February 6, Evening

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"Pray one for another." — James 5:16 · KJV

To encourage you to offer intercessory prayer cheerfully, remember that such prayer is the sweetest God ever hears, for the prayer of Christ is of this kind. In all the incense our great High Priest now puts into the golden censer, there is not a single grain for Himself. His intercession must be the most acceptable of all supplications — and the more our prayer is like Christ's, the sweeter it will be. So, while petitions for ourselves will be accepted, our pleadings for others, having in them more of the fruits of the Spirit — more love, more faith, more brotherly kindness — will be, through the precious merits of Jesus, the sweetest offering we can bring to God, the very fat of our sacrifice. Remember, too, that intercessory prayer is exceedingly powerful. What wonders it has worked! The Word of God is full of its marvelous deeds. Believer, you have a mighty engine in your hand — use it well, use it constantly, use it with faith, and you shall surely be a benefactor to your brethren. When you have the King's ear, speak to Him for the suffering members of His body. When you are allowed to draw very near His throne, and the King says to you, "Ask, and I will give thee what thou wilt," let your petitions be not for yourself alone, but for the many who need His aid. If you have any grace at all and are not an intercessor, that grace must be as small as a grain of mustard seed. You have just enough grace to float your own soul clear of the quicksand, but no deep floods of it; otherwise you would carry in your joyous vessel a weighty cargo of the wants of others, and bring back from your Lord rich blessings for them, which but for you they might never obtain. Oh, let my hands forget their skill, my tongue fall silent and cold, and this bounding heart forget to beat, if I forget the mercy-seat!