Prayer for the Body of Christ

We were looking at the role of the will of God in the believer, and we were just about to go to Romans 8:26 to see how that verse plays into all of this. So let's go to Romans 8:26. We'll read the verse. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. So this is certainly a verse that causes a lot of folks a bit of difficulty and confusion.

What is this intercession by the Holy Spirit, and what are these groanings all about? Does this verse imply that the Holy Spirit is editing our prayers, so to speak, to make them more acceptable to God? Well, that's what some folks would contend, but then, would that really be us doing the praying? So then, let's see what we can find out about this verse. The first thing we want to recognize is that the verse begins by saying, Likewise, the Spirit also what has the Spirit also done in a like manner previously to what he's going to be doing here?

What would that be? What has the Holy Spirit previously done which is similar to something he's going to be doing here? Well, to answer that question, I think we have to back up the verses 15 and 16 to find something else that the Holy Spirit has done in a like manner to what he's going to be doing here in verse 26. So what did he do? Back in verse 15 and 16 those verses say, for ye have not received the Spirit of bondage again to fear, but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, abba Father.

The Spirit itself beareth witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God. Here in verse 16, the Holy Spirit is bearing witness with our Spirit that we are the children of God. In verse 15, the Holy Spirit has just revealed that we had that Abba Father relationship, the same relationship which the Father had with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, obviously this Abba Father relationship that we have with the Father is a pretty profound concept. And by the way, here are a couple more of the unsearchable riches of Christ which have been given to us as believers.

These are riches that our eyes or our ears or our hearts could never have conceived to be ours were it not for the fact that the Holy Spirit has revealed them to us. These are some of the deep things of God mentioned in First Corinthians 2:10. And so likewise in verse 26, the Holy Spirit is going to do something there that is going to be just as profound as what he did in revealing those deep things of God to us. In verses 15 and 16, verse 26 says we should pray. Now, did you ever notice that this is the first time Paul brings up the issue of prayer in his writings to the Body of Christ?

So there is probably some very important information here concerning prayer. And the first thing we learn is that we know not what we should pray for as we ought, that is, we ought to know, but we probably don't know. So what's this all about? Do we not know what we should pray for as we ought simply because this is one of Paul's earlier epistles, and therefore we don't have the doctrine that we need in order to pray as we ought to? That is a possibility.

I think that's certainly part of it. In other words, ask yourself, would Paul have made the same statement to the Ephesians, who knew way more advanced doctrines than the Romans had at this time. So you could possibly look at it that way. But the verse still says that we don't know as we ought to know. So if we ought to know, we probably ought to know no matter when the verse was written.

And then the verse goes on to say, but the Spirit maketh intercession for us. Well, what is intercession? Intercession is a back and forth concept. Keep that in mind. It's back and forth.

And the verse says, with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now do you understand there's kind of a contradiction in terms here. How can a groaning not be uttered? Have you ever thought about that? If there is a groan, would it not be heard?

Or perhaps this groaning is a reflection. Back on verses 22 and 23, which also speak of groaning, look at verse 22. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain until now, and not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit. Even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. So verse 23 says we ourselves groan within ourselves.

So these groanings, these could be groanings which would not necessarily be audible. In that sense, the groanings are a metaphor. But I don't think that the groanings here are the same as the groanings in verse 26. Consider for a moment that perhaps the sense in which a groaning cannot really be uttered or heard is if that groaning is referring to the most basic fundamental need which our Spirit has at that particular moment, that would be our human spirit. That is a need which our human spirit has at the very deepest level of our inner core and which we are not really capable of uttering because we don't really understand what that utterance should be.

We don't have the knowledge that we need. In other words, we don't understand the doctrine that we should have for the situation. Can you conceive of that? Because we may not even know what the need is.

In fact, I'm convinced that's exactly what the verse is implying. Especially if we don't have a grasp of the doctrine as it pertains to those needs, to the situation that we're dealing with. And the only thing that we can express is a groaning in our inner man core at the deepest level of our being. A groaning for this lack of knowledge of how we should utter a prayer about the particular situation in our lives. Can you conceive of that being a reality?

