Wednesday, August 01, 2007
An Interesting Way to Look at Intercession
"Father, I'm praying for a friend, he and I are really close/and out of all my friends, for this one i'm concerned the most/he say he reading daily, but he ain't really learnin'/he be in church but say that he ain't moved by any sermon/his face (is) weak, he ain't prayed in a week/he wake up and just weep/with his face in the sink/Lord, you gotta help my man/I'm praying for him daily/he ain't sin but it just seem as if he's going crazy/ ...but is it done for him?/ Lord don't let it be/if he don't want to talk to You then Father hear from me"
Peace and blessings,
These words come from the opening verse of "Praying for You," a song off of Lecrae's "After the Music Stops." In this song, Lecrae is having a conversation with God on behalf of one of his friends, whose spiritual welfare Lecrae is deeply concerned with. When I first heard this opening verse, I immediately thought that this song was about the importance of us interceding on behalf of, or praying for others. Once I heard the second verse, however, I realized that my immediate thoughts about the song were only partly accurate. While the song is about intercession, it is about a type of intercession that I personally never thought about until hearing this song. At the end of the second verse, Lecrae "reveals" to God (we can't really reveal anything to the One who is all-knowing) that the friend he is interceding for is none other than himself. Now at first I was taken back and extremely confused. How could he be talking to God, when in the song he said that his "friend" (i.e. himself) has not been talking to God? How can a person go to God and intercede on behalf of him or herself?
The more I wrestled with this idea, the more I began to "break out" of my limited view of intercession and view the term in a broader, more encompassing sense. Moreover, as I reflected on the sacrifice Jesus made for us, and the various things we experience in our Christian walk, the type of intercession Lecrae was talking about started to make more and more sense. Despite our sinful and rebellious behavior in the Old Testament, God continued to show compassion, sending prophets to warn them to turn away from those things that are not of God, and to turn back to those things that are of God. For those of who repented and turned back to God, He not only provided for them, but in many cases He elevated them in ways never imagined. In the New Testament, Jesus, despite our sinful and rebellious behavior towards each other and also towards Him, gave His life so that we can be in good standing with God, granted we follow and believe in Him as Lord and Savior.
Reflecting on Lecrae's song, and on how God deals with us in the Bible, I began to ask the question: Even though God's love for us is unconditional, is there anything about us, that God sees in us, that could also serve as motivation to love and care for us despite our shortcomings, sins, and rebellion? Now by "about us" i'm not referring to things that we do, because there is nothing we can physically do to give us salvation. It only comes through believing and following the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. By "about us" I am referring to some inherently spiritual aspect of our being, that God considers worth preserving and nurturing. I have come to realization that there must be an inherently spiritual part of us that not only longs to connect with God, but that also "intercedes" with God on our behalf when our mental, physical, or emotional being is trying to distance ourselves from Him. That would help explain why even when we feel like we are at our worse and are disconnected from God, He does something, or sends someone in our lives to remind us that He's right there by our side. We don't just intercede for others during their time of need; there's also a part of us that intercedes on our behalf during our own time of need.
This idea is something I have just recently started seriously thinking about, so I am really interested in hearing what others think. Until next time, stay blessed and speekonit...
Peace and blessings,
These words come from the opening verse of "Praying for You," a song off of Lecrae's "After the Music Stops." In this song, Lecrae is having a conversation with God on behalf of one of his friends, whose spiritual welfare Lecrae is deeply concerned with. When I first heard this opening verse, I immediately thought that this song was about the importance of us interceding on behalf of, or praying for others. Once I heard the second verse, however, I realized that my immediate thoughts about the song were only partly accurate. While the song is about intercession, it is about a type of intercession that I personally never thought about until hearing this song. At the end of the second verse, Lecrae "reveals" to God (we can't really reveal anything to the One who is all-knowing) that the friend he is interceding for is none other than himself. Now at first I was taken back and extremely confused. How could he be talking to God, when in the song he said that his "friend" (i.e. himself) has not been talking to God? How can a person go to God and intercede on behalf of him or herself?
The more I wrestled with this idea, the more I began to "break out" of my limited view of intercession and view the term in a broader, more encompassing sense. Moreover, as I reflected on the sacrifice Jesus made for us, and the various things we experience in our Christian walk, the type of intercession Lecrae was talking about started to make more and more sense. Despite our sinful and rebellious behavior in the Old Testament, God continued to show compassion, sending prophets to warn them to turn away from those things that are not of God, and to turn back to those things that are of God. For those of who repented and turned back to God, He not only provided for them, but in many cases He elevated them in ways never imagined. In the New Testament, Jesus, despite our sinful and rebellious behavior towards each other and also towards Him, gave His life so that we can be in good standing with God, granted we follow and believe in Him as Lord and Savior.
Reflecting on Lecrae's song, and on how God deals with us in the Bible, I began to ask the question: Even though God's love for us is unconditional, is there anything about us, that God sees in us, that could also serve as motivation to love and care for us despite our shortcomings, sins, and rebellion? Now by "about us" i'm not referring to things that we do, because there is nothing we can physically do to give us salvation. It only comes through believing and following the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. By "about us" I am referring to some inherently spiritual aspect of our being, that God considers worth preserving and nurturing. I have come to realization that there must be an inherently spiritual part of us that not only longs to connect with God, but that also "intercedes" with God on our behalf when our mental, physical, or emotional being is trying to distance ourselves from Him. That would help explain why even when we feel like we are at our worse and are disconnected from God, He does something, or sends someone in our lives to remind us that He's right there by our side. We don't just intercede for others during their time of need; there's also a part of us that intercedes on our behalf during our own time of need.
This idea is something I have just recently started seriously thinking about, so I am really interested in hearing what others think. Until next time, stay blessed and speekonit...
Labels: After the Music Stops, Bible, Christian, conversation, God, intercede, Intercession, Lecrae, love, need, prayer, unconditional
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