BY CLIFTON JONES
The greatest single need of the church today is someone to stand in the gap and plead for nations.
Ezekiel 22.30,31 ‘And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.”
If I am understanding correctly, the Lord is looking for someone who will visit the thorn room to plead in behalf of the existing condition of the land. If I am reading his application form correctly, there are not a lot of restrictions. No special education, no previous experience, male or female, nor race would be a factor.
As you read, why shouldn’t you except the challenge. Only eternity will be able to tell us of the multitudes that would have been touched by the hand of God if more of us would have employed the ministry of
intercession. Satan has fought this ministry for ages, he would rather hear you talking to men about God any day than to hear you talking to God about men. This kind of praying strikes the kingdom of darkness
with a severe blow. It robs Satan’s kingdom of its would be victims, because it is backed by all of heavens forces.
Just think, on one occasion an angel came down and destroyed one hundred and eighty five thousand people. Just one angel! So likewise, when we prevail in prayer, all of God’s authority backs us.
Please remember the more one is trained in the school of prayer, the easier it is to be selected for any task. Although it is doubtless that one will become an intercessor before first becoming a pray-er.
What then is an intercessor? An intercessor is someone who enters into the presence of Almighty God on behalf of another, with compassion, pleading for mercy and help. This pleading is done at the expense or
risk of the one who pleads. Intercession is the mind, soul, heart, and spirit wrestling with God until a release comes with assurance that help is on the way. I feel that no one can receive any higher honor
than to be called into the thorn room to speak with the Great King about the affairs of this great universe.
What a great opportunity to receive and to give. To receive God’s partnership, and to give your all on the altar of sacrifice. You see, there are things the Lord wants to do, but He needs someone to ask him. It is not that He cannot do them on his own, but He has tied himself to the prayers of his church. If the church will not pray, God will not act. He will not take it out of the hands of the church, for we are workers together with him. If we will ask, He will act. God is known for equipping us for the job, rather than taking it from us. It shouldn’t be hard to ask him to do what He wants to do anyway. And asking shouldn’t be a problem with us since we learned how to ask in some form before we learned how to really talk. As one translator puts Matthew 6:7a “Ask I ask you to ask.” In other words, when we ask, we are only doing what He ask us to do.
In employing the ministry of prayer, one is greatly aided by the Word of the Lord. We must study the many passages left on record regarding prayer and intercession. For instance, Jesus gives us a powerful example of intercession in Luke:
Luke 11:5-8 “And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I
have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.”
The friend who called at midnight knew what he came for and refused to return to his home empty. He didn’t mind waking up his friends house and the whole neighborhood to get what he came for. He was prepared to do what had to be done to keep from returning empty. Persistence is a must for real answer seeking prayer. Not that God is not faithful or hard of hearing, He just makes sure one wants what he/she is asking for. So the midnight caller pleaded until he woke up his friend’s house. Oh, how we need to plead until God wake up the house, wake up the church, wake up the community, wake up the nation and the world. “Knock, knock, bread, knock, knock, bread” don’t stop short of getting what you come for.”
I hope you get the picture. This is not a bedtime prayer. This kind of praying will take up your time, energy, tears and sweat. And it is the greatest need of this hour. It is the only kind of praying that will save us from spiritual bankruptcy. It is the only kind of praying that will hold back the judgment hanging over our nation and the world. There are many souls that need to be delivered before the hammer of judgment falls. We are familiar with the pleading of Abraham on behalf of Lot. God refused to do what He was about to do until He revealed it to his prayer. It is a fact; God will share his mind with prayers. God knows that when an intercessor senses his judgment in a matter, He will cry unto him. He never minds revealing his plans to his prayers. He has always been known to share his plans and his mind with prayers. A prayers mind is influenced by God’s mind. This is one of the main reasons we need to spend more time with the Lord, that He may transfer his mind into us, so that our thinking will become more like his.
YOU CANNOT SPEND TIME WITH JESUS, WITHOUT BEING INFLUENCED BY HIS THINKING.
This we can see in the life of the servants of the Lord, their prayers and action reflect that they have been in the presence of the Lord. This time spent in His presence accounts for their overwhelming courage, and their willingness to lay bare their souls for the welfare of God’s people. If we will seek Him, we will be current with His actions.
Psalms 25:14 “The secret of the LORD [is] with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.”
