In the life of a saint, there is no such thing as chance. God, by his providence, brings you into circumstances that you can’t understand at all, and the only thing you know is that the Spirit of God understands. Never take your circumstances into your own hand and say, “I’m going to be my own providence here. I must watch this and guard that.” All your circumstances are in the hand of God; never think this strange concerning the circumstances you are in.
God is bringing you into certain places and among certain people for a reason: so that the Holy Spirit inside you can intercede along a particular line. The Holy Spirit’s part in intercessory prayer isn’t the human part. As a human being, you are not to engage in the agonies of intercession; the Holy Spirit takes those upon himself. “We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans” (Romans 8:26). Your part is to take the circumstances you’re in and the people you’re among and bring them before God’s throne. This is how you give the Spirit inside you a chance to intercede, and how God is going to sweep the whole world with his saints.
Ask yourself: Am I making the Holy Spirit’s work difficult by being noncommittal or by trying to do his work for him? You must leave the Spirit side of intercession alone and focus on your side—your specific circumstances and acquaintances.
My intercessions can never be your intercessions, and your intercessions can never be mine. But the Holy Spirit makes intercessions in each of our lives, intercessions without which someone else will be impoverished.
