The Give and Take of Intercession

1 Thessalonians 5:24

He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

The God who calls us to our Christian faith is faithful to fulfill His promises to us.  From the moment that we surrender to His Son, Jesus, as Our Savior, He commences a good work in us that He promises to finish.  He will be steadfast in His continuous work of sanctification in our lives.

New government authority, new boss, new co-worker, new neighbor, new acquaintance, new friend - not a single one is new by chance.  God has placed each of those that are around us to teach us new things about ourselves.  It seems impossible that such a plan could be put in place for each of us.  But our God is a God of the impossible.  He has no limits to His power and His authority.  He loves us so much that He goes to an extraordinary, nearly unimaginable, level to insure that we are surrounded by a host of intercessors.  These intercessors in our lives are placed there for one reason.  God in His mercy and His grace wants to insure that we are properly prepared to spend eternity with Him.

In the life of the believer, there is no such thing as chance.  Our sovereign God is always in total control of everything.  Do not miss the flip side of our relationships with our surrounding intercessors.  God wants us to join Him in the work that He is doing in the lives of those around us.  We are simultaneously the other half of all of these relationships in our lives - the new boss, new co-worker, new neighbor, new acquaintance, new friend - and again, not a single one is new by chance.  God has purposely placed us in each relationship to be a giver as well as a receiver of His intercessory work in our lives.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your providence in our lives.  We rejoice in knowing that You understand our weaknesses and provide intercessory support through those that You place around us.  We pray, Father, that Your Holy Spirit will alert us to the intercession that You have planned for us.  May we learn to grow through the circumstances that engulf us from time to time.  May we be gracious and willing receivers of the intercession that You have placed in our lives.  We pray that in turn You will provide the wisdom that we need to be fruitful intercessors for others as we engage them in the journey that is life.   We ask all these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Our Most High Intercessor.