Have you ever just sort of laid there and groaned in your inner man because you weren't sure about how you should be praying in a particular situation? I know that I have. Now, perhaps the closest example in Scripture of such a thing as this is what we see in John chapter 11, if you want to turn there for a moment. John chapter 11. And this is the account of the death and raising of Lazarus. And in John chapter 11, we'll start in verse 32.

Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping, which came with her, he groaned in the Spirit and was troubled, and said, where have you laid him? And they said unto him, come, Lord, and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, behold how he loved him. And some of them said, could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died? Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.

So here we see even the Lord Jesus Christ, the groaning in the spirit, that is, in his human spirit. Now back to Romans 8:26 again, where it says, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. So it might just be that our inner man is groaning because we don't have the doctrine we need to pray as we ought. And the Holy Spirit attempting to intercede with the doctrine we need. In other words, the Holy Spirit is trying to teach us the doctrine we need and we have this interplay back and forth as this dilemma is attempting to work itself out. We need information, we need doctrine, and we need to know what the will of God is in this particular situation. And the Holy Spirit has the answer, and he wants us to know the answer now.

It may even be that it is the Holy Spirit who is the one who is groaning here. Sort of like when the Holy Spirit is grieved in Ephesians 4:30. It may be that the Holy Spirit is the one who is groaning here. I really think that the verse could work either way you look at it, and maybe then it's both of us who are groaning as this process is being worked out. I think it's more likely that it is our Spirit which is groaning, but it could be the Holy Spirit which is groaning as well.

You can ponder that a while and come to your own conclusions about it. But whatever the case may be, the point is that we need to understand something that we don't yet understand. And all that needs to work itself out according to the triad of interactions which we've already studied that you see on the board there, the triad of the word of God or the will of God, the Holy Spirit and prayer working itself out in the soul of the inner man. Now if we continue reading on here, in Romans 8:27 it says, and he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

And he that searcheth the hearts, who searches the hearts? Well, God searches the hearts. When I went over this verse in the study we did on prayer in 2009, I stated at that time that it was God, the Holy Spirit, who was searching the heart. I'm not so sure that's true. I'm not so sure that's true because we have that abba Father relationship.

We are praying to the Father, and thus it seems more likely it is our Heavenly Father who is searching the heart here. And what would he be searching for? Well, consider the likelihood based on everything I've said so far, that he is searching the heart to find out what condition the inner man of the believer may be concerning this particular area of doctrine. Do you have the mind of Christ pertaining to whatever the situation is here? Do you know the doctrine or the will of God pertaining to the situation?

You see, the Lord Jesus Christ was our perfect example of how the sonship relationship between the Father and the Son is supposed to operate as he learned continually from the Father. For your notes, Hebrews 5:7-9. Now, I'm going to give you some verses as we go on here. We're not going to go there, but you can take them down for your notes and look into them later. And they illustrate how that the Lord Jesus Christ was the perfect example of how the sonship relationship between the Father and Son is supposed to operate.

The Lord Jesus Christ was continually being taught by the Father. You can see that in verses like John 6:38 and John 8:28. And there are many other verses throughout the Gospel of John where you see Jesus continually being instructed by the Father. And then the Lord Jesus Christ also felt the need to engage in frequent and intense prayer with the father continually. Matthew 14:23 Mark 1:35 Mark 6:46. And in Luke 5:16. These are all verses which are demonstrating that sonship relationship. This is the Abba Father relationship which is referred to in Romans 8:15. And we are supposed to be doing the same thing because we have that same relationship.

We have that same Abba father relationship. And do we have any less of a need to access this relationship than the Lord Jesus Christ himself? I think not. Well, verse 27 also says, he that searcheth the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit. So God knows the mind of the Spirit, and the Spirit knows the mind of God, and both know the mind of Christ, because they are all one and the same, the verse says, because he maketh intercession for the saints.

