Day 9 God is our Intercessor

Day 9: God is our Intercessor

When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask him, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” - Matthew 11:2-3

In Matthew 3, we get a glimpse of John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus, and sharing with the crowd prophecies about what Jesus came to do: “He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Fast forward to Matthew 11 though, and John is sitting in jail hearing about Jesus’ deeds, and wondering if this is really the Messiah he was prophesying about. Something did not add up between what Jesus was doing, and what John had expected. Jesus was still showing up as an intercessor, working to reconcile people to his Father, but it was not in the way John imagined. In some ways, we are prone to do the same thing when it comes to intercessory prayer. We set expectations for the ways that God will show up and respond, and when He does not respond in the way we expect, we think that maybe he has not shown up at all. We may pray for healing from sickness or injury and miss the fact that God is responding to our prayer not through physical healing, but by providing loving community that leads to emotional and spiritual healing. Like John, when we get too caught up in our own expectations, we may miss the ways that God is moving and showing up all around us.

Suggested Guided Prayer Focuses:

• Lord, give me faith and courage to believe that You can show up and answer my prayers, and grace for when Your response and actions look different than I was expecting.
• Lord, I confess that I need You to intercede for me. I cannot fight my battles on my own. I thank You for the ways You have fought on my behalf. I trust You, and where I don’t show me. Give me eyes to see Your movement in my everyday life.
  

Action Steps:

• Journal and reflect on some of the ways that God has shown up in your life differently than you asked or expected, but still in ways that you needed. When ready, give Him praise for what He has done.
• Think about some of the people in your life who are in need of prayer. Spend time praying for them, and then write them a letter to let them know you are thinking about them.