Super-intercede

P 2983 We have a Friend.

/ DVH

“And in a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times we don’t even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words. God, the searcher of the heart, knows fully our longings, yet He also understands the desires of the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit passionately pleads before God for us, His holy ones, in perfect harmony with God’s plan and our destiny. So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continually woven together for good, for we are His lovers who have been called to fulfil His designed purpose.”Romans 8:26-28 TPT. Prayer is our investment in someone else’s life.

I do love the way Paul says “at times we don’t know how to pray…” He only wrote half of the books in the New Testament!! I feel so much better!  I don’t know how to pray most of the time. I have to ask the Holy Spirit ‘please show me how to pray about this situation.’ And sometimes I ask Him ‘how do I join in with You in Your prayer?’ about this situation? I’ve gotten very picky in my old age, I don’t just want any old answer, I want His answer! I’ve tasted and seen for myself that the Lord is good, and I want to live in much deeper water than that. One word from Jesus and I come alive. There is always more… go after more.

For years I stuffed myself full of other people’s insights, simply because I liked what they said better than I liked what I managed to find for myself. I read this latest and greatest book, and that other fantastic book with the secret of getting your prayers answered. And my poor brain simply could not hold all that extra information and the keys they kept giving me. Just do this … and all will be well … . That stuff kept falling out. That’s when I started to grow tired of pre-digested food. I think the Holy Spirit must have been praying for me about this – I certainly can’t see how I could have been led into learning from Him for myself, otherwise! I was very stuck. And I was sick of being stuck!  

Hands up all those people who think that the Holy Spirit knows how to pray perfectly? Me too! So, what is better than chasing the One Who knows how to pray perfectly? Why follow another person who can get lost just like I can? To start with, I saved a heap of money on books!  It was a no-brainer for me. You know how the bible says in Psalm 103:2: “…forget not all His benefits…” ….Well, this is one of them. The Holy Spirit prays for us all the time, all day, every day, day in – day out. He’s in the eternal NOW and He doesn’t stop. That thought alone just makes me want to cry. Imagine that. Imagine His devotion to our spiritual well-being!

Even the best parent isn’t that good! Not only does the Holy Spirit pray, but when we feel weak, unloved, and unlovely;  He knows how to lift us up in that weakness, back up into the sacred space where we find God’s strength again. He reminds us how much Almighty God loves us. This is a fact — right here, right now. In all our failings and rotten attitudes, we have perfect love pouring down upon us, day after day after day. Not just when we pray. All day, all night, and when we finally open our little eyeballs in the morning again.

He isn’t just praying for us to be delivered from evil either … the Holy Spirit knows how to pray for everything and anything we need. Courage. A new pair of shoes. Someone who is flesh and blood to love us for who we are. In every need we have, He prays for us to be aware of, and strengthened, and helped by God Himself. He even sends out His angels to minister to us. Many times those angels are other people. Listening people. Are you the kind of person who listens carefully to Him, so you can bless others with a word, or an action, or kindness? That’s what He is like. Oh, I am such a fan of the Holy Spirit, the One Who loves to remain unseen.

All sorts of people tell me they are following Jesus, sometimes they are great speakers, or they can prophesy … but until I see a heart that is generous, unobtrusive, and wants to bless others—to physically bless them…I remain unimpressed. I want fruit. You want and need fruit too. Words are not fruit. Actions are. And the Person Who prompts all those actions is the Holy Spirit. Whispering… “why don’t you just go and do this or that …” He hardly ever shouts. That’s why we need learn to listen to Him. 

The Holy Spirit is the only Person I know, Who can take terrible situations, and awful people, plus a rotten personal  attitude and weave it into something so beautiful it will glorify God Himself! I have no idea how He does it – but I love watching Him work. One of the reasons you and I don’t always see the fruit of our prayers is that we cannot see God’s bigger picture. I’ve learnt to look for the good in any situation.  Where God is, there is good! Drag your eyes away from the obvious failures and disasters all around us, and ask the Holy Spirit to show you the good in it. 

I am learning to live with the expectation that there will be good, I will find His good no matter how it looks. God calls that faith … I call it knowing Him, just a little. We have the dearest Friend ever, He knows how to look through any storm and see Jesus walking towards us on the water. Hold on dear friends, the Perfect One is right there … can you see Him? Bye 🕊️.