Three questions. Who is making the intercession? What is the intercession? And what is the result of the intercession? I think it's pretty safe to assume that the Holy Spirit is the one who's making the intercession here.

And I think that the intercession is our learning the doctrines we need to know in order to deal with the most basic fundamental needs of our inner man, those things which we don't understand yet pertaining to the situation at hand. And consequently we don't know how to pray as we ought. And the result of this intercession process is learning those doctrines we need to know, understand, and which, by the way, are going to be assimilated into our inner man by faith through prayer, as our minds are being continually renewed. So that takes us right back to our schematic on the board there.

The doctrines and the will of God being energized by the Holy Spirit through the activity, prayer, all occurring in the inner man.

Now, doesn't it seem like that's what these verses could be trying to teach us verse 27 says, Because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God, this whole back and forth intercession process is never going to come up with an end result which is contrary to to the will of God. Not if the Holy Spirit is interceding and teaching us. And the wonderful thing about this is that we are capable of knowing and understanding these things which the Holy Spirit is attempting to reveal to us. Because as believers, we have the mind of Christ. We have the capacity to understand as we learned in I Corinthians 2:12-16.

But in order for that to happen, we have to be studying out the Word of God in order for us to understand these things. But let's not stop here. Let's continue on in verse 28 where it says, and we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose. So then, in keeping with this whole concept which I've just proposed to you, all things are going to continue to work themselves out for good. How can it do anything other than that?

Because the end result is going to be God's will. God's will being assimilated into our understanding through the constant intervening and renewing of our minds by the Holy Spirit as we pray that the Holy Spirit will make these things clear to us.

Now, isn't that exactly what Paul was praying would happen with the saints at Ephesus in Ephesians chapter one, when he prayed that God would give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation? Sure it is. And then verse 29, let's continue on here. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Because if God's will continued to be ingrained into our inner man consciousness through this ongoing groaning and intervening process, our phase two sanctification walk will ultimately conform us to the image of Christ.

And that is the ultimate will of God in our lives. Now doesn't that put a whole new light on verse 28? Don't you think that this is what these verses are trying to teach us?

But obviously the end result being conformed to the image of Christ will not be fully realized as long as we possess these sin cursed bodies of flesh. But that is nevertheless the goal of this groaning and intercession process. The Holy Spirit continually revealing to us the doctrines we need in order to function according to the will of God in every circumstance of our lives are we praying that the Holy Spirit will do this for us and that we would be willing to to allow those doctrines to dwell comfortably in our souls.

Well, we got over here to Romans from Colossians chapter one, where we we're learning about the importance of the will of God in our lives. So let's go back to Colossians one.

And looking at verse nine again, Colossians 1:9, which says, for this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding. So then, if your intent upon understanding the will of God for your life, you're going to find it in the Word of God as the Holy Spirit continually reveals it to you. And if you allow everything to work out the way it is designed to work out in your life, your doctrine is going to be assimilated comfortably into your soul, producing that phase two sanctification that is the will of God for everyone.

And you're going to find the will of God everywhere in Paul's Epistles. If you have a little time some evening and you're not quite sure what you want to study out, may I suggest to you that you just sit down and go over those passages in Scripture where you're going to find verse after verse of concentrated exhortations to the Body of Christ regarding the will of God for the life of the believer. And those verses cover a multitude of situations. Do you know where to go to look for those verses? Everyone should know where to go.

You can begin in Romans chapter 12. In Romans chapter 12, you're going to find no less than 30 exhortations pertaining to the will of God in the life of a believer for all sorts of situations. As you continue on in Romans through chapters 13 to 15, you're going to find at least 12 more major concepts taught there. Then you've got Ephesians chapters four and five, and you've got Colossians three and four, you've got 1 Thessalonians, chapter five, verses 21 through the end of the chapter, where you're going to find at least 20 more exhortations there.

