Anything you do for Jesus will cost you something, and He even said those very words to anyone who considered becoming His disciple. Time, energy, friendships, resources, sleep, and endless emotional transactions are all costs that you will encounter in this season. You will consistently feel as though you are running on empty, and the strength that you pray for will only get you through the next dramatic moment of crisis. And do not be surprised at the near unwillingness to even ask God for anything, least of all the energy to go deeper into this thing that feels like a dark, bottomless pit. Everything in you will desire to turn around and drop this thing for good, even if it’s for some other battle to fight, because this one is just way too much. But this is all the cost of love, and Jesus himself thought these very same thoughts. That is why He is able to sympathize with our weaknesses because He paid a higher cost than what we are currently experiencing. His assignment of love literally cost Him His own life.

He lived every single day knowing that He would be killed to save the lives of people who despised Him and took Him for granted. He continued to walk toward His assignment, even when His own family thought He had lost his mind. When He was rejected and criticized by the very ones who should have recognized Him and known what He was doing, He chose to go even deeper. And when He fell to His knees under the pressure of how much this really would cost to love you and me, He continued to stand back up and go even deeper.

He had to keep going deeper because of how deep we were in our holes of weakness and ignorance. I know it took me awhile to get myself into the pit that He found me in, and He didn’t go all the way in there because I deserved it. He chased me deeper because He loves me. That night in the garden, He saw in one moment the sum total of the cost of loving us, and it was more than He could bear by himself. So His father gave Him all the strength He would need to get through the next twenty-four hours, and the result is that we are no longer known for the sin we have committed, but we are now clothed in His righteousness because He paid the cost to cover us. Why do you think we have to approach God “in Jesus name”? Our name is no good!

What we are doing right now as intercessors is a costly assignment. It costs what it costs and there is no negotiating. As an intercessor, you are called to plead the case of someone who is on death row, and as their advocate, you can only be effective if you are down in their pit with them. That is what Jesus did when He came to earth, and that is what we must do. It is a tremendous price to be so far out of your comfort zone and so deep in a darkness that you did not choose for yourself that you can feel separated from Him. You were called to this because with Holy Spirit you are able. Surrendering your own safety and will is of immeasurable worth, and what you are paying for cannot be bought with money. The finished purchase was already paid for, and your reward will be that your loved one will be declared “not guilty” and safely removed from death row.