I have been moved lately with the depth of intimacy with Jesus we can experience in intercession. Hebrews details the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, His ascension into the Heavenly Temple and His entrance as our Eternal High Priest. He has made a way for us to stand in that very temple and He forever lives to make intercession for us in that place. Jesus is in the Temple even now, praying for us and the nations. In the book of Ezekiel, the Lord said He was looking for somebody to stand in the gap between Him and created order as a priest. The Lord was looking for friends that would pray with Him to the Father to see the desires of God’s heart manifested on the earth. I have been setting my heart to kneel at the altar of the Heavenly Temple next to Jesus to feel what He feels. Jesus feels the large gap between the current reality and the fullness of where He wants things to go. He feels the pain of knowing what should be but seeing what currently exists. He sees everything and feels everything and He has made a way for us to share this with Him. He brought His close friends to the garden to share in His struggle before the cross and is calling for friends to do the same even now. Pain is only present in His heart because desire and longing are present within His heart. He would not feel pain or weep over the nations if He did not desire greater intimacy and nearness with them. I want to weep with Jesus and share in the deepest places of His heart as a friend. For this reason Jesus had made us priests forever (Rev 1:6). I have pulled back from that place of pain but I am setting myself to know His heart and to pray with Him again as a place of intimacy until His 2nd coming and the restoration of all things.
Jeff