December 3, 2001 

"He is Still the Word Made Flesh"

Jesus is still in the process of redeeming but He needs other human bodies to do it.  So He's asking us to allow Him to take up His Cross and live out the fullness of the mystery of the Incarnation again, but this time in, with, and through us.  As we allow this to take place, we enter fully into His ministry, which is intercession.  So many times we focus on the ministry of Jesus as being one of teaching, healing, and deliverance, which is true.  He still seeks and uses people who will allow the Word and His healing power to come forth, but as St. Paul tells us, "Jesus has obtained a more excellent ministry now"(Heb 8:6).  "He forever lives to make intercession for them"(Heb  7:24).  Jesus has entered into a far more excellent ministry now, that of intercession at the right hand of the Father, and He wants to use us.  Isn't that beautiful? 

I used to think that Jesus just sat up there at the right hand of the Father praying for all of us, but that's not exactly how it works.  Because He is Jesus, He is still the Word made flesh, but now His intercession takes place when we allow Him to become enfleshed within us.  He has access to the Father but this time it's in us, with us, and through us.  This is the main thing.  Intercession cannot take place except through Jesus and those who allow Jesus to live in them, so He can live out this mystery of Redemption once again.  God will not move unless He is asked particularly by His Son, Jesus, to move.  Jesus said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me.  I know that you always hear me"(Jn 11:42).  So when we allow Jesus to pray within us, through the Spirit of Jesus, we know that the Father will always hear our prayer.  This is the very heart of intercession.  It's prayer at its best because we have access to the throne room of God anytime through Jesus.

Queen Esther is a beautiful example of this in the Old Testament.  We see how important it is to have access to the king.  One of the great intercessors, Queen Esther, laid her life on the line when she went to the king without an appointment, which meant death.  She was a Jewish person married to a non-Jewish person, and they were going to put her entire race to death.  She went to the king anyway, almost fainted, and had to be held up on both sides as she pleaded for her entire race's life to be spared.  She asked that their lives be spared even though she knew her life was at stake.  It's a beautiful story.  If you haven't read the life of Queen Esther, I would suggest that you read it and note her relationship with the king.  You'll see the power that comes forth when you come face-to-face with the King when you have an intimate relationship.  You can ask whatever you will. 

This is what we're talking about in contemplative prayer.  Because of the depth of our relationship with the King of kings and Lord of lords, we can come before the Father, and we know He will hear our prayer.  God has shown us His heart, and we simply ask Him to do what He has shown us.  Contemplative prayer is essential because it is out of that union that the dynamic of intercession comes.  Jesus said, "If you live in me, and my words stay part of you, you may ask what you will-it will be done for you"(Jn 15:7).

Excerpt from Interceding with Jesus, Chapter 3, 2000.

November 19, 2001  

September 6, 2004

"Our Relationship Allows Us to Ask"

Jesus Himself has taught us a lot about the power of intercession.  In John 15, Jesus specifically talks about the union that we need for intercession.  He said that we cannot bear fruit apart from Him.  It's not an option.  We cannot bear fruit apart from Him (Jn 15:4 ).  He said, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing" (Jn 15:5).  He means nothing.  It took me fifteen years to really learn that.   Sometimes we run ahead of the Lord and wonder, "Lord, where are You?"  "Oh, I'm still back here.  What are you doing out there?"  "Oh."  So we back up.  Jesus said, "Without Me, you can do nothing." 

But with Him, all things are possible (Mk 10:27).  Intercession is a powerful ministry because of this.  "With God all things are possible" (Mk 10:27).  Jesus said, "I am the vine.  I am the vine, you are the branches" (Jn 15:5).  Can you imagine branches just dangling out there all by themselves without a vine?  We're not going to have any fruit.  We're not going to have anything.  We're certainly not going to even have life; we would curl up and die.  We have to be attached to the vine.  He is the vine.  He is life.  Jesus said, "Your fruit must endure so that all you ask the Father in my name, He will give you" (Jn 15:16).  Isn't that a tremendous message? 

Jesus has a few conditions.  He said that we are to ask in His name and the Father will do it.  Now that doesn't mean we just say, "In the name of Jesus, I want you to do this and this and this and this."  It doesn't mean just verbalizing "in the name of Jesus."  It means the union-that  we have His name because we are in this relationship with Him.  It's like when a woman marries and becomes a wife.  She has the name of her husband  because of the relationship.  The whole Church is Bride.  You might say that Jesus is the husband.  It's in His name, in this union, in this relationship, that all that we ask the Father, He will do.  So Jesus is inviting us not only to pray with, in, and through Him, but He is inviting us into a lifestyle of prayer.  He lived a lifestyle of prayer and so did Mary, His mother.

Jesus said, "If you live in Me, and My words stay part of you, you may ask what you will and it will be done for you" (Jn 15:8).  In order for His words to stay part of us, it means that we are hearing His word and living it out.  "Blessed are they," he said, "who hear the Word of God and keep it" (Lk 11:28).  That means obedience to whatever He is saying, particularly in the Gospels.  That means obedience to whatever He is saying to the Church.  That means obedience to whatever He is saying in our prayer time and to really take His word very seriously.  As we take His word into our lives, into our very beings, and put it into action and live it out, then a power comes to our prayer.  Our prayer becomes a lifestyle.  We can ask, as Jesus said, and it will be done.  I wonder if we're not living in a deep enough of a union with the Lord.  Maybe we don't take His word seriously enough.  If we did, can you imagine all the things that would be asked for and done?  We might see a lot of things changing in our world today.

