2017 40 Days of Prayer, Day 34
The Abiding Presence of God:
A Life of Complete Dependence
Day 34
“who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.” Romans 8:34
No Condemnation
This verse brings us back to the opening verse of the chapter. “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Who can condemn us? If we are in Christ, no one can condemn us. If we are in Christ, no hint of condemnation can ever touch us because of His work. He died in our place and rose again from the dead. Condemnation has been paid in full.
Our Never Ceasing Defense Attorney
Not only does the Spirit of God intercede for us (verse 27), but the Son of God also intercedes for us. “Not only has Jesus died to secure our justification – ‘more than that’ He has ‘been raised’ and has also ascended to the right hand of God, so that he may intercede for us, ensuring that the justifying verdict for which he died is applied to us in the judgement…because Christ lives and has ascended, he is able to ‘intercede’ for us, acting as our High Priest in the very presence of God.” (Moo, The Epistle to the Romans, NICNT) Just as the Spirit continually intercedes for us to help us as we struggle with suffering, the Son continually intercedes for us based on our legal standing before His Father. The different aspects of intercession for the Son and the Spirit connect to their roles within the Trinity. The Son of God is our Redeemer, purchasing us from the bondage of sin and death by granting us His righteousness. The Spirit of God is our Comforter, strengthening us in our walk with God. As their function within the Godhead differs, so also does their emphasis in prayer on our behalf. The Son takes our requests to His Father. He continually pleads our case before the Father. No one can condemn us because we are in Christ. Christ took away any condemnation that might come against us. Now, He lives to intercede on our behalf. He is our never-ceasing defense attorney. As the writer of Hebrews said in Hebrews 7:24-25, “Jesus…, because He continues forever, holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”
Prayer Focus
Christ Jesus, You alone can plead my case before Your Father for my justification. You are perfect, righteous and holy. You alone have paid my debt. I trust in Your perfect life, Your death and Your resurrection for my salvation. I trust in You as the only way for me to have a right standing before the throne of God. I trust in You continually as You intercede for me before the Father. Thank You, for taking my brokenness and for making me whole. Now, take my weaknesses and make my dependence on You in my weaknesses to be places of Your strength.
From DL Moody’s Secret Power
POWER IN OPERATION
The power we have been considering is the Presence of The Holy Spirit. He is omnipotent. Power in operation is the actions of the Spirit, or the fruit of the Spirit. This we shall now consider. Paul writes in Galatians 5:16-26: “This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary, the one to the other; so that you cannot do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control against such there is not law. And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another.”
Now there is a life of perfect peace, perfect joy, and perfect love, and that ought to be the aim of every child of God. That ought to be their standard. They should not rest until having attained to that position. That is God’s standard, where He wants all His children.
These nine graces mentioned in this chapter in Galatians can be divided in this way: Love, peace and joy are all to God. God looks for that fruit from each one of His children, and that is the kind of fruit, which is acceptable with Him. Without that, we cannot please God. He wants, above everything else, that we possess, love, peace and joy.
Then the next three, patience, kindness and gentleness, are towards others. That is our outward life to those that we come in contact with continually; daily, hourly.
The next three, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control are in relation to ourselves. In that way we can just take the three divisions and it will be of some help to us. The first thing that meets us as we enter the kingdom of God, you might say, are these first three graces.