And you add to those things the nine fruits of the Spirit which you find in Galatians chapter five. And you've got some really concentrated expressions of the will of God for our lives. And those are just the obvious things. So that is where you're going to find the will of God. It's in the Word of God.

Unfortunately, and tragically, the greater part of what considers itself the Body of Christ today has this perverted idea that God's will is determined by examining God's Word, which of course is absolutely on target. But then by considering the circumstances in your life and then combining all that with any feelings that you might be experiencing about whatever the situation may be, how do you feel about it? Can you generate peace about it? But our circumstances are the context in which we're supposed to apply the known principles of the Word of God to the details of our life. That's what Paul means in Romans 8:26 when he says, we don't know how to pray as we ought to.

Bad application, or perhaps no application at all. If you don't even know what the will of God is for your life, from the Word of God for these particular issues in your life and your feelings are just about the most unreliable indicators of God's will that there could ever be. Jeremiah, chapter 17, verse 9 says that the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can even know it? So that small still voice you hear rattling around in your head or in the shower had better be the Holy Spirit's voice, working on your inner man, reproving you, correcting you, convicting you, or admonishing you, or teaching you to see how your thinking lines up with the Word of God.

And if it doesn't, you need to have your mind renewed right then and there. It is a very serious matter to presume that God spoke to you and gave you some special revelation pertaining to some situation in your life, and especially if that revelation should happen to run even the least bit contrary to the revealed word. Because then what you're really saying is that God's Word, our Bibles are not able to make us complete.

Well, we're still in Colossians 1:9. And the verse also says that you might be filled with the knowledge of your will and all wisdom and spiritual understanding. And what is the purpose of this wisdom and spiritual understanding pertaining to the will of God in our lives? Well, there is a purpose for all this. Verse 10 says that here's the reason that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all, pleasing, being fruitful in every good work.

So there are the end result, walking worthy and being fruitful. Good works are important not for the purpose of achieving justification, not for the purpose of achieving our phase one salvation. You'll never get any closer to salvation through good works. But it's God's utmost desire for the believer that someone who's already saved manifests abundant good works in their Life. Ephesians chapter 2:10 says that now that we are God's workmanship created in Christ Jesus, we have been created unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

In Titus 2:14 it says that we should be peculiar, zealous people of good works. Why? Good works can make the life of a believer at least more attractive and commendable in the eyes of an unbeliever. So the way you live is important. It can have a major impact on your ministry, either positive or negative.

And it can also have a tremendous educational impact on the angelic community by demonstrating the manifold wisdom of God which we read about in Ephesians 3:10. This demonstration of the manifold wisdom of God is a profound area of doctrine which we tend to have a very poor understanding of, in which I hope to be able to get into in some detail. But the way we live is important. It can have a major impact on your ministry, either positive or negative. We went into Philippians chapter one in the first part of this study, which was Paul's third major exemplary prayer for the body Christ.

And when we were on the subject of increasing love for other members of the Body of Christ, that's why we went to Philippians 1, we looked only at verse 9, but verses 10 and 11 went on to say that we are supposed to be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, and that we should be filled with the fruits of righteousness. So just another passage demonstrating what the goal of all this doctrine and spiritual understanding is. Now, all that has to do with phase two sanctification, our phase two sanctification process being conformed to the image of Christ. Now, if the truths of God's will for our lives are not bearing fruit, it is because those truths have simply remained a mental concept head knowledge. If the truths of God's will in our lives are not bearing fruit or producing that progressive phase two sanctification, it's because our will has not allowed those truths to be successfully transferred from the Spirit down into the soul and allowed to dwell there comfortably.

So then, how about some examples of how all this is designed to work? Now, I've used this example before because everyone's going to identify with it. You're driving along and some moron does one of those maneuvers that comes real close to wiping you out. Some really stupid and inconsiderate move. What's your first reaction?

What's your first reaction? Your mind rushes immediately to Colossians 3:8, which says, Put off all anger. Wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Isn't that the first thing that comes to your mind? Right, Put off the anger.

