When you hear someone say, “I am praying for you,” their words bring comfort to your soul. Though their prayers bring comfort, someone better is praying for you.
The Scriptures teach that Jesus is praying for his children. And Jesus’ prayers for you are better. Here are two reasons why Jesus’ prayers are better.
1. Because Jesus’ prayers are correct.
When a friend prays for you, only sometimes they know exactly what to pray for. But your friend does not always know what you truly need. Their prayers are fallible.
But Jesus’ prayers are entirely correct. He knows exactly what to pray for. Why? Because Jesus “is at the right hand of God,” and there in that position next to God—who knows all things—Jesus knows exactly how to “intercede for us” (Rom 8:34).
2. Because Jesus’ prayers are constant.
A friend may pray for you every single day for forty years. But eventually your friend’s prayers will cease. Your friend is mortal.
But Jesus’ prayers are forever constant. He will never cease to pray for you for as long as you live. Why? Because Jesus “lives forever, he has permanent priesthood” (Heb 7:24). And, thus, “he always lives to intercede for you” (Heb 7:25). Since Jesus will never die, his prayers for you will never die.
I love what Richard Gaffin has said about Jesus’ prayers:
It doesn’t matter how complicated, how desperate, perhaps even hopeless your life has become. No matter how overwhelmed you may feel by your problems, if your trust is in Jesus Christ, you can be sure that he is praying for you now and through that prayer he will provide for you the resources to bring you relief or enable you to carry on. The most important thing that you and I need to learn about prayer is this: first of all and ultimately, prayer is not something we do but what Jesus does for us.
Jesus’ intercession for us is both correct and constant. Jesus’ prayer, in other words, is better.
Pastor Dan Burrus