~ How Greatly Privileged We Are! ~
Introduction ~ Have
you ever had the sheer joy of knowing that other Christians were earnestly praying
for you during a time of your distress?
If so, contemplate in your mind a clear and vivid picture of Jesus
Christ, your Lord and Savior praying for you as you are passing through
troublesome waters. This is a correct
picture of Jesus Christ’s current ministry on your behalf. What a privilege is ours!
An Important Historical Account ~
Just before our Savior’s betrayal and arrest we find Him in sacred
communion with God, His Father: “I pray for them [Christians]. I do not pray for the world but for those
whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.
And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in
them. Now I am no longer in the world,
but these are in the world, and I come to You.
Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While
I was with them in the world, I kept
them in Your name. Those whom You gave
Me I have kept; and none of them is lost
except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But now I come to You, and these things I
speak in the world, that they may have My joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world
has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the
world. I do not pray that You should
take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil
one. They are not of the world, just as
I am not of the world. Sanctify them by
Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have
sent them into the world. And for their
sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth” (John 17:9-19).
Another
Important Passage ~ Some
Christians live their lives in uncertainty, wondering when they will do
something which will so displease their Savior that His love for them will be
diminished—or His prayers on their behalf will be
less fervent. All we have to do is look
at the example of Peter who denied our Lord thee specific times even after a
direct warning from his Savior. But what
was our Lord’s response? “The Lord said, ‘Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may
sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for
you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen
your brethren’” (Luke 22:31-32).
Applications ~ (1) What
an indescribable privilege you have if you are a Christian. You have the Creator of this universe specifically
praying for you! (2) When the Son
returned to the Father’s side He never lost interest in what is happening on
earth, or what is happening in your life.
(3) Jesus Christ’s love for you is unfailing regardless of your
obedience or failings. (4) If you are
His child the Son of God is even now interceding on your behalf. (5) What we go through in our lives enables
us (and gives us a responsibility) to minister to others.
Summary Passage ~
“What then shall we say to these things?
If God is for us, who can be against us?
He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how
shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God's
elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is
also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession
for us. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or
distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: ‘For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.’ Yet in all these things we are more than
conquerors through Him who loved us. For
I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor
powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any
other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31-39).
the key question:
“Who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15). This is the most important
question you will ever answer. If you do not answer it, or answer it
incorrectly, you have made the biggest mistake anyone can make!
~ Robert
Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE
NOW
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