Now you can go outside of Paul's letters to get some basic helpful information on all sorts of issues like anger. The book of Proverbs is filled with all sorts of verses dealing with anger which are appropriate in any dispensation. Proverbs chapter 14, verse 17 says, he that is soon angry dealeth from foolishly. If our first reaction is to blow up in anger, we're probably going to do something we shouldn't do. And before you know it, you could be in full road rage mode.

Verse 29 in Proverbs 14 says, he that is slow to wrath is of great understanding. This is the man who knows how to react to anger. Count to 10. There's some good advice. Whoever came up with that suggestion must have been a Bible student.

So whenever you're confronted with some unexpected occurrence that's going to challenge the flesh, like these stupid drivers, your knee jerk reaction is always going to be a reaction from the flesh. So be aware of that. Don't let it happen. Count to 10. Slow things down.

Or what about then problems among believers? There are going to be problems among believers. You know. This is the very first thing that Paul addresses when he gets into what is commonly referred to as the practical section of Ephesians. He's given us all this amazing advanced doctrine.

Now he's going to tell you how you use it. Turn to Ephesians 4, verse 1. Paul writes, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called with all lowliness and meekness, with long suffering, forbearing one another in love. Or look at how Paul states it in the companion epistle to the Colossians in chapter three, verse 12. And put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another, and forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against you, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness, and let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful.

So you might have to be willing to forbear certain things, or put up with certain things, with long suffering, or even forgive someone if your disagreement with them is even legitimate. Or how about another example? How about some issues in marriage? All right, how about some issues in marriage? In Ephesians 5:21 through the end of the chapter, Paul addresses the marriage relationship and he starts off with the issue of submission.

Submission. Now, the unsaved world and human viewpoint make a mockery of these verses, especially in our day with these women's rights issues and national organization of women and all that type of thinking. But the fact is that if you have both parties within the marriage relationship on the same wavelength, both functioning with the mind of Christ, that's 1 Corinthians 2:16 and following, both parties being like minded, being of one accord, esteeming each other better than themselves, and looking on the things of the other Philippians 2:2-5, then the chances are that things are going to work out pretty good. But let's complicate the issue a little. What if one of the parties is not a believer?

What if one of the two even happens to be hostile towards everything having to do with the believer's involvement with Christ or with the church or with the Bible and the time commitments and all those things involved with that? This can happen if one of the two becomes a believer sometime after the marriage, and this can produce all sorts of strife within the relationship, and things could get so bad that the believer regrets ever having been in the relationship. So what does the believer do then? Divorce? Well, where do you go?

Find your information. In First Corinthians, chapter 7, Paul explains how that it is only the unbelieving party within the relationship who is free to leave if that's what they want to do, but that the believer cannot walk away from this relationship. The believer is obligated to remain in the relationship. Now obviously there are situations where physical abuse and chronic infidelity and other evils may be involved, where the believer would be free to leave, but otherwise no. And these are situations where instructions on how believers are to relate to unbelievers come into play.

So where do you go for that? Well, recompense to no man evil for evil Romans 12:17 or if it be possible, as much as lieth within you, as much as you can do about it, live peaceably with all men. That's all men, even an unbelieving spouse. Romans 12:18, these are verses from that section of Romans 12 which deal with the interaction of believers and unbelievers.

So all these are things which should be running through our mind as the events of the details of life go on throughout the course of the day. And all you need to do to be praying about these things is to be thinking about what God has said in His Word about all these various issues as they pertain to the details in your life. An ongoing process is what that is all day long, and praying that the Holy Spirit will make these things clear to you. As I said in the first part of the study last week, I'm sure that is exactly what Paul means when he says pray without ceasing, be instant in prayer. Those two verses in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 and Romans chapter 12, verse 12.

We need to know what God's will is and what God has to say about these things. The Christian life requires a constant awareness of who and what we are in Christ and what God has said about these issues in His Word. Constantly thinking about those words in prayer and anything other than that is simply an attempt to live our lives through the energy of the flesh. And that will not work.

