Friday, May 22, 2009
Romans 8:34 Christ Jesus, who died--more than that, who was raised to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.
ASCENSION TRUTHS: HE PRAYS FOR YOU
As you read this devotion my family and I are probably cruising up I-94 toward Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Traveling down the road can be dangerous. There are some places along our route where the cars are so many and going so fast that you feel like you're in a NASCAR race, but without all the extra safety features. That’s why we've developed the habit of saying a prayer before every long trip. When we're all buckled in, and before I turn the key to start the motor, we bow our heads and ask our Heavenly Father to keep us safe during our travels.
Traveling down life's highway is dangerous business. Satan would love to somehow wreck our faith. Sadly, we often fall prey to his many temptations. We fail to be the parent we should be. The spouse we should be. The church member we should be. We let our hearts get polluted by lust, greed, and selfishness. Day after day we miss the mark of what God expects of us.
But one of the comforting truths of the Ascension is that Jesus is praying for us. Jesus has the Father's ear. At His right hand, Jesus is making intercession for us. As we send up our prayers to heaven we know they are heard because God the Son presents them to God the Father for us.
Jesus is the Lamb who takes away the world's sin. That means He's just the One we need to pray for us. The Father can't and won't say "no" to Jesus when He pleads for our forgiveness. How can He, when Jesus has already nailed every last one of our sins to Calvary's Cross?
Whatever you pray for, be it safe highways, or forgiveness, or you name it, your Ascended Savior is making sure your prayers are heard and answered. What an incentive to "pray without ceasing"!
