INTERCESSION - Can we discover its nature.   Is it a Gift or a Calling? 

Chapter 2        

Jesus - The Intercessor

Jesus whose life on earth was in fact prayer is now the Intercessor at the right hand of the Father;  in his High Priestly role he offers the sacrifice made once for all time.[i]   Hence we can live under the New Covenant.  But note the scripture quotedin Hebrews 8[ii].   We see what we must become but that is what God always intended his people to be.[iii]   

From the time of his baptism we see that Jesus was in constant communication with the Father but more than that, was one with him[iv].    He did nothing outside the Father's will[v] acknowledging that the Father was already doing it.[vi]   He knew the Father in a way that is not possible for us because he had seen the Father[vii] and knew that he had come from heaven for a purpose.[viii]   At his baptism John saw the presence of God descend and remain in Jesus.[ix]   The same Holy Spirit has, since the resurrection of Christ, been available to those who seek to be like him.   He promised us this whilst still on earth but already the condition of love was indicated.[x]  If we really love Christ then we cannot help but obey him, but more than that, both the Son and the Father will live within us.[xi]   Here perhaps we have the conditions for real intercession.     This should lead to the prayer of the Risen Christ within us.[xii]

When Jesus was talking to the woman at the well he said that he could give living water that would become a spring within,[xiii] and later he invited the crowd to come and quench their thirst,  to believe in Him and allow these springs of living water, that is the Holy Spirit, to flow.[xiv]  

Most of the teaching that Jesus gave on prayer was about petitionary prayer.   He gave us the model prayer[xv] and this is the starting point, but we also can learn from his own prayer-life.  He rose early in the morning,[xvi] he spent the night in prayer.[xvii]   The high priestly prayer of John 17 is prayer of true intercession.   It expresses his intimate relationship with the Father, it shows the constant communion that existed during his time on earth, but in it he also draws us in.  We must believe that his prayer has been answered and respond to the fact that he is praying for us in this century to be one with him, the Father and with each other.

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