Christ, Our High Priest

                                     Christ Prays For Us

Jesus, Our High Priest © S.D. Harden 

There is one thing I can always count on. No matter who I am or what I have or haven’t done, God will always love me.

I can be totally friendless with no one in the world who seems to know who I am or care one bit about me. 

Yet there is Someone who is always watching over me. 

He cares very much about me. 

The Bible says that Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God the Father praying for me.

“Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” 

~Romans 8:34

It is comforting to know that even if no one else knows my need, and no one is praying for me, I have a Friend in Heaven who is standing up for me. 

He is pleading my cause right now, whispering my name in His Father’s ear, to His Father’s heart, and He will never give up on me.

It does not matter what path I am on, for He knows right where I am at all times. 

Whatever my need is, He knows it before I can even pray it.

 He even knows the number of hairs on my head!

“But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” (Matthew 10:30)

Jesus Christ will never give up on us. God wants to be our Friend.

“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Though we can’t see Him, we can feel Christ’s love when we invite Him into our hearts.

Only it must be done by faith and even this is a gift from God. For Jesus said, “…no one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them to me.” ~John 6:44

 We love God because He first loved us and died to save us from our sins. He gives us the gift of faith to believe in Him. (*1 John 4:19)

Everything we have is from Him; a free gift of grace that we did not earn or deserve. Our God is a God of love and mercy.  (*Ephesians 2:4:10) 

Christ Knocking at the Door © S.D. Harden

Jesus is always only a prayer away.

He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock…” Revelation 3:20.

He is knocking at the door of every person’s heart.  

                                   

Trust

The ability to trust God is also a gift. We come to God with nothing but a willingness to accept His love and friendship. He supplies all the rest. All we have to do is open the door of our hearts to Him.

 

 

Developing the Gifts of Faith, Hope, and Trust in God

How does God develop these gifts of love, faith, and trust in Him? When we invite Him into our hearts, His Holy Spirit helps us by drawing us towards His word. 

As we read the scriptures our hearts will grow closer to 

God and we will get to know Him personally.

“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10:17)

We will actually feel His love growing inside of us through the presence and power of His Holy Spirit within us. We need never feel alone for His abiding presence will always be available to us.

The Scriptures call the Holy Spirit our “guarantee or foretaste of heaven.”  (*2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5, Ephesians 1:14) We have been sealed with the very Spirit of the living God!

 

Christ, Our Living Bread

Think of Christ as giving each of His children a little piece of Himself to be inside our hearts.

One slice of a whole loaf of bread is just as wonderful as the whole loaf!

Now we each have our own “piece” of Jesus Christ and the Heavenly Father through the Presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit all to ourselves. (*John 14:16-17)

Our God can love each one of His children as if we were the only ones to love.

Each child of God is a sacred temple wherein dwells His holy presence. 

(*1 Cor.6:19-20)

Our Holy Friend

Within us we have a divine Friend who sticks closer than a brother.

When we are so overwhelmed by life we don’t even know how to pray, our Helper prays for us: “For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.  Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27)

He will never leave or forsake me. He will never give up on me. He is in me, He is for me, He is with me, and He loves me like no one else ever will.

After all, He gave up His life for me.

Prayer

 Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for the comforting assurance that even if no one else is praying for me, You are always at the Father’s right hand and in my heart interceding for my every need and that Your prayers are always answered.

Encouraging Scriptures

And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Romans 8:31 MSG

“Therefore (Jesus) is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

Hebrews 7:25 (NKJV)

“We love Him because He first loved us.” ~1John 4:19

Jesus said, “Every person the Father gives me eventually comes running to me. And once that person is with me, I hold on and don't let go.” ~John 6:37 MSG

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” ~Ephesians 2:8-9

Jesus said, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you.” ~John 14:16-17

“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20

“Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee.”~ 2Corinthians 1:21-22

“Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee.”~2 Corinthians 5:5

” Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 

For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.

 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”  ~Hebrews 4:14-16

Jesus said, “ I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20