Devotional 310309

Dear brothers and sisters,
Good morning. The tree outside my window is bearing new leaves. It is so green and lovely. Thank God for giving me such a beautiful environment to meditate on His Word. It is truly a treat to abide in Him and to serve Him each day. All work involve some kind of difficulty and frustration, because things may not happen to the way we want, and people may not cooperate with us in according to what we expect. As long as we know that God put us in our work for His purpose, then we will enjoy His presence and seek to grow from our hardship in life. One of the ministries that you can do in your workplace is to pray for your coworkers. You may pray for them without them even aware of it. Or you may ask them how you can pray for them. Once the Lord moves you to pray for a person or coworker, you need to dive into this person’s life with the Holy Spirit, in order to let the Spirit of God show you what and how to pray for this particular person. Therefore, don't just say a ritual prayer, but quiet before the Lord and seek His prayer for this person.

"If anyone sees his brother commit a sin that does not lead to death, he should pray and God will give him life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that he should pray about that" (1 John 5:16). If we are not watchful of the way the Spirit of God works in us, we will become spiritual hypocrites. We see where other folks are failing, and we turn our discernment into the mock of criticism instead of into intercession on their behalf. The revelation is made to us not through the intensity of our minds, but by the direct penetration of the Spirit of God, and if we are not watchful of the source of the revelation, we will become criticizing centers and forget that God says - "…he should pray and God will give him life. " Take care lest you play the hypocrite by spending all your time trying to get others right before you worship God yourself.

One of the subtlest burdens God ever puts on us as saints is this burden of discernment concerning other souls. He reveals things in order that we may take the burden of these souls before Him and form the mind of Christ about them, and as we intercede on His line, God says He will give us "life for them that sin not unto death." It is not that we bring God into touch with our minds, but that we awaken ourselves until God is able to convey His mind to us about the one for whom we intercede.

Is Jesus Christ seeing the fruits of His labor in our soul? He cannot unless we are so identified with Him that we are awakened to see from His perspective about the people for whom we pray. May we learn to intercede so whole-heartedly that Jesus Christ will be abundantly satisfied with us as intercessors!

Honestly, intercessory ministry is a hard work. It requires commitment on our part to play the role. Intercessors need to stay close to the Lord. He or she needs to be sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit in prayer. Sometimes, intercessors serve as spiritual shield for the people whom they pray for. Sometimes, Satan will turn his attack from the person to the intercessor. Unless he stops the prayer of intercessors, Satan cannot accomplish his scheme on his target. Therefore, intercessory ministry is a spiritual warfare. But with the Holy Spirit as our commander (He is our ultimate Intercessor), we don’t need to be afraid. We just need to stay close to Him and echo His prayer in our prayers. Then God can accomplish His salvation plan on earth.

I need intercessors for my ministry. I know Satan will do whatever he can to detour my focus or destroy the fruits of my labor. Pray that I will learn the lesson of faith, and servant hood in supporting His mission work both locally and globally.

Love you in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
Lawrence