This is the sixth entry in our series THE ONLY NECESSARY THING, in which we are learning what prayer is, how it “works”, and different forms of prayer we can implement into our spiritual rhythms.
Last week we began to pivot from forms of prayer that help us connect to God to prayers that connect God to the world. We discussed how the laying on of hands is a symbol meant to convey God’s closeness and goodness to others, offering good touch in the place of no touch or bad touch. This week we want to expand our understanding of intercession to how and why we pray for the world beyond our reach.
As we consider the bigger picture in which our prayers fit, it’s important to remember this:
If the conclusion of the Bible is that “God is love”, then we must reassess our understanding of how God intends to put the world right. God intends to fix the world, but through Love and not force. This requires tremendous patience and faithfulness on our part. It raises many important questions for what our role is in the reconciliation of all things, and for that we must turn to Paul’s remarkable meditation of suffering and redemption in Romans 8. I would encourage you to read the whole chapter, but for our purposes today we’ll focus on three sections:
This is how I work it out. The sufferings we go through in the present time are not worth putting in the scale alongside the glory that is going to be unveiled for us. Yes: creation itself is on tiptoe with expectation, eagerly awaiting the moment when God’s children will be revealed. Creation, you see, was subjected to pointless futility, not of its own volition, but because of the one who placed it in this subjection, in the hope that creation itself would be freed from its slavery to decay, to enjoy the freedom that comes when God’s children are glorified.
Let me explain. We know that the entire creation is groaning together, and going through labor pains together, up until the present time. Not only so: we too, we who have the first fruits of the spirit’s life within us, are groaning within ourselves, as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our body. We were saved, you see, in hope. But hope isn’t hope if you can see it! Who hopes for what they can see? But if we hope for what we don’t see, we wait for it eagerly—but also patiently.
In the same way, too, the spirit comes alongside and helps us in our weakness. We don’t know what to pray for as we ought to; but that same spirit pleads on our behalf, with groanings too deep for words. And the Searcher of Hearts knows what the spirit is thinking, because the spirit pleads for God’s people according to God’s will. We know, in fact, that God works all things together for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.
What then shall we say to all this?
If God is for us, who is against us?
God, after all, did not spare his own son; he gave him up for us all!
How then will he not, with him, freely give all things to us?
Who will bring a charge against God’s chosen ones?
It is God who declares them in the right.
Who is going to condemn?
It is the Messiah, Jesus, who has died, or rather has been raised;
who is at God’s right hand, and who also prays on our behalf! (Rom. 8:18-23, 26-28, 31-34)
When we pray, we are joining our hearts to Jesus and the Holy Spirit who are already advocating for the whole world. So often the suffering we experience in the present moment, whether within us or around us, clouds our ability to see the big picture of history. Romans 8 is the view from the mountaintop that shows us the grand vista of God’s saving plan for the world through extraordinary love. When Paul speaks of “glory in verse 18, he is using shorthand to describe the Messiah’s saving rule of all creation. Verse 28 is also a stand-out line that offers many of us comfort. There has been some interesting translation work in recent decades that suggests, rather than reading this line as God working for the good of those who love God, wherein we are the passive recipients, it might be better phrased: “God works together with those who love God to direct all things towards the good”. This would now imply we are part of the healing work in our time!
Yet what I find most consoling about this passage of scripture is that Paul puts our call to action within the context of both the Holy Spirit and Jesus himself interceding for the world. Creation is groaning for redemption; the Spirit within us groans for the same even when we don’t have words; and Jesus continues his compassionate move towards the pain he sees in the human family.
This is imperative for us to understand. Far from trying to convince God to do what we want, we participate in lifting up the world to God in our hearts through our intercessory prayers, saying “Your will be done”. Jesus tells a wonderful little parable about an unjust judge “who neither feared God nor cared what people thought” (Luke 18:1-8). A widow continues to plead her case and demand justice until he relents. While Jesus is making the point, as he often does, of showing how even stubborn humans can be moved to right action, many of us pray as if we’re bothering a still-faced disinterested God who does not already care about justice and peace on the earth. We have so internalized the God-of-the-Omni’s that we cannot see the God revealed in the groaning of the Spirit and the Messiah at once. To intercede, therefore, is not to pester God into action, but rather to consider what we know God’s will to be and to come into agreement with it in prayer, joining our voices to the Spirit and Son.
This passage also suggests something about our emotional constitution when we look out upon a world crying out for redemption.
