10/17/2024
One morning in 2015 I was reading a devotional and preparing for prayer. The subject was the absolute perfection of Christ and the compassion which leads Him to intercede for us. The accompanying verse was Hebrews 4:15, and it was so encouraging to me. Jesus understands us and what tempts us as men, and this gives Him the ability to intercede for us in prayer from a place of experience and a knowledge of our circumstances. Do we completely grasp the degree to which He is like us? Do we pray for others as Jesus prays for us; with empathy that is born of understanding and experience?
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin."
Hebrews 4:15 ESV
Pastor E.M. Bounds drilled into this thought further by saying:
"Moreover, if He is filled with such compassion that it moves Him at the Father's right hand to intercede for us, then in everything we should have the same compassion on others and pray for them regularly." – E. M. Bounds
I was led to think about a couple of things that morning. First is that the trials and temptations I face in my life give me a perspective into those of others that empowers me in prayer. Who better to pray for an addict than someone whose life has been touched by addiction? Who better to pray for healing than someone who has been sick and was healed? Who better to pray for mercy and grace than someone who was themselves shown that same mercy and grace? Is there some experience or event in your life that has given you special insight as you pray for others?
The second thought impressed upon me was the temptation of Christ. I had always felt that Satan never really had a chance as he placed temptation after temptation before Jesus, but that many times I was an easy target. Then, in my life, I would beat myself up for even considering or entertaining thoughts regarding certain sins... However, on this day in 2015, I fully realized for the first time that not even considering sinning isn't actually temptation. Temptation is feeling the powerful draw of a sin, having it run through your mind and woo you, to consider the act and coming to the verge of committing it.... overcoming our temptation, and resisting it, is triumphing over sin. Jesus was tempted as we are, and yet He overcame sin. We can do this too.
“No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”
1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV
I have heard sermons preached that espoused the idea that if a person even thought about sinning then a sin was committed, but that can't be true because it discounts the temptation of Christ. Without that very human temptation He would not have been a man, and without the denial of it, He would not have shown us the path to righteousness, holiness, and perfection. He would have been God in human form but not the substance and frailty of being truly human.
“[Jesus] who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
Philippians 2:6-8 ESV
So as I think about my Lord Jesus, and His intercession for me before the Father, it overpowers me to realize His understanding of my plight and those times when the temptation of sin has won out over me. It humbles me further to know that even in His realization of my failing He has such compassion and love for me; perhaps that compassion was nurtured in the very arms of His own temptation, and His humanity gives him the complete understanding and compassion for us and our brokenness that is needed to intercede fully for us.
“Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.”
Romans 8:34 ESV
“For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.”
1 Timothy 2:5-6 ESV
Prayer:
Father thank you, and your Son Jesus, for your love, His intercession, and your combined compassion. We thank you for finding us worthy of His suffering, and we thank you for your forgiveness, and the remission of our sins. Despite the imperfect human condition we embody, you continue to pour out your grace upon us, and have given us the compassion for others that you have shown us. Help us Father to see our own pain, suffering, challenges, and temptations, as tools of prayer and intercession that can help us reach out to you as we intercede with compassion for the needs of others. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who sent your Son to become as we are, to face the same temptations that we do, and to offer Himself for our transgressions. Holy are you who hears His prayers for us, and holds them with our own in the palm of your hand as you consider us and our earthly plight. Hear our prayers Abba, and feel how we share the emotion, the joy, and the pain of others as we pray for them. Consider the intercession of Jesus as He joins with us likewise in such prayers, and consider our pleas as we offer them from positions of understanding. Great are you who loves us so completely, and holds out the blood of your Son to us as drink; this being the cup of the new covenant, and then feeds us with the bread of life; the body of Christ. You do all of this in true compassion as you quench our thirst and satisfy our hunger for you. Merciful and full of Grace are you Lord, and we praise and worship you before all creation, and eternally with the heavenly host. Praised be your name Father, and may all glory and honor be yours forevermore.
Amen, Amen, Amen!
“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Romans 12:15 ESV
“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.”
John 14:13-14 ESV
“In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
John 16:23-24 ESV
Rich Forbes