P 2377 Whether we can pray in tongues, or not …

/ DVH

… that’s OK! The Holy Spirit is already praying for all of us and His intercession is the very best there is!! “And in a similar way, the Holy Spirit takes hold of us in our human frailty to empower us in our weakness. For example, at times we don’t even know how to pray, or know the best things to ask for. But the Holy Spirit rises up within us to super-intercede on our behalf, pleading to God with emotional sighs too deep for words.” Romans 8:26 TPT.

AND …!!!  The Bible also shows us that JESUS prays for us. Romans 8:34 says that Jesus “is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” In 1 John 2:1 we read that Jesus is our “Advocate with the Father,” and from Hebrews 7:25 we learn that Jesus “always lives to intercede” for us. We will never ever meet anyone kinder, more loving, more accepting and more gracious, than the Lord Jesus Christ, and our precious Holy Spirit. They both pray for us constantly because They want us to win – in this life!! In the above Scripture Romans 8:26 it says the Holy Spirit gives us power in our weaknesses. Don’t be ashamed to feel weak. Don’t hide it – hiding it means you will miss His power working on your behalf!

In our lives, some sorrow, some suffering, some disappointments are too deep and painful for words. I’ve been there. You simply don’t know how to pray, and you wish somebody would pray for you. You can phone a Christian friend, which is always a good thing to do, or even weep until you feel a tiny bit better – but this is where the bible stands alone. It reminds us we already have TWO SomeOnes!! And what’s more these two beautiful People know how to pray, and what to pray, and they don’t stop to go shopping or have a cup of tea either! You might just like to sit still and think on that one.🧐

SomeBody is always praying for you and I right now, even better than we could pray for ourselves. (That’s what “always lives to intercede” means.) SomeBody totally gets you, even if you can’t explain yourself properly. All the little tiny bits of our day to day lives that seem quite irrelevant to others, but they contribute to the whole miserable mess you feel you are in. You don’t have to feel alone – They are right here, with you, right now!  Jesus and the Holy Spirit are both holding you up, standing up for us all, pleading to the Father on our behalf. 🙌 We’ve got Friends in very high places!

The Lord Jesus loved mankind so much that when He left He sent the Holy Spirit back. We are not alone. Don’t let your feelings win – He is with you! The exceptionally marvellous bit, is that Jesus walked this earth so He knows the kind of stuff that comes at us. The Holy Spirit helped Him to overcome – so They both know how this thing we call ‘life’ works.

I love that word in Romans …. ‘super-intercede.’ Boy! That’s intercession on steroids! They come to help, to bring us power to overcome the very things that want to destroy us and our faith. The Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit are both reminding the Father and our enemies that we belong to Him now. We don’t belong to the kingdom of darkness anymore – we are people of the light! We have this fabulous legal representational team in the throne room – right now. 

They are our God-kissed authentic legal team and They are fighting for us all the time, because our enemy speaks human fluently. (Genesis 3:1-24;  Matthew 4:6) Jesus Himself said in John 14:30: “I will not speak with you much longer, for the ruler of the world (Satan) is coming. And he has no claim on Me [no power over Me nor anything that he can use against Me]; …” I mean, what a relief! Our legal team is totally incorruptible! Woo-hoo! And they are FOR us …!!!

The thing is, most people will stand up for you if you are proven to be right, but if you aren’t, then human beings have the habit of leaping off into judgment. Often they bail out on you. That’s when Jesus steps up into the throne room and lets the enemy have it with a great Bible-based legal argument, and at the same time, the Holy Spirit comes alongside US and prompts us that it is “time to repent and fix things here.” He says things like: “pray this, bind that, loose this other thing.” 

He shows us how to fight, because we can lose our way under pressure. And the one thing the enemy loves to put us under, is pressure. If you take the time to read the above verse in Matthew 4, you will see Christ was under enormous pressure – 40 days fasting from food and water, and satan pressed home his advantage – to no avail. We can easily lose our way if we mentally delegate things as being stuff only SomeOne like Jesus can do. He died, went to hell, bashed up the enemy and came back more alive than anyone was ever before. He did all that so we can win!

Ask yourself, why would the perfect, sinless Son of God need to go through all that? He had no personal need to do it. HE DID IT FOR US. We are not victims – we need to stop being blind to the power of God within us to overcome. The body of Christ has two incredible Intercessors praying for us, right at this moment. Take a minute. Thank them both for praying for you, gratitude is like the needle on a compass – it returns our hearts to ‘true north.’ 👋🏻