Bible Prayers: intercession

Showing posts with label intercession. Show all posts

March 9, 2020

Moses intercedes for God’s people

During the season of Lent, God’s people often take time to draw closer to the Lord through personal confession and prayer for forgiveness. However, Moses confessed for the hundreds of thousands whom God had asked him to lead out of slavery.

As soon as their leader was out of sight, the people committed the most offensive act against the very God Who had rescued them! When Moses saw what was going on, he mediated for them, confessed their wrong-doing, pleaded with the Lord God on their behalf, and even put his own life on the line, knowing God could be trusted to do what was right.

Exodus 32:31-32 – a prayer of Moses

And Moses returned unto the Lord,

and said, Oh, this people have sinned

a great sin, and have made them gods of gold.

Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin;

and if not, blot me, I pray thee,

out of thy book which thou hast written.

Exodus 32:31-32 – a prayer of Moses

(Now I see)

what terrible sins

these people have committed!

They have fashioned themselves

gods of gold!

Oh, Lord, please forgive them!

And, if that just is not possible,

please take me off Your list!

Today, praise God, we have Jesus Christ to intercede for us and reconcile us to our Heavenly Father and His.

…

March 14, 2013

The Holy Spirit prays for us!

“Likewise the Spirit also helps our weakness for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit makes intercession for us with sighs too deep for words. And God who searches the heart knows the mind of the Spirit, who makes intercession for the people of God according to God’s will,” Romans 8:26-27

Holy Partner in Prayer
by Mary Harwell Sayler

When our hopes recede
and faith weakens,
and we do not even know
how to pray as we ought,
the Holy Spirit
intercedes for us
with sighs too deep for words.

And God,
Who searches our hearts
and minds, finds
the very prayers heard
to align with God’s Own will
when the Holy Spirit
prays for us – right then –
and is praying still.

© 2013, Mary Sayler, all rights reserved, prayer-a-phrase poem of Romans 8:26-27

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March 17, 2012

God tells Abraham to pray for the person he had wronged

Background: Abraham’s wife Sarah had the kind of beauty that turned heads. Since Abraham feared he would be killed on her account and Sarah taken, he told everyone she was his sister, which, like most lies, had some basis of truth. They did indeed have the same father but different mothers, and so they had gotten married. This meant, of course, that Sarah was no longer free to marry someone else, but Abraham left out that important piece of information.

As they traveled into Gerar, Abraham introduced his wife to the king of the region as his sister. That night King Abimelech ordered the beautiful woman to be brought to his palace, but before anything could happen, God appeared to Abimelech in a dream, letting him know that Sarah was already married. Since the king had not slept with her yet, he protested, reminding God of his innocence and Abraham’s deception.

In the dream, God responded, telling Abimelech to return Sarah to her husband and His prophet Abraham would pray for the king. The next day, Abimelech got up early, called his servants together, and told them what had happened. Everyone was terrified and, maybe, horrified! The king then confronted Abraham, who explained his fear and why he had done what he’d done.

Afterwards King Abimelech not only returned Sarah to her husband, he gave Abraham some of his servants, livestock, land, and 1,000 pieces of silver!

“Then Abraham prayed to God, and God healed Abimelech, his wife, and servants,” Genesis 20:17.

Questions: Do our actions ever create potential problems for someone else? Has fear ever caused us to do something we would not have done otherwise? In what way does God want us to set things right, perhaps with an employer, employee, sibling, or spouse?

Prayer: LORD God, help me to be honest with you, myself, and others. Please make me aware of anyone I have wronged in any way, and help me to make amends. Thank You, Father of All, for Your ongoing forgiveness and love.

~~

© 2012, Mary Sayler, all rights reserved.

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God and Abraham pray for Ishmael and Isaac

Background: Again and again, God promised Abram he would become the father of many nations, yet this usually strong man of faith and his wife, Sarai, made their own arrangements in order to make God’s promise come true! As Genesis 16 records the story, Sarai urged Abram to follow the custom of the day and have children with her maid Hagar so the couple would have an heir. When this had been accomplished and Hagar knew she had a child on the way, she began to look down on her mistress, which did not go over too well with Sarai.

In Genesis 17 God gave Abram a new name – Abraham, which means the father of many. God also changed Sarai’s name to Sarah, which, interestingly, means princess. With the blessing of God resting on Abraham, however, God could not and did not forget Hagar.

When Sarah mistreated the servant girl, Hagar ran away until an angel of the Lord came to her and told her to go home and submit to Sarah’s authority.

“And the angel said, ‘You will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Ishmael, meaning God hears, for the Lord has heard your cries. Your son will be as untamed as a wild donkey! He will raise his fist against everyone, and everyone will be against him. He will live in defiance of all his relatives’,” Genesis 16:11-12.

Hagar obeyed God and gave birth to Ishmael. Fourteen years later, God appeared to the 99-year-old Abraham, again promising to be with him and his descendants but with special favor over the child that his wife Sarah would have, despite the impossibility of her age! However…

“Abraham prayed to God, ‘Oh, if only Ishmael could live before You!’

“But God said, ‘No, your wife Sarah will bear a son, and you shall call his name Isaac, and I will establish an everlasting covenant with him and his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard your prayer. I will indeed bless him and make him fruitful, giving him many, many descendants. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation, but I will establish My covenant with Isaac to whom Sarah will give birth at this time next year’,” Genesis 17:18-22.

Questions: Do people today ever hear God’s promises then run ahead or lag behind God’s timing? Did Abraham and Sarah’s decision to ensure an heir affect only their family, or did their actions have consequences and reverberations still felt today? Does Abraham’s prayer for Ishmael give a different slant to his motivations in the familiar Bible story in Genesis 22 where he offers up his son and heir, Isaac, as a sacrifice to the Lord?

Prayer: Dear LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and, yes, Ishmael, help me to hear You and be ready and willing to wait! Forgive me for the times I have fallen far behind or rushed before You. Thank You for giving me everything I need to obey You and follow Your will even when things look hopelessly impossible.

~~

© 2012, Mary Sayler, all rights reserved.