most important are

Love – In John 15:13 Jesus narrates what real love is। He says, ‘Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.’ There is a huge difference between the love the world teaches and practices with what the Bible teaches. Love today has acquired new meanings and has lost its value. But Jesus’ definition of love is to ‘Love your neighbor as yourself’. Very tough isn’t? It is very easy to love our dear ones. But how hard it is to love our neighbors that too if they are not worthy of it! In 1 Corinthians 12 Paul talks about all the spiritual gifts but concludes saying ‘...but let me show you the most excellent way’. He continues to emphasize in chapter 13 that love is greater than all things. Please note, Paul is talking about the same love Jesus taught. Jesus practiced the same love and went to the pivotal of love when He considered His life as nothing and stripped himself on the cross for this unworthy world. Love is the greatest gift of all!

Prayer – A tool to commune with God. Prayer increases our faith and gets us closer to God. Prayer gives us confidence and helps us face the world and escape the eyes of the evil one. Paul writes to Ephesians in 6:18 to keep on praying in the spirit. Well, do you realize that prayer is self centered? Don’t get mad at me…read on! Prayer is generally God and you. You put your requests to God, talk personally to God, thank God for all His mercies to you. Did you notice the “You”s in prayer. Prayer is usually where “God” and “I” are involved and that is what it is meant to be. In Mark 14:32, Jesus prays to God in the garden of Gethsemane. If you observe carefully the whole prayer is about Jesus himself and God, a typical example of what prayer is.

In school I remember learning Hydrogen combines with Oxygen to form water. Similarly Love (to love someone as you) and Prayer (talking with God) combine to form a new product called “Intercession”. When you talk to God for yourself you pray, but when you talk to God in prayer for someone else with Godly love, that’s Intercession.

In Luke 23:34 we see an excellent example of Intercession where Jesus intercedes on behalf of those who are crucifying Him, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”. Today’s Christians do well in prayer, i.e. asking God for their personal needs. But little do they realize that prayer has a new dimension to it called Intercession. There is nothing wrong in praying for our personal needs, but it’s important we also intercede for others just as Jesus did on the cross. Love is powerful and so is Prayer. Could we make use of its combined avatar to profess God’s love to the world?

Lord Jesus, help me spend time interceding for others during my regular prayer time. Help me to stay committed and increase my time for intercession day by day. Amen.