Sometimes the anxiety we feel about the world around us is the groaning of the Spirit within, and an invitation to intercede. Years ago I took an impromptu trip to Atlanta with some friends for a weekend. As so as we embarked in Little Five points I felt an immediate shot of regret and anxiety for coming. Had I made a wrong choice? Was I going to get in trouble? As we walked the neighborhood I felt the gentle prompting of the Spirit to take in my surroundings. What I initially thought was my own anxiety was actually a sensitivity to the environment around me, and an invitation to pray. As I silently prayed, I felt a sense of peace wash over me. There are many of us who feels anxiety(tomorrow might not come) or despair(tomorrow will be just like today) about what is happening in the news or in the loves of those whom we love. Those feelings are easily manipulated by the Enemy to keep us powerless and disconnected from God, when in fact they might be us tapping into the very heart of Jesus for the world. Intercession, when rightly held, also spurs us to right action - we are formed by the “amen” to God’s will and set out to become his hands and feet.
Intercession becomes part of the rich ecosystem of prayer to which we are called daily. In another of Paul’s letters, written to a young pastor named Timothy, he speaks of the active prayer life that grounds us in God’s saving narrative:
So, then, this is my very first command: God’s people should make petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings on behalf of all people— on behalf of kings, and all who hold high office, so that we may lead a tranquil and peaceful life, in all godliness and holiness. This is good; it is acceptable with God our savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to know the truth. For, you see,
There is one God,
and also one mediator between God and humans,
Messiah Jesus, himself a human being.
He gave himself as a ransom for all,
and this was testified when the time was right. (1 Tim. 2:1-6)
Firstly, we recognize there is a relationship between thanksgiving and intercession. Giving thanks as the bedrock of our prayer rhythms reminds us of Who God is and what God has already done, so that when we petition God it is less from a place of desperation, casting our anxieties out into the aether hoping someone hears us. Secondly, we see that as Christ’s ambassadors we always advocates for those in leadership. I recall with not a small amount of glee a dear friend telling me recently, “I love and hate when we pray for the president. It reminds me he is a person loved by God”. Intercession for leaders of all stripes keeps us from the kind of partisanship that bogs us down and dehumanizes others. Our prayers are not a rubber stamp for the policies and actions of those in power, but a petition that they might fall in line with God’s will.
I would like to make a rather bold statement here. We are quick to ascribe to God the credit when we see obvious repentance and repair, but we don’t often acknowledge the ongoing quiet work of God in the background of history to prevent catastrophe and guide the whole human family without our awareness of it. There are times I am shocked that we have even made it this far, with all our hatred and warmongering. I wonder if perhaps it is the ceaseless prayers of Christians around the world and through time that have actually kept us from destroying ourselves altogether. When we pray we join the hearts of the Spirit and the Messiah, the communion of saints and the cloud of witnesses, to see heaven on earth, groaning until the final reconciliation of all things.
Below is a format for intercessory prayer our community is well-acquainted with, The Prayers of the People Form IV from the Book of Common Prayer. A structure for intercession like this helps lead us into consideration of God’s will in areas we may not wander on our own. I would encourage you to use this liturgy or something similar in your own prayer rhythms, and notice how it draws you deeper into the Father’s heart.
Let us pray for the Church and for the world.
Grant, Almighty God, that all who confess your Name may be united in your truth, live together in your love, and reveal your glory in the world.
(Pray for the Church)
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.
Guide the people of this land, and of all the nations, in the ways of justice and peace; that we may honor one another and serve the common good.
(Pray for our president, Donald; our governor, Ron; our city mayor, Buddy; and all in positions of power)
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.
Give us all a reverence for the earth as your own creation, that we may use its resources rightly in the service of others and to your honor and glory.
(Pray for creation care initiatives)
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.
Bless all whose lives are closely linked with ours, and grant that we may serve Christ in them, and love one another as he loves us.
(Pray for family, friends, neighbors, co-workers)
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.
Comfort and heal all those who suffer in body, mind, or spirit; give them courage and hope in their troubles, and bring them the joy of your salvation.
(Pray for the sick, those struggling with mental health, prisoners, those affected by war and famine)
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.
We commend to your mercy all who have died, that your will for them may be fulfilled; and we pray that we may share with all your saints in your eternal kingdom.
(observe a time of silence for those who have passed on)
Lord, in your mercy
Hear our prayer.
O God, the King of glory, you have exalted your only Son Jesus Christ with great triumph to your kingdom in heaven:
Do not leave us comfortless, but send us your Holy Spirit to strengthen us, and exalt us to that place where our Savior Christ has gone before; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting.
Amen.