I know I haven’t posted much about my devotions, but it doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing them. I do them every single day. I may have only completely missed doing a devotion possibly 3 times since I (re)started this task back in March or so. I read a piece of insightful literature, I read the Word, I pray, and I listen every single morning. Some mornings I manage to devote half an hour, others I manage to only get in 15 minutes, and very rarely (which I should do more often) I pray and contemplate for an hour.
I do this because I know I’m not where I should be—physically, mentally, and spiritually. I don’t know what I want to do career-wise (makes it worst since current job hardly gives me any work as of late). I still struggle with the same temptations and addictions first discovered years ago. And I know I’ve forgotten what God’s subtle voice sounds like.
With that said, my prayers haven’t only been for myself and my search to discover His Will for me. I had to be aware of where I currently am and pray for the people around me. It wasn’t until during a Sunday evening service in the middle of summer that he told me whom I should be praying for. It was a reminder we should always be practicing intercession.
Daily, I prayed for this one person. I prayed that I would be the person that God would use to intervene and tell the story of His Word. But not once was I ever put in an opportune situation to do so. But without fail, I keep praying every day for her. And as every day goes by when I get to that part of the prayer, I keep asking Him, “Why should I keep this prayer if I’m never given the opportunity to her about You?” And today, I ran into this tidbit in my devotions…
The Undetected Sacredness of Circumstances
The circumstances of a saint’s life are ordained of God. In the life of a saint there is no such thing as chance. God by His providence brings you into circumstances that you can’t understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God brings you to places, among people, and into certain conditions to accomplish a definite purpose through the intercession of the Spirit in you. Never put yourself in front of your circumstances and say, “I’m going to be my own providence here; I will watch this closely, or protect myself from that.” All your circumstances are in the hand of God, and therefore you don’t ever have to think they are unnatural or unique. Your part in intercessory prayer is not to agonize over how to intercede, but to use the everyday circumstances and people God puts around you by His providence to bring them before His throne, and to allow the Spirit in you the opportunity to intercede for them. In this way God is going to touch the whole world with His saints.
Am I making the Holy Spirit’s work difficult by being vague and unsure, or by trying to do His work for Him? I must do the human side of intercession—utilizing the circumstances in which I find myself and the people who surround me. I must keep my conscious life as a sacred place for the Holy Spirit. Then as I lift different ones to God through prayer, the Holy Spirit intercedes for them.
Your intercessions can never be mind, and my intercessions can never be yours, “…but the Spirit Himself makes the intercession” in each of our lives (Romans 8:26). And without that intercession, the lives of others would be left in poverty and in ruin.
And so, I will continue to pray. I pray so that the Holy Spirit will intercede others around her and that they will gain the confidence to share His story. I also pray that no matter what circumstance I find myself in—no matter how mundane or insignificant it may appear to be—that I listen to the Holy Spirit and do God’s Will to affect those who are around me.