God without limits. . . .

 

Yesterday I read about the power of God in that He can do anything, yet that power corresponds with His purposes. For example, He could have made us to have three heads, but this did not fit with His wisdom or His will. For this reason, I take caution when someone says God will or will not do something, or that things just happen without Him being involved.

There are some who put the actions of God into time categories called dispensations. What happens in each time period is often restricted to that era only. For instance, the miracles done by the apostles don’t happen now that all of them are dead. In other words, these gifts were restricted to only a certain group. The reasoning varies. One writer says:

In Acts 8:5–18 we read of the apostles coming to Samaria to communicate the gift of the Holy Spirit to the believers there. Philip, though he possessed those gifts, could not communicate them, because Philip was not an apostle. If the gifts could only be communicated by an apostle, they must have ceased when the last of the apostles died. There is no need for such gifts today.

This assumes that ‘those gifts’ meaning miracles, healing, and speaking in tongues, were only done by the apostles, and because they are not emphasized in later NT books, they must have stopped happening. It also assumes they are not needed today, yet fail to explain why they still happen.

I’ve heard said that any instance of such things is fake or from human or demonic sources. Since the enemy “disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14) as do false teachers, this can happen. Cults also do their best to seem like genuine believers, so imitation is not a shock.

However, what about genuine healings? What about those who have visions of Jesus and are saved without a preacher? What about those who speak in tongues and seem to follow all the NT rules for it? We see the fakes with often bizarre behavior and tend to lump them together, but is that reason to say there is no need for these gifts? One writer says:

We have the complete inspired revelation of God in Holy Scripture (2 Peter 1:9–21). Since there are no forthcoming revelations from God, there is no need for miraculous signs to confirm such revelations. The Word of God is complete, final and sufficient.

I agree, but is it possible that these and other gifts of the Holy Spirit are still given but for a different reason? Instead of using them to confirm the Word of God (or to confirm personal theories) perhaps God heals people because they ask Him to heal them? Because He loves to bless them? To the sick He says:

Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. (James 5:16)

Perhaps God still does miracles so that He will be glorified? When Jesus was asked who sinned to cause a man to be born blind, He replied, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:3) Who are we to limit what God will do to bring glory to Himself? Medical explanations for healings still wind up being “We don’t know” and “Only God could do this.”

As for tongues, I know people who have deeply struggled with problems that put them in that “I don’t know how to pray” mode that the Bible says can happen. “For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:26–27) These people testify that they wound up praying in tongues, not forced or even sought, yet this was a comfort that God was praying for them.

That God can do whatever He wants to do is a comfort to me. I cannot limit Him. He could create another world if He wanted to, or even grant me the ability to understand what and why He does anything. He can speak through a donkey, make the sun move backwards, and rule the universe. Who am I to say He no longer heals, does miracles, or any other marvel?

PRAY: Jesus, there are false teachers on both sides of this issue. Enable me to trust You and keep reading Your Word, asking for what I need to know and do that You are glorified. Grant me also discernment so I will not make assumptions or put any limits on Your power or Your choices.

Intercession requires . . .

 

God wants me to look beyond my own problems and pray for the needs of others. MacArthur gives an example in history where psychological clinics had large numbers of neurotics undergoing drug treatments and others attended regularly with personal problems, worries, anxieties, temptations. However, when the Civil War broke out, these clinics were virtually emptied. Those with neurotic issues were ‘cured’ by a greater anxiety; would they lose their homes, their spouses, their children?

I noticed the same thing in the book of Job. He had terrible things happen and complained. However, at the end of his story, the Lord’s anger burned against his friends who had not spoken rightly to this man. God told them to offer a burnt offering for their sin and that Job would pray for them. Job did, his mind off himself and for these who had not encouraged him.

And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. (Job 42:10)

I’ve noted the same for my own life. I can fall into a pity-party if I’m in pain, or if things are not the way I want them, but when I pray for others, my problems shrink and become nothing. At the same time, this is often when God meets my needs — when they are put at the bottom of the list or taken off the list entirely.

Today’s devotional reminds me that the Holy Spirit and Jesus both intercede for me:

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26–27)

Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. (Romans 8:34)

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25)

It is Jesus’ goal to transform me into His likeness, so I also need to intercede for others. I read that D. L. Moody put one hundred unsaved people on his prayer list. Before he died, ninety-six of them were saved. The other four were saved at his funeral. This motivated me to pray for others, yet I quickly realized that a long list means time and effort. For this, God keeps urging me and encouraging me to pray. He says:

And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him. (1 John 5:14–15)

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:3–4)

On this day, my hubby is hoping to share the Gospel with a relative. A dear friend is in hospital with internal pain and a heart attack. Another fell and is recovering from both legs and a broken sternum. Several close friends need work. Many relatives and friends need Jesus, and some of them are into false teaching, cults, spiritual deceptions of all kinds, or have very hard hearts toward anything about Jesus. The list is long and the battle is exhausting — this is not an excuse, just a reality.

PRAY: I already have the list, Jesus. Making time and the effort to pray for all of them is important, but not easy. Help me with the energy and the words, but also the willingness and the love needed to keep at it.

PONDER: Read Philippians 2:1–11 for understanding, not only about my attitude toward others, but to realize the results when Jesus humbled Himself and was obedient. What do I need to do to be: “Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication . . . alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints”? (Ephesians 6:18)

 

Pray like God prays . . .

 

The Hebrew language contains at least twelve words for ‘prayer’ with pālal being the most common. It means to INTERCEDE. This type of prayer is very common in any language; intercession means to petition God on behalf of someone else.

Yesterday I prayed for a family in another part of the world whose child was murdered, for two friends who are losing their faculties to think clearly, for the salvation and spiritual growth of several people in places of authority, and for family and friends. Almost all my prayers are earnest appeals to God for His intervention, that He would act according to His will for the lives of others.

When that word intercession is applied to the character and activities of God Himself, it gives me goose bumps. The Bible tells me that God intercedes for me! This happens because of His gracious gift as Jesus promised in John 14:16–17:

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.”

This amazing Helper does many things including helping me know how to pray. Yet even more than that, He prays for me, pleading with God on my behalf that the will of God is done in my life.

Romans 8:26–27. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.

Jesus also prays for me. Romans 8:34 hints that part of His prayer is particular to my sinfulness. That is, when I go against the will of God even without realizing it, Jesus makes sure that sin is covered and that Romans 8:1 is true; “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” This happens because of verse 34:

Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Jesus also prayed for His people, me included, that we would be united in our walk with Him and focused on His glory . . .

John 17:20–24. “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”

I’ve had people tell me that they are praying for me. I can imagine them being guided by the Spirit who often guides me as I pray for others. Even so, there is an uncertainty about those prayers being answered. This uncertainty does not exist when it comes to the prayers of Jesus Christ to His Father or the prayers of the Holy Spirit. This is the godhead interceding for me! Those prayers never miss the mark and never bounce off the ceiling.

GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. What an amazing reality — God prays for me! As I think about that, I am even more motivated to pray for others. Ephesians 6:18 expresses well the will of God concerning how I should reflect Him in this wonderful privilege of Christian life: I am to be, “praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints” that each of us would reflect the glory of God to those around us and boldly share the gospel to all who need to hear it!