Protection and breakthrough, these are the very gifts that our Heavenly Father delights to give to His children who cry day and night unto Him. You have asked with a true heart, and that prayer, if prompted by the Holy Spirit, is the footfall of the divine decree. There is no power like that of intercession; the secret springs that move the puppets of earth, for kings and princes are often little more than that, are the prayers of God’s believing people. And when you plead not only for yourself but for all in need, you stand in sympathy with our Divine Savior, who ever liveth to make intercession for the transgressors.
Let no arrow of doubt strike your soul, whispering that your case is too hard or your trial beyond the reach of His arm. The pity of it, that the Evil One should shoot such a barb! But here is the divine buckler: God never has forsaken them that fear Him, and He never will. When Israel came out of Egypt, it was Jehovah who brought forth her armies; when any man is saved from spiritual bondage, it is the Lord Jesus who loosens the captive. The dry tree by divine grace shall flourish; the green tree, deserted by the dew of heaven, shall dry up. The low tree, fostered by the Husbandman, shall mount even to the stars; the high tree, cut down by the axe of judgment, shall lay outstretched along the plains of ruin. Could any but a divine motive actuate the Divine Architect? He creates that He may display His own perfections, and He delivers that your mouth may be filled with songs of deliverance.
Think not that your deliverance depends upon your own strength or deserving. Deliverance from the power of sin is as much the work of God as deliverance from the guilt of sin! Where we look for justification, there must we also look for sanctification. He feels that if he ever rises from his despondency, he can never dare to take an atom of the honor to himself, it must be of free grace only. The clock of mercy struck in Heaven the hour and moment of my deliverance, for the time had come! Thus had the eternal purpose of Jehovah decreed it. Nobody would have thought of that way of deliverance from the pit of Hell through a ransom if God had not thought of it! And He has found a ransom; He has said it, “I have found a ransom.” So rest in that.
But mark this: the Spirit’s intercession within you is not something vague or uncertain. He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. He never makes intercession in us other than is consistent with the divine will. Therefore, when you pray for protection and breakthrough, be assured that such a prayer, breathed by the Spirit, aligns with the very mind of God. Pursue this blessed work of intercession with persistence; yes, even until souls have passed beyond the reach of change, into the unseen world, pursue them with your prayers. Samuel spent a whole night in earnest entreaty for Saul, and though that prayer was in one sense in vain, yet the act itself honored God. Let nothing provoke you to cease from intercession, not slights from men, nor seeming delays from heaven. The saint at last gets the victory and, before the Psalm is over, the clouds are all removed and the heart rejoices in the sunlight of Divine Love.
So press on. The deliverance wrought out by the Lord Jesus Christ is your guarantee. He has delivered us from the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. That deliverance came when the Lamb was slain. Pharaoh held Israel captive during all the plagues, but he could not go beyond a certain point. So too your trials have their bounds set by the Almighty. Wait upon Him, and you shall go forth with silver and gold of spiritual enrichment, and not one feeble soul among all His tribes shall stagger under the burden. His deliverance is by divine power, effectual and complete. He brings them forth, and they leave the house of bondage with a high hand. Let this be your confidence: the great transaction’s done; He drew me, and I followed on, charmed to confess the voice divine. So with every breakthrough you seek, it is already secured in the covenant, sealed by the blood, and appointed to be bestowed in the time of His choosing.