Do we need anything beyond these verses to convince us that we, too, should intercede? Are we living in a vital relationship to others, doing the work of interceding for them in prayer as Spirit-taught children of God?
Consider your present circumstances—your home, your business, and your country. Consider the crises that are touching you and those around you. Are your burdens crushing you? Are they crowding out the presence of God, leaving you no time to worship and no time to pray for others? If so, call a time-out. Get yourself into such a living relationship with God that your relationship to others may be maintained through the intercession in prayer by which God works his marvels.
Often we become so overwhelmed by difficulties and by the needs of the people around us that we forget to worship and to intercede. God continually introduces us to people for whom we have no affinity, and if we aren’t in the habit of worshipping and interceding, the most natural thing to do is to treat these people heartlessly—to jab a bit of Scripture at them, or make some trite, impersonal quip about God, and get away as fast as we can.
We have to beware of outpacing God in our very longing to do his will. We run ahead of him in a thousand and one activities, attempting to tackle burdens and pressures on our own, instead of bringing them directly to him. If difficulties arise and we aren’t in the worshipping frame of mind, the result will be hardness toward God, heartlessness toward others, and despair in our souls.
A heartless Christian must be a terrible grief to our Lord. Bring yourself into alignment with Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and begin to intercede as they do, “in accordance with the will of God” (Romans 8:27).
