Prayer and intercession – with thanksgiving

“Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving …” Colossians 4:2.

Prayer leading to faith

It is blessed to pray. It is good to press into God’s heart. Fellowship with God in prayer expands our vision and increases our love and compassion. Something of God Himself comes over us – His nature and His thoughts concerning the children of men. The more we pray, the more we will want to pray; and the more we pray, the more we will receive. True worshipers worship God in spirit and in truth.

We are exhorted to be vigilant in prayer with thanksgiving. When we do this, faith lays hold of what we are praying for, and thanksgiving comes because we know that we have already received what we have prayed for. This exercise in praying with vigilance produces blessed fruit. We learn to love souls because the Father, on whose breast we rest in prayer, loves them.

Jesus prayed, “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:24.

Intercession: God gives us souls to care for

We will have this same mind when, by His grace, God gives us souls to care for. We desire and pray that they may be where we are, and that they may be kept in the fellowship of the Spirit together with us. As we pray, the Spirit’s unutterable groanings will bring these souls to our minds in the presence of God, and we will pray that they might partake of the same glory that the Father has revealed to us through His beloved Son, Jesus Christ.

Forward, forward and ever forward on the ways of life – that is the deepest longing of a soul in prayer. Forward, forward with all these souls God has entrusted to us – far away from Egypt and its bondage, right into the Father’s heart. God hears these prayers, and the Spirit that is from the Father draws the souls who are being prayed for with His invisible bonds – first to the Son, and then in the Son to the Father.

Victory in prayer with thanksgiving

If we pray for anything according to God’s will, we know that we have those things we have prayed for. We know that God’s will is our sanctification; therefore we know that we have what we have prayed for.

Let us pray to God even about the smallest details – in the Spirit. He will hear our prayers and increase our faith to give thanks in prayer. This is prayer and answered prayer – victory in prayer. This victory makes our life so rich and meaningful. It increases our interest in the work of God’s kingdom, and it increases the fruits of our labors and the fruit of our life.

This article has been translated from Norwegian, and was first published under the title “Prayer with thanksgiving” inn the BCC periodical “Skjulte Skatter” (“Hidden Treasures”) in July 1920.
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