Intercession: The Throne Ministry # 13

Corporate Continuing in Prayer

Continuing Prayer with Thanksgiving (continued)

Christ is the ultimate example and full expression of praying and watching "with thanksgiving"; - a thanksgiving that is the mighty force and accompanying power which, when united with prayer in the Spirit and watching i the same, becomes a vital and intricate portion of the preordained plan of the Father through the Son. The Lord's travail in the Garden of Gethsemane expresses for us these equal proportions of prayer. It is through His experience in Gethsemane that we will come to know that the accompanying power of thanksgiving, which is needed in our praying and watching, has its source in the depths of Christ's Own Spirit and Soul - in His heart and affections, in the depths of His desire, in the bowels of His mercies, in the innermost parts of  His Being which is the Spirit of God's Beloved Son. Hear the Spirit of the Son as He cries out from the depths of His being unto His Father: "Abba, Father."

"Abba, Father,"
not My will (my desire) but Thine be done ...
Lo, here I AM, come to do Your Will, O God;
[to fulfill] what is written of Me
in the volume of the Book ...
I delight (I desire, I AM grateful, I AM thankful,
I AM well-pleased) to do Thy Will ...
My desire, My disposition, My attitude, My
inclination, the whole bent of My Mind and Spirit,
the desire of My Whole Being,
Is is please Thee, My Father, to pleasure Thee
with that which is "according to Your good Pleasure,"
MY FATHER, "ABBA, FATHER."

Herein dwells the Spirit of the Son, and in these beautiful words we find the meaning of "Abba, Father"; this is the accompanying power we need to balance our praying and watching. Beloved, there is great power that joins our prayers when, in spite of all circumstances, we can intercede for God's Purpose with the cry in our heart, "Not my will but Thine be done," - Abba, Father, it is my pleasure, my joy to do Your Will."

So we see that intercession "with thanksgiving" involves much more than just our praise and worship, or our being grateful for His blessings and benefits. The accompanying power of thanksgiving, which completes the whole of effectual prayer, consists of a heart which [no matter what the trial or circumstances] has learned in measure, and is learning unto fullness, that "all things work together for good (God's End through His Way) to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His Purpose."

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 14)