The very last paragraph of Day 4 in Andrew Murray's The Secret of Intercession moves me:
Christian warriors are pleading with God for the power of heaven to be sent down into the hearts of men. Oh, that God might burn into our hearts this one thought: intercession in its power is according to His will and is most certainly effectual! (19)
As Murray states in this chapter, God sees intercession as the strongest power of man. It is "the highest expression of His people's readiness to receive and to yield themselves wholly to the working of His almighty power" (18).
This chapter provides a general narrative of our receiving of this power. We all know of Adam and his role in God's narrative to do as all that was with and through God. We know of the sin, and we know of the world falling under this sin. But God gave us Jesus, and through Jesus, who interceded for man as man, that we are giving this wonderful, empowering, life-changing power to intercede, to have "the right to claim and expect that God will hear prayer" (18).
Murray concludes this chapter with the following question: How does intercession show that God's people are ready to yield to His will and receive His blessings?
For me, intercession is our link, it is the chain that connects us to God, not just for him to hear us when we call, but for his being to flow and imbue us, to ignite us. When we lose that connection, when we get full of self, we see everything through our own eyes. We think we can control the world. We think we can fix all the problems. We think we can tackle any and everything, and we puff up with the pride of me, me, me. Usually, and often quickly, we realize that our vision, our goals, our wants, our actions do not fix everything. And they hardly give us the happiness we want to desperately. But that connection to God provides a disconnection to our self-centered thoughts and makes us connect to what God wants and desires for us and for this world. It forces us to see ourselves as not the center of the universe but as an important cog that makes it all work out -- but only through our prayers to God that his will be done in and through us.
It makes me think about a conversation I had once with a pastor friend of mine. She had preached on a particular subject, and another pastor came to her after and asked, "How do you do that?"
She replied, "Do what?"
"Stay in the spirit like that?" He was referring to how she always seemed to be in communication with God in her endeavors.
Her response: "I didn't know I was supposed to leave His presence."
This ties back to Day 3 when Murray talks of "unceasing intercession." Are we supposed to leave His presence? Leave the daily conversations, interactions with him? I'm His beloved, and He is mine (Song of Solomon 6:3). If he's mine, I don't make plans to leave him, and I work to understand where he is coming from. Because I know he is for my good, I know his ways are for my good, too. Why wouldn't I intercede? Why wouldn't I stay in his space? Why wouldn't I open myself to his will and the receiving of his blessings for me and mine?
The very last paragraph of Day 4 in Andrew Murray's Christian warriors are pleading with God for the power of heaven to be sent down into the hearts of men. Oh, that God might burn into our hearts this one thought: intercession in its power is according to His will and is most certainly effectual! (19)
As Murray states in this chapter, God sees intercession as the strongest power of man. It is "the highest expression of His people's readiness to receive and to yield themselves wholly to the working of His almighty power" (18).
This chapter provides a general narrative of our receiving of this power. We all know of Adam and his role in God's narrative to do as all that was with and through God. We know of the sin, and we know of the world falling under this sin. But God gave us Jesus, and through Jesus, who interceded for man as man, that we are giving this wonderful, empowering, life-changing power to intercede, to have "the right to claim and expect that God will hear prayer" (18).
Murray concludes this chapter with the following question: How does intercession show that God's people are ready to yield to His will and receive His blessings?
For me, intercession is our link, it is the chain that connects us to God, not just for him to hear us when we call, but for his being to flow and imbue us, to ignite us. When we lose that connection, when we get full of self, we see everything through our own eyes. We think we can control the world. We think we can fix all the problems. We think we can tackle any and everything, and we puff up with the pride of me, me, me. Usually, and often quickly, we realize that our vision, our goals, our wants, our actions do not fix everything. And they hardly give us the happiness we want to desperately. But that connection to God provides a disconnection to our self-centered thoughts and makes us connect to what God wants and desires for us and for this world. It forces us to see ourselves as not the center of the universe but as an important cog that makes it all work out -- but only through our prayers to God that his will be done in and through us.
It makes me think about a conversation I had once with a pastor friend of mine. She had preached on a particular subject, and another pastor came to her after and asked, "How do you do that?"
She replied, "Do what?"
"Stay in the spirit like that?" He was referring to how she always seemed to be in communication with God in her endeavors.
Her response: "I didn't know I was supposed to leave His presence."
This ties back to Day 3 when Murray talks of "unceasing intercession." Are we supposed to leave His presence? Leave the daily conversations, interactions with him? I'm His beloved, and He is mine (Song of Solomon 6:3). If he's mine, I don't make plans to leave him, and I work to understand where he is coming from. Because I know he is for my good, I know his ways are for my good, too. Why wouldn't I intercede? Why wouldn't I stay in his space? Why wouldn't I open myself to his will and the receiving of his blessings for me and mine?
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