So all these things that we've been looking at for the last 20 minutes or so have all had to do with our fifth category of prayer, God's will in our life as it pertains to our phase two sanctification. Let's go back to Colossians 1 again and pick it up in verse 11. Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power. Unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness. So here we are.

Strengthened with all might according to his glorious power. This is the same might and power which we already read about and analyzed in the two Ephesians prayers at our last session. It's a supernatural provision, and it's available to us from God. And this verse goes on to tell us a few things, a few of the many things that this supernatural enablement is capable of giving us. It says, strengthen with all might according to his glorious power unto all patience and long suffering with joyfulness.

So we've got patience, long suffering with joyfulness. One of the two doesn't seem to fit patience, long suffering, and joyfulness. You might recognize these as three of the nine fruits of the Spirit from Galatians, chapter five. But two of these three fruits are things we'd really rather not have to deal with most of the time, aren't they? Patience and long suffering.

But these two fruits are there because they are realities in our life. We're going to need patience, and we're more than likely going to have periods of long suffering in our lives. That's just the way life is, and we should know that that's just the way life is. So we've been looking at prayer as it pertains to the will of God in our lives. That fifth category of prayer which appears on our outline, and there may be many other passages which we could look at, but and especially those passages in Ephesians and Colossians, would deal with the principle of putting off. Putting off those characteristics of the old man and putting on the characteristics consistent with the new man.

But I'd like to move on now to our sixth category of prayer, which deals with prayer pertaining to our ambassadorship. And to start that off, let's begin in Ephesians 6, Prayer pertaining to issues having to do with our ambassadorship. We're going to pick up here where Paul is coming to the end of his description of the believer's full armor of God.

In verse 17 he says, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints and for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in bonds, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak.

So in verse 19 we see that Paul is asking the Ephesian saints to pray for him. And what we want to appreciate here is, is Paul's objective for those prayers. What's the objective? Verse 19 says, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. And in verse 20 it says, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak.

Now let's see how Paul says this in Colossians, chapter 4. In verse 2 he says, Continue in prayer with watch, in the same with thanksgiving withal, praying also for us that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds that I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. That I may make it manifest as I ought to speak. I can't hardly think of anything more appropriate than to be continually asking the Lord to let me see the opportunities which may come my way to plant seeds having to do with the gospel of the Grace of God. When you come right down to it, this is one of the primary reasons that God leaves us here down on the earth after we become saved. Members of the Body of Christ to be an ambassador for him.

That's what it's all about. As Paul says in I Timothy 2:4, it is God's will that all men become saved. We have an all man ministry. But understand that this comes with the tremendous responsibility of understanding the Gospel of the Grace of God for what it is and what it is not. When we went through that series on the sanctification of believer, we saw how that this ministry has been given to us.

It's been put in trust to us. It's very important that we can present an accurate gospel invitation to the unsaved man who has very little knowledge of the Bible or what the Bible says about these things. Actually, that may be easier than if you're dealing with some denominationally religious person who presumes that there is only one gospel in the entire Bible. When you're dealing with someone like that, the chances are quite high that you're dealing with someone who has been beguiled or perverted by a perverted gospel, a gospel message which does not have the power to save anyone. In that case, are you able to explain those seven major Gospels which are found in the books of the New Testament?

If you're unable to do this, it is very unlikely that you will be able to speak boldly the way we ought to speak, as Paul says it in the Ephesians and Colossians passages. If you're not sure about these things, it would be highly beneficial to review those seven gospels which we studied in the series on the Great Commission for the Body of Christ. Now that leaves us with our seventh and final category on prayer, intercession for others. How do we pray for others? And what is God's role when it comes to intercessory prayer?

