Andrew Murray's Secrets Of Faith Exemplo

What a glorious mystery there is in prayer! On the one hand, God in His holiness, love and power waits and longs to bless man; on the other, sinful man, a worm of the dust, brings down from God by prayer the very life and love of heaven to dwell in his heart.

But how much greater is the glory of intercession—when a person boldly tells God what he desires for others! He seeks to bring down on one soul, or even on hundreds or thousands, the power of eternal life with all its blessings. All the powers of heaven are available to us to serve in God’s kingdom. How little the children of God live in the faith of that heavenly vision—the power of the Holy Spirit, on them, with them, and in them, giving them strength to witness joyfully for their Lord and His work!

When God made the plan of redemption, His object was to restore man to the place from which he had fallen. God chose His servants from ancient times who, through the power of intercession, could ask what they wanted and it would be given to them. When Christ became man, it was so that as man, both on earth and in heaven, He might intercede for man. And before He left the world, He imparted this right of intercession to His disciples. In the sevenfold promise of the Farewell Discourse (see John 15–17), He declared that whatever they asked He would do for them. God regards intercession as the highest expression of His people’s readiness to receive and to yield themselves wholly to the working of His almighty power. Is it not amazing that God should give men such power? And yet so few know what it is to take hold of His strength and pray down His blessing on the world.

Every believer needs to see that God waits for him to take his part. We need to know that the highest, the most blessed, the mightiest human fulfillment of the petition “as in heaven, so on earth,” is the intercession that rises day and night, pleading with God for the power of heaven to be sent down into the hearts of men. May God burn into our hearts this one thought: Intercession in its omnipotent power is according to His will and is most certainly effective!

Only by united fervent prayer can a change be brought about. If ever there was a time when God’s elect should cry day and night to Him, it is now. I urge you to offer yourself to God for this blessed work of intercession. Learn to count it the highest privilege of your life to be a channel through whose prayers God’s blessing can be brought down to earth.