Friday, November 16, 2001
Our daughter was doing something she does several times a day - picking up our infant grandson. She bent over OK - but suddenly she couldn't straighten up. A sudden pain shot through her back, almost paralyzing her really. She managed to set the baby down and to lie down on the bed. The pain was almost unbearable, and she couldn't move. Daddy was at the office - and the only one there to call for help was our three-year-old grandson. He picked up the phone, dialed Daddy's office, got the receptionist and gave her a simple but direct message - "Mommy got boo-boo on her back - tell Daddy to come home now!" When he was put through to Daddy he gave it to him direct - "Daddy, Mommy got boo-boo on her back - come home now!" In a matter of minutes, it was Daddy to the rescue. In a matter of days, Mommy was back to normal.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A WORD WITH YOU today about "Calling Daddy To Come."
Daddy came in answer to the cry of one of his children - who called to him on someone else's behalf. Sound familiar? When our daughter told us about our grandson's call, I thought of the word the Bible uses to describe a process like that - intercession. Our grandson had gone to his father on behalf of another person's need. That's exactly what you and I are supposed to be doing for the people we care about - interceding for them with a Heavenly Father who can do for them what we could never do.
The Old Testament leader Samuel understood what a responsibility we have to intercede for people. God's people had just said to him, "Pray to the Lord your God for your servants..." Then in 1 Samuel 12:22, our word for today from the Word of God, Samuel says, "As for me, be it far from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you."
When you step up to go to God for someone's need, you are, in essence, aiming the laser beam of heaven at that person's life. Like our son-in-law that day he got the call, our Heavenly Father takes action to do what only He can do in response to our call to heaven.
This ministry of interceding is all through the Bible - Abraham standing before the Lord, representing the righteous in Sodom and Gomorrah ... Moses begging God for mercy on His idolatrous people. And what was the last thing Jesus did before He was hauled away to be tried, tortured, and crucified? In John 17, He interceded for His disciples, and even for us. And it's what He's doing in heaven today! That's how important it is!
Most of us are so busy, so preoccupied with trying to fix things ourselves, or so self-absorbed, that we don't spend much time going to the Father for the people in our world. Obviously, we just don't understand the resources of heaven that are unleashed when we go to God in interceding prayer. How much time are you spending interceding daily for your children? For your spouse? For your church leadership? For your coworkers? For your friends? Please don't "sin against the Lord" by "failing to pray" for them. If we just spend as much time talking to God about their needs as we spend talking to others about it, worrying about it, scheming over it - who knows what miracles we could see!
Open up this exciting ministry frontier in your life. Take time each day to go to our "Daddy" in heaven for people you care about - "Daddy, she really needs you - please come now!"