And just as important, as I hope to point out to you as we go along, what is our role intercessory prayer? Now, one of the first things I want to point out is the fact that every one of Paul's prayers which we've looked at in this study is essentially intercessory prayer. It's intercessory prayer for those to whom the actual letters were sent at the time in which Paul wrote them and their intercessory prayers for us some 2,000 plus years later. So it should be obvious then that Paul's prayers to the saints were not without intervention on his part. All those things which Paul desired for the Ephesians and for the Philippians and for the Colossians and for the Thessalonians to know and understand he labored teaching them or writing to them about.

One of my favorite examples of this type of intervention on the part of one who is praying for others is found here in Colossians, chapter 4, verse 12. It says, Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always laboring fervently for you in prayers. What's he praying about? That ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. Here you have Epaphras, always laboring for fervently for the Colossians in prayer.

That's intercessory prayer, that those Colossians might stand perfect and complete in all the will of God. And for years I could not understand this verse at all. I'd look at the verse and ask myself, how could Epaphras' prayers for the Colossians, or my prayers for another believer actually have the effect of that someone would become more perfect and complete in the will of God? How can that possibly happen? Well, then I finally grasp the importance of what Paul had written about Epaphras in the first chapter of Colossians.

Let's go there. Colossians, chapter one. Starting in verse three, we give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. Here's thanksgiving for members of the Body of Christ. Again, Paul seems to do that quite consistently.

Verse 4. Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel, which is now come unto you, and which is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit as it doth also in you, since the day that ye heard of it, and and knew the Grace of God in truth, as ye. Here's what you want to pick up on as ye also learned of Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is for you a faithful minister of Christ.

Epaphras was faithfully ministering to these saints at Colossae, teaching them the doctrines and truths they needed to understand in order to become perfect and complete in the will of God. He wasn't just throwing out a prayer, sitting back and expecting things to happen. He was involved in the process. And that is no different than what Paul was doing for the Ephesians, the Philippians, the Colossians and the Thessalonians, and for the Body of Christ today, in all his writings, when he was ministering to those saints personally and to us in the future, there was action, there was intervention taken on the part of Epaphras and Paul, whenever they prayed intercessions for others, there was action taken and there should be action or intervention taken on our part as well.

Intercessory prayer for someone else is a call to action on our part or on the part of other members of the Body of Christ. We'll get into that a little bit more as we go along. Intercessory prayer is a call for us to get involved. Paul and Epaphras became involved. Paul and Epaphras were called into action.

And I believe that members of the Body of Christ are called to action and are supposed to get involved as well. And when it comes to intercessory prayer with the intent to change something in the life or circumstances of someone else, whether that person is a believer or an unbeliever, I believe that the intercessory prayer is designed to change us as well, just as much as it's intended to change the life or circumstance of the one for whom the prayers are being directed. For example, you can pray for the salvation of a loved one or some lost person, but if no one ever gives that person the gospel of the Grace of God and the truths about how they're lost and in need of a Savior, you can forget it. Because one thing is absolutely certain. Faith comes by hearing.

The faith they need is going to come by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17. So then intervention, a call to action, is an integral component of intercessory prayer. Now, how about a few examples of how this is designed to work? Now, we frequently bring to the attention of the assembly situations where some members of the assembly might be going through a rough time, difficult time.

Very often these could be medical or health related issues that someone's going through. So we might send out cards of encouragement or make calls for updates on the status of the situation. And that's all very good. It's all very good. But the exhortation may be made to keep these people in our prayers.

So what exactly does that mean? Are we to be asking God to heal the individual or what? Well, you could pray for the individual to be healed if you want to, but you would have to understand that there are absolutely no promises from God for the resolution of these types of problems for individuals in the dispensation of Grace today. This is simply not what God is doing. I think most of us understand that.

But there are some very important passages in the scripture which need to be considered having to do with these issues of intercessory prayer and the first one we should consider is First Corinthians 10, verse 13. There hath no temptation taken you. That is no trial, no problem, no trouble taken you, but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not suffer you. He won't allow you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation, also make a way to escape.

Is that to get rid of the problem? No. That you may be able to bear it. Okay? Most of the time when we have looked at this verse, we have looked at it in order to point out the fact that no matter how difficult the situation may be, it will not be so difficult that God cannot provide the strength you need to be able to bear it.