Jeremiah 33:3 “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
Just being saved will not put you into God’s secrets, you must become a seeker or better yet an intercessor. One of the most mind stir-ring examples of intercession is recorded in the book of Exodus 32:9-14;
especially notice verse 10: “Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.” In other words, God is asking his intercessor
to let him do away with the Israelites. God know that his servant had his mind and therefore would plead for mercy. Moses was the only thing that stood between God and destroying his people. And that was enough, because Moses had spent enough time with the Lord to know that he would rather save them than kill them.
It was their sin that invoked God’s wrath. Someone might ask, “Would He have really destroyed them?” We will let Him answer that question.
Psalms 106:23 “Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.”
We are accustom to God offering us something we cannot refuse, but here Moses offered God something He couldn’t refuse.
Exodus 32:13 “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.”
He held God’s own promises up before Him, knowing that His word is His will and that He will never come short of His word. Remember we do not or cannot force God to do anything outside His word. So when Moses held His promise up before Him , pleading, God was pleased to change His dealings with His people. Some would think that the way Moses talked with God in verse 12, that Moses would get in trouble, but instead he got Israel out of trouble.
“Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this
evil against thy people.”
God will never give the enemy the pleasure of saying He couldn’t do what He had promise if He can get someone to pray. Let us plead for the church, the land, the nation and the world, for the enemy is
expressing delight over what is going on. Let us turn his laughter into mourning, let us rob him of the many souls being held captive.
To intercede we must lay our very souls on the line before Him. In other words, we must want what He wants, and to know what He wants, we must spend time with Him.
Exodus 32:31,32 “And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee,
out of thy book which thou hast written.”
Moses is putting his very soul on the line. If God is unwilling to forgive the people, Moses says, you can kill me too. How could Moses feel that way? He was pregnant with the mind of God, therefore he could speak with the boldness of God, the love of God, and the compassion of God.
You only get this kind of spirit by walking close with the Lord. This is classic intercession. This great man of God had spent enough time with the Master to know what was on His mind. A heart like God’s will
cause you to pray the things on His heart.
We must conclude that God did not really want to kill his people, but he needed to hear someone ask him not to. In that day Moses was that person, for this day are you that person? Will you plead for your home, church, city, state, nation and the whole world?
In preparing to become a more effective intercessor, search the following scriptures:
DEUTERONOMY 9:26
“I prayed therefore unto the LORD, and said, 0 Lord GOD, destroy not thy people and thine inheritance, which thou hast redeemed through thy greatness, which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty
hand.”
NUMBERS 12:13
“And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, Heal her now, 0 God, I beseech thee.”
II CHRONICLES 30:18
“For a multitude of the people, even many of Ephraim, and Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet did they eat the passover otherwise than it was written. But Hezekiah prayed for
them, saying, The good LORD pardon every one.”
I CHRONICLES 21:17
“And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? Even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? Let thine hand, I pray thee, 0
LORD my God, be on me, and on my father’s house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.”
EXODUS 32:32
“Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written.”
PSALMS 106:23
“Therefore he said that he would destroy them, had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, to turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.”
History reveals that mighty awakening and soul-stirring revivals comes after much prayer. God is no respector of persons. If we devote our time to believing prayer He will honor us with his mighty presence. He will awaken our souls, stir our congregation, heal our backsliding, pour out His spirit upon seeking souls on our behalf. The cry of an intercessor comes from the depths of the soul. He is touched to provide the things for which they cry.
Nehemiah 1:3-6 “And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are
burned with fire. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven, And said, I beseech thee, 0 LORD God of
heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments: Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father’s house have sinned.”
Genesis 30:1 “And when Rachel saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, Give me children, or else I die.”
Psalms 64:1 “Hear my voice, 0 God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy.
Psalms 84:2 “My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the LORD: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God.”
May the fire of God bum in your souls, so that the conditions of the church and the world will rest heavy upon you and summons you to the prayer closet until the battle is over and victory is won. Remember,
nothing will build your faith like the word of God. So feed your faith.
Since we are talking on the subject of prayer, find all the scriptures you can on that subject, and your faith will have a foundation to build on.
Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing ‘by the word of God.”
It is a blessing for your ears to hear your mouth say what God’s word is saying. So build your faith and bow your knees, and look for God’s answer. Remember, God will not refuse to answer seeking, believing, faith filled, heart moving, soul stirring, pillow wetting, pleading, hollering, screaming, knocking, stubborn, and insistent praying. (See Luke 18:1-7)
THE ABOVE MATERIAL WAS TAKEN FROM PRAYER CLINIC II, 1990, PAGES 79-87. THIS MATERIAL IS COPYRIGHTED AND MAY BE USED FOR STUDY & RESEARCH PURPOSES ONLY.
