God's part in prayer is unseen and unfelt by us. Nevertheless, God does respond wonderfully. This lesson examines how God responds to the prayers of his people in three marvelous ways: intercession, providence, and good pleasure.
To intercede means to plead for someone and there are two who intercede for us
The intercession of the
The Spirit intercedes because we are weak and imperfect in the way that we pray
The Spirit intercedes so that all things work together for our eternal good
The intercession
Jesus intercedes because we are weak and imperfect in the way that we live
Jesus intercedes so that our hearts are sprinkled from an evil conscience
The meaning and purpose of providence
Providence means "all things work together for good"
Trouble and affliction in this world may be a part of "all things" that work together for our good
It is not material well-being, but the salvation of our souls that God is providing
The nature of providence
It may be thought that all the help we need from God has been provided already in the past through the work of Christ and the Holy Spirit. But in that case, what would be the point of making requests to God? What more could we request if everything has already been provided?
The help of God is, by definition, supernatural help. We need supernatural help because we are in a supernatural conflict
Supernatural does not necessarily mean miraculous.
The true "sacrifice of praise" is something with which God is well pleased
What better thing can we do than please God, and cause God
We all realise of course that God is pleased with us only when we do our best. He is not pleased
Nor is God pleased with our worship if we worship to please ourselves and make ourselves feel good, instead of
When a little child brings home her first effort at painting, the blobs on crumpled butcher's paper may not be a perfect work of art. But the parent is pleased, and hangs it on the fridge, because the child did her best and offered it with a
1. The Holy Spirit intercedes for us because we don't do something as we ought. What is it that we
2. In what capacity does Jesus
3. What problems or imperfections do we have, that our intercessors
4. What is the "good" toward which prayer helps
5. What is the nature of the providence that we seek in prayer? What kind of help
6. What command by God to us clearly implies that God will act in
7. What is going on in spiritual realms that endangers us and requires us to
8. What do we expect God to do by way of answer after
9. What can we give to God that will
10. Who conveys our prayers to God, and