So remember, "Anything you ask me in my name I will do" (Jn 14:14).  When  Peter, James, and John, descended from Mount Tabor, Scripture says, "They did not see anyone but Jesus" (Mt 17:8 ).  The Father wants to look upon us, the Body of Jesus Christ, and see only Jesus, His Beloved Son.  This is powerful prayer because Jesus is the only Intercessor.  Jesus is the only Mediator.  Jesus is the only Reconciler.  The Father wants to see His Son alive within each of us.

Excerpt from "Mystery of Prayer: Intercession," Denver, CO, 2002.

February 5, 2001 

"Blocks to Discernment"

A couple of the tactics that we often run into with the enemy we also find in the Garden.  St. Ignatius teaches these, too, as the Garden tells us so much about the enemy's strategy, his tactics, and how sin began. 

One of his tactics is concealment.  In other words, "Don't tell.  Keep it to yourself.  Keep it in the dark."  It can even be about something that is little.  A little thing here, a little thing there, until our keeping things concealed becomes a habit and a way of life.  The enemy loves that.  He loves the darkness, and he works very well in darkness.  He hates light because God is Light.  So he loves concealment.  So we bring all things to the Light.  It could be a little thing, but still we bring it to the Light.
 
This is one of the reasons why we encourage journaling is because as we're writing on a piece of paper, we're bringing it out of ourselves and putting it into the light as we're talking it over with the Lord.  This is a tremendous safeguard against the enemy;  it's out of me, and it's out into the open.  I get an objective viewpoint of it, and I'm discussing it with God.  So bring everything into the light, and Satan will not be able to touch you in that area.  Concealment is one of his main strategies-"Don't tell."
 
The enemy also likes to appeal to our human nature, especially to our pride.  He knows us very well.  St. Peter said Satan is always going about like a roaring lion seeking someone to devour.  Satan has a lot of knowledge about us, and this is why the prayer of St. Augustine is so important.  Every day he used to pray, "To know You, My God, and to know myself."  Self-knowledge is important because even if we don't know ourselves well, Satan does.  He will appeal to our weak areas, such as any desires deep within us for recognition or to be in the spotlight or to know something better than someone else knows it.   Pride has so many little ways of lurking, and Satan does not like us to be little and always submit to authority.  He doesn't like children - he doesn't.  He is not a child himself in any way.  He is very independent.

In Isaiah, it says that Satan wanted to scale up even higher than God Himself.  He wanted not only to be like God, but he wanted to be enthroned over God.   So he's always going to be appealing to our pride.  Thoughts like, "Can't you make up your mind on your own?  Can't you stand on your own two feet?  Do you always need to have somebody else share what you're going to do?  Can't you get in the driver's seat and make your own decisions?"  He has all sorts of subtle ways that will appeal to that spirit of independence.  But God says, "No, you are children.  You be totally dependent on Me.  You ask Me for wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.  I'll tell you, but you ask Me."
   
Have you ever had a phone call from somebody, and they wanted you to make a decision right now because "we have to know right now."  Be careful of that.  Always try to tell them, "Can I get back to you?"  Even if it's just for a few minutes, wait and ask the Lord.  This is where Eve made her big mistake.  She didn't come and check it out with God.  All she would have had to do was to go back and tell the Father to check it out.  So don't hurry.  Check it out.  Take your time.  Satan wants us to hurry so that we won't check it out.  He doesn't want us to take even for five minutes to pray and ask God for His wisdom. 
 
Another area of discernment that we have to be careful in is not to assume.  Again Eve made an assumption that she and Adam were so close with God that He probably wouldn't mind at all if they ate this fruit because it looked really good.  Sometimes we do the same.  We think we know God's mind, and so we think, "Oh, God really won't care if I do this.  It won't bother Him."  Maybe it won't, but that's not the point.  The point is we're moving without asking Him, without consulting Him.  We're assuming we know His mind, and the child in us has to assume that we do not ever know God's mind.

Another tactic the enemy will use is miscommunication.  So many people come for prayer ministry with division in relationships because there's miscommunication.  "He doesn't understand me."  "She doesn't understand me."  "We're not on the same wavelength."  "I just can't get through to this person."  We hear it all the time. We are misunderstood.  One time I asked the Lord about that, "Why is it that there's so much miscommunication between people?"  He said, "It's because My Son is the Word.  The Second Person of the Trinity is the Word, and everything about the Word communicates.  Jesus is a Communicator.  He is the Word.  So when He takes up residency within us, it's the Word within us that Satan is striking at.  Satan hates humanity because the Second Person in the Trinity became one of us, so he will strike at our communication."  So be on guard there.   If you're in a conversation with somebody, play it back, "Am I understanding that you're saying this and this and this."  "Yes, that's what I'm saying."  Don't assume that you always understand what they are saying because Satan will move in and divide through not understanding each other at all.  He will do everything to destroy communication, and of course when that happens, relationships get divided, don't they?  He loves to divide and conquer.  He loves to divide because he wants to isolate us.  He likes us to be independent and alone.

Scripture tells us, "Test the spirits." St. Paul tells us, "But solid food is for the mature, for those whose faculties are trained by practice to discern good and evil" (Heb 5:14).  So remember, keep practicing.  We will still miss from time to time, but practice does make perfect, and experience is the best teacher.  This is how we learn.  God will not let us make mistakes that are going to hurt us or other people if we are really seeking His mind.  We might not always understand it.  We might misinterpret.  We might miss the signal, so to speak, but He does permit that.  He does permit the mistakes, but He won't let harm come because we tried to seek His way.  We make a decision in the light and the knowledge and experience that we had at that time, and this can be a tremendous learning experience.

Excerpt from "The Healing Power of Discernment," Manila, Philippines, 1999.