Teach Me to Pray - Week #29: Christ the Intercessor

"I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf." John 16:26

"He always lives to intercede." Hebrews 7:25

In this chapter Andrew Murray distinguishes between prayer that sees Jesus as Intercessor on my behalf and prayer that understands that I pray with direct access to the Father because of Christ in me and my oneness with Him.

"See the difference between having Christ as Advocate or Intercessor who stands outside of us and having Him within us - our abiding in Him and He in us through the Holy Spirit - perfecting our union with Him so that we can go directly to the Father in His name." Having direct access to the Father in prayer doesn't negate the mediatorship of the Lord Jesus, of course, "but it is no longer looked at as something external, existing outside of us, but as a real, living spiritual existence within us, so that the Christ for us, the Mediator, has really become Christ in us." (quote from Dr. I.T. Beck)

And because Jesus lives forever to intercede, He dwells within us as the Intercessor. This means that, just as in all other areas of living, our power to pray and intercede is Christ in us! "Because He prays, we also pray."

In the beginning of this chapter, Murray points out that the work of Jesus on earth as Priest/Intercessor was just the beginning of a life of never-ending intercession at the right hand of the Father. "'Christ Jesus, who died -- more than that, who...is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us' (Rom. 8:34) That intercession is an intense reality, a work that is absolutely necessary and without which the continued application of redemption cannot take place."

Jesus' present mediation on the throne is as important as on the cross. "Nothing takes place without His intercession. It engages all His time and powers. It is His unceasing occupation at the right hand of the Father...He alone has the power of prayer...Christ is the guarantee for our prayer life."

Murray goes on to challenge the reader that we who are in Christ not only partake of the benefits of His intercessory work but we participate in the work itself. He is the head and we are His body; the body follows the Head.

If our power to pray and our effectiveness in prayer is bound up in our union with the Great Intercessor, the obvious need for us is to continually grow in oneness with Him, our hearts and minds being increasingly aligned with how He thinks and feels and desires. I believe that the way this happens is through simple openness of heart to obey whatever He tells us to do and maintaining a "yes" to Him as He directs our paths.

A simple response to this chapter would be to pause and allow this truth to settle into your spirit - Christ in you is the Great Intercessor; because He prays, you can pray directly to the Father in His name.

Meditate on Jesus in you as Intercessor; be aware that your praying isn't separate from His prayers as if there were two separate prayers ascending to God (Jesus' prayers and your prayers). He is praying in you and will pray through you to the Father in increasing measure as you grow in daily agreement with Him and obedience to Him.

Holy Spirit, open my understanding of this wonder...I ask you to make real to me the truth that the Christ Who is the eternal Intercessor really dwells within me, always making intercession for and through me to the Father. Convince me, Lord, of the power and need of growing oneness with You to increase in prayer and thereby affect change in my little "world" for Your glory. Your life in me is prayer; teach me how to unite with You in Your prayer life, and help me not see myself separated from You as I pray but one with You in prayer. Thank You for hearing and answering, dear Lord!