Hebrews 5:1-10: 22-28

“Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. ² He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. ³ This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. ⁴ And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was. ⁵ In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.” ⁶ And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”  ⁷ During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. ⁸ Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered ⁹ and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him ¹⁰ and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.  

Hebrews 6:16-20

¹⁶ People swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. ¹⁷ Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. ¹⁸ God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. ¹⁹ We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, ²⁰ where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

Hebrews 7:

²² Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantor of a better covenant.  ²³ Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; ²⁴ but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. ²⁵ Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.  ²⁶ Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. ²⁷ Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins,and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. ²⁸ For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.”

King of kings and Lord of lords, and yet we were on His mind.  More than that, He still prays for us, perpetually.  And Who is this prayer warrior?  Jesus.  The One true living God, Holy, blameless, selfless and the bearer of all of our sins.

The prayers He offers up are sovereign, perfect, offered by a God whose purposes NEVER change and Who is incapable of lying.  Wow.  His prayers are outside time, always exactly what we need.  Perfect.

I am thankful for Christ’s modeling of what our prayer life should look like.  Being God incarnate, He humbled Himself and cried out with “loud cries and tears”.  He understands.  He became man and demonstrated what a passionate life in God should look like.  He did not pray for His own comfort, instead He prayed for His enemies and strength to do the perfect will of God.  God answered and we are the fruit of those prayers all those years ago in the Garden of Gethsemane.

How humbling that the imperfect would be the very apple of God’s eye, and the very ones whom Christ cried out for and laid His life down for.  May our prayer lives imitate the Master’s.

When it appears that His answers to our prayers are wrong or God does not hear, we begin to understand that His ways are far higher than our own.  When the cessation of pain is our goal, His goal is that we will be changed in the midst, become more like Him and that we would know Him.  Our faithful Intercessor is our faithful Friend, always knowing how to pray for us.

Lord, what a faithful intercessor You are!  Thank You for giving us what we need and not what we want.  Thank You for being our ever-present help in times of trouble.  Thank You, God, for never changing and for being perfect, righteous, faithful.  I love you, Lord!