Watch/Listen
Intersession
Brian Mashburn
November 16, 2008
Audio Player
The Deeper Experiences of Prayer
The other day, Callie and I had a bonafide conversation about other people's feelings and how we should take them into account as we interact with others. It's amazing. Not long ago, we were simply trying to teach her not to use her feelings and emotions to get her way. And not long before that, when she was an infant, we just accepted her crying as her only way of communicating her feelings and needs.
Maybe this is a "no, duh" observation, but as my children grow, they move from very basic, simple physical and mental exercises into much deeper and more complex ones, without really feeling like that is what they are doing or noticing that it's happening. It's just natural. They are progressing.
A person's prayer life is the same way.
Early on, the lessons we get from Jesus about prayer are fairly simple to understand. Pray to God as a father. Be honest and truthful. Be specific. Pray privately, and pray with others, too. Pretty basic. Simple to understand.
But then some of His lessons get...well, deeper. It's one of the exciting things about prayer. It, too, is progressive. It never ceases to deliver new and meatier rewards as we advance in it. Jesus teaches about these, but the truth is that those rewards will remain a mystery, promises way beyond our reach, unless we become practitioners of prayer. The weekend prayer adventurer, only turning to God for a "spiritual experience" or when too desperate not to, will never touch on these deeper blessings.
One of those advanced courses of Christ is hidden in the awkward word called "intercession". One of the primary uses of prayer is to obtain strength and blessing for our own lives. But the higher work of prayer, our real glory in it, is when Christ gives us the awesome power of going into heaven on behalf of others, and even of the kingdom.
We learn in scripture that even with all of Jesus' amazing prayer life, He has now climaxed by going into heaven where He now intercedes for others without end (Hebrews 7:25). It is His joy, His most productive and loving work. The best possible life. And He wants to give this joy to us as well. Interceding in this world's events and in the hearts of others is the power of "Moving God".