Job 16:20-21, Is 53:12, Rom 8:26
Has the definition of what you need changed in the past month? Are you seeing that some of the things you thought were most important in life are less so after living without them for over a month? Have your priorities changed with less activity and busyness filling your time?
I have been thinking a lot lately about what is important to me. I have had a more honest look at how I spend my time with less on my schedule. This length of time with life changed so drastically has put a magnifying glass on my choices. I’d love to report that all is well and that my priorities are well defined by now, but I’m still smack dab in the mire of the process. God is gently showing me that some of the things I was telling myself were important to me, are actually not. Some of this new truth is freeing. Projects that I had previously been telling myself I wanted to do if only I had the time aren’t getting done. I am finding that time was never the issue. I just don’t really WANT to do them. It’s good to get to the truth on these things so there is less weighing on my mind. I can let them go, knowing that they really are not that high on my priority list. But there are other issues, when the truth is revealed that honestly are making me sad. I’m disappointed that my prayer time hasn’t increased drastically with more free time. There isn’t much that I would name more valuable in life than time spending with God. Before this SAH order, I would have told you that I would spend more time in prayer if I had it, and now I see that while my number of days in prayer per week have increased, the amount of time I spend in prayer hasn’t grown like I thought it would. I am disappointed with the truth that I have failed to fulfill my own expectations.
I am realizing that I don’t know my heart as well as I thought I did. I am able to lie to myself and make myself believe my own lies. This scares me. I need real truth. I need someone who knows perfect truth about every detail of me to bring that truth to my conscious mind. Prayer, petition or entreaty in favor of another… this is the definition of “intercessor”, earnest or humble request on my behalf. This is one of God’s characteristics, a name He calls Himself. Romans tells us that the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. He prays for us when we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. When we are unable to see the truth about ourselves. When our hearts are earnest in prayer but aiming at the wrong thing, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us. God knows we need help. He knows how little of Him we are able to comprehend, He knows how weak we are and how far we will miss the mark trying to live like Him in this world. He loves us so deeply that He is willing to help us when we can’t even articulate what we need.
Intercession becomes even more meaningful when we remember that God knows us completely and intimately. He says in the Psalms that He knit us together in our mother’s wombs. He knows everything about us like when we sit and when we stand, when we travel or when we are at home. He knows our thoughts and everything we do. He knows the number of hairs on our heads. He knows each of us personally and the Holy Sprit is petitioning in our favor. He is on our side, working for our best interest. He knows everything about us, our situations, and our circumstances. He is personally making humble requests on our behalf. Job tells us that he pours out his tears to God knowing that he needs someone to mediate between God and himself. He recognized his need for intercession before the Holy Spirit had been given to people. I’m amazed at his self-awareness and the concepts he was able to verbalize because of the circumstances in his life. We have the privilege and gift of the Holy Spirit at any second in time and don’t have to wish for a mediator or intercessor like Job did.
So what is God revealing to you in this time? Are you giving God the chance to show you truth?