So we might go to Second Corinthians. Look at chapter 11, look at all the trials Paul went through, or chapter 12, where he talks about the thorn in his flesh and he asks to be delivered from that. But God doesn't promise to take the trial away here, but that he will provide a way for us to be able to bear it. And that is exactly what we are pointing out most of the time when we come to this verse. But two other things which we should come to understand from this verse are that whatever the situation may be, and no matter how difficult that situation may be, it is not something that has been orchestrated by God, Okay?

Nor is it something that someone else has not already gone through.

And it's these last two things that I want to focus on now, because it is these two things which are related to members of the Body of Christ and intercessory prayer. Turn over to 2 Corinthians, chapter one.

I'm going to read through the passage here, verses three through seven, and then I'm going to come back and paraphrase it.

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth in Christ. And whenever we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer, or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also the consolation.

There's a Lot of awkward verbiage in there, and it may be a little difficult to follow what's going on. But I simply want to paraphrase the general sense of what Paul is saying here. And that is, somewhere out there in the Body of Christ, there is going to be someone whose experience has been similar to whatever trials, tribulation, or suffering some other members of the Body of Christ is now going through. And that there is no one more appropriately equipped to offer advice, to offer consolation or support and encouragement to another brother or sister who's going through that than someone who has already gone through those same trials and tribulations.

And that person who's gone through that is going to be able to show the other brother or sister that, hey, this is the doctrine which I needed, or these are the verses which I needed to focus on to get me through these times, these difficult times. Now, very often those verses may turn out to be verses like Romans, chapter 8, verse 18, Romans 8:35-39, 2nd Corinthians 4:14-16, or maybe when you're dealing with the death of someone's loved one, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-18.

Now, maybe you can't quote all those verses word for word, but do you immediately know what these verses are about just from the references, so that you could go there just like that if you needed to? We all should. I mean, these are all verses which we should know. So when an exhortation to keep someone in your prayers is thrown out to the assembly, this is really a call to action for other members of the Body of Christ who might be most suitably equipped to offer assistance to the person in need. And that assistance could vary in nature tremendously depending upon the nature of the difficulty.

One of the wonderful things about the Body of Christ is that it is a body consisting of many members, and all the members need each other. As Paul says in First Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 21, the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of thee. The members of the Body of Christ are designed to function together.

So when some exhortation goes out to keep someone in your prayers, there should be an immediate introspective evaluation going on in the thinking of other members within the Body of Christ, whether they might be the person in a position to offer some genuine and unique assistance for the situation of the brother or sister who's in need. If I fall short in some area, hopefully someone else in the Body of Christ will pick up my slack. And maybe in some areas I might be able to pick up the slack for somebody else. I might be equipped to do something that other people can't do. You might as well.

Very often it depends on your own personal skills and abilities. But that is how the Body of Christ is designed to function. Now this also has an integral connection to our fourth category of prayer, doesn't it? Remember, that category was love for other members of the Body of Christ.

And when the Body of Christ is functioning this way, this is precisely how God is working in the world today. All these folks who are running around today suggesting that we're limiting God, they have no clue how God is working in the world today. God is working in the world through the Body of Christ. This, by the way, has everything to do with what Paul refers to as the fellowship of the mystery in Ephesians 3, verse 9. Let's close here by going to Ephesians 3 and look at that verse.

I'm kind of setting you up for a future study here. Ephesians 3:8, Paul writes unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make all all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hidden? God, who created all things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. In verse nine we have the fellowship of the mystery. What an important doctrine the fellowship of the mystery is.

And that fellowship begins with love for all the other members of the Body of Christ. That's the goal where all members of the Body of Christ are esteeming one another better than themselves. Then if that happens, you would see intercessory prayer being accompanied by calls to action on a regular basis on the part of other believers within the Body of Christ, with the support and the encouragement and the service which should accompany that type of prayer, because that is the way that God is working in the world today.