I am so glad the Holy Spirit prays on our behalf. There have been many times when I don't know what to pray or how to pray for someone.
When I have prayed the same prayer over and over again for someone or some circumstance but have not yet seen an answer, I have to trust that God heard me.
I have to trust, too, that all the prayers of the past still count. One more will not change God's mind about His will. He has a perfect answer, and often it is not what we think it should be or what we want.
Romans 8:25-27 "…25 But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently. 26 In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words. 27, And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."
It is astonishing that so many people think they know the best answer for someone else, or the best action that should be taken, even though they have never asked God for wisdom about His heart and desire.
Christ desired that all men would be saved and died to provide that salvation for everyone, but knew that most would not trust in Him.
1 Timothy 2:3-4 "3 This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."
Isaiah 53:1-12 "Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed."
We have to accept that sometimes our prayers for our loved ones will not be answered, not because God doesn't want to answer, but because He never overrides someone's free will to choose Him.
Just as our desire is that our family members would repent and trust in Christ most will not, this was Christ's experience and it will be ours too.
Yes, we should pray as led by the Holy Spirit and sometimes we are led not to continue to pray because God already knows the heart of those we pray for and knows they will not just as most will not trust in Him.
Psalm 22:7 "All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;"
This was Christ's experience and it will be ours too. Rejected and mocked by most because we live in a world that wants to feel safe in church but has no devotion to Christ Himself.
Many church people bring a false gospel, a pretend life without dedication to the word of God, picking and choosing from the Bible what they wish to believe while ignoring many of God's commands and principles.
To deny the Word of God is to deny Jesus Christ because He is the Word.
1 Peter 5:8 "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."
The devil has infiltrated most church gatherings and intimidated the attendees to believe they must have a special leader paid to do a job, leaving them silent in the pews while believing everything this leader tells them without a desire to read the Word for themselves, while praying for wisdom. This is the state of the institutional gatherings led by men, but not led by the Holy Spirit.
John 16:13-14 "13 However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to you what is to come. 14 He will glorify Me by taking from what is Mine and disclosing it to you."
When we walk in the Spirit of Truth, God will be glorified. When man does his own thing according to his own desires, it is man who is glorified.
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