Intercessory Prayer....

Intercessory Prayer

Nehemiah 1 4/11   “. .Why have they never known the way before? Why hundreds stand outside the mercies? I

know not; but I ask, dear Lord, thou would

lead them now . .”

   Prayer is one of the greatest privileges and one of the mightiest forces with which man can have to do. Through prayer Elijah turned off the rain of Heaven for 3 ½ years . .

James 5 17   “. . Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it

did not rain on the land for three years

and six months . .”

 . .and Peter was delivered from the prison in answered prayer having made prayers unto God a Kingdom of priests.

 Revelation 5 10   “. . And have made us kings and 

priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.

   It’s in our Heavenly calling to make to make intercession for others. In these words of Nehemiah we think we see Characteristics of prevailing prayer. These are . .

·       Earnestness

·       Knowledge

·       Importunity

·       Confession

·       Faith

·       Consecration

   

 Earnestness

   We wept – Mourned – Fasted (v4). But, Why do we fast? Fasting & praying help us to focus, removing all temptation & distraction that will cause our minds to wonder. The main times, it seems, is when there is a disaster, like earth slides, or a plane crash where many people have been killed. For instance the recent terror attack to place in Paris, or the crude homemade bombs in New York.    

   We all can pay lip-service, i.e, a quick ‘Oh my Lord may your grace be upon them. Then you give them not another thought!

   As God loves a cheerful giver and those who send heart felt prayers. He hates those who draw near in prayer, but those whose heart is somewhere else. This makes mockery of their whole prayers. In fact it’s better not to have prayed in the first place.

Knowledge

   It was Nehemiah’s closeness to God that he had freedom of prayer, he could he could pray this . .

V6  “.I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, 

the great and terrible God, that keeps covenant and 

mercy for them that love him. .”

   Because of Nehemiah’s belief in Gods greatness. .

-        His Terribleness

-        His Faithfulness

-        His Mercifulness

. . .all of this is great, but, when drawing near to Him (God) we must believe that He is the warder of them that diligently seek Him.

Hebrews 11 6   “. . But without faith it is impossible to please 

him: for he that comes to God must believe 

that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that 

diligently seek him. .”

   To know such a god in such a fashion is to ask much and expect much. Thus those of us that do know we do this with much importunity.

Importunity

(. .is when you go do something, like a girl asking ‘Please

take me to the Mall’ where she ask once. Whereas

Importunate is (objective), a plea that is so persistent,

or demanding that it becomes annoying. .)

   I have never heard of the word being used, or have known about the word. That said it seems this word has been used a lot down the years.

Luke 11 8   “. .  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 needs. .”

   It is of belief that some say you only have to pray once, because God is not deaf. So is a waste of time and your breath? Sure who knows what is in your hearts and minds. But, home much does it mean to that family member/friend saved or someone healed? Are we to say to them yeah sure, I’ll pray, then forget about them, after only praying for them once.

Daniel 11 32   “. . And such as do wickedly against the covenant

 shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know

their God shall be strong, and do exploits. .”

   Those truly know their God will know that it pleases god to see us pray, and not just the once, but continually. Many have asked how often are you supposed to pray and for how long? Well, a lot throughout the day. I give thanks to the Lord in prayer, for every green light, find parking close to where going and free, for good Weather. In fact I give thanks to the Lord for everything. Just because I would pray with my eyes open, which is a pre-requisite when driving, does not lessen my prayers.

V6 “. . which I pray before thee now, day and night. .”  It was because of the widows continual coming (never giving up because it became hard/difficult). The lessen our Lord is trying to teach here is found in the parable from Luke, is of the man begging from his friend that comes at mid-night.

Luke 11 8  “. .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 . .”

   It was whilst Moses help up his hand that Israel prevailed “. . pray with ceasing . .” but, not weary in such well doing, for in the season to come you will reap all, if you don’t faint.

V 6& 7  “. .both I and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee . .”

    It has to be a sad state of affairs that large percentage of saved Christians think that “now I’m saved I can sit back and do nothing”, apart from keep seats warm. 

The sin of dealing with God is a

 b Very common one, and a very

Grievous one

    So many pay lip service. Pretend to believe in His word. Because of this some many ‘still’ live in fear and dread and doubt. Then they ask the Lord, for the things they don’t need to get, instead prevail with God in prayer if there is no confession made of their deceitfulness which has made their lives so baron to date.

   We can’t say for the Lord to come into our life, because I’m a sinner, but, I don’t want to change anything in my life and stop being a sinner. Then they get baptized, yet this meant nothing, because they carry on sinning. All the time they were lying God would you do this to your ‘Earthly Father? Would you? How can we expect to prevail with God when all we do is lie to Him! 

Faith

Our Faith lay hold of the spoken word of God

V 8 & 9  “. .Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commanded thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations: But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there. .”

   Within our prayers that are built up by Faith on the promise of God cannot be over thrown. Turning to the Lord himself, Nehemiah fulfilled the condition of the blessing, the he took the place of the Lords, remembrance, saying “Remember . . the word”. Nowhere in the Bible does it say, that god wants an elaborate shows of Faith. Instead it please Him for us to have a child like that is infinitely pleasing to Him.

   God finds it very difficult to deny when He finds so much of Himself involved in such pleading. Instead God goes one step further and reminds us of His great works, in reminding us of his great power, “. .Power and strong hand. .” (V10). The audacity of Faith is astounding, it looks up into the face of God saying . .

“There is thy Word of promise, and there is redemption which is the evidence of thy mighty love and the strength of thy saving. .”

   Now do this thing for me, he that comes to God must believe and in doing so believing he must be rewarded.

Consecration

V11   “. .O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine

ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the

 prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name. .”

   “In our prayers we should a miss if we are not prepared to yield ourselves unto God and to live for the Gory of His Name.” (Jes 4 v3) With God we have 3 classes of servants. . .

1.    The Slave:  Who serves through ‘fear’.

2.  The Hireling  Who serves for ‘wages’

3.  The Son  Who serves for ‘Love’.

The Slave:  Who serves through ‘fear’.

   These people have been around for many-a-millennium They were forced to work long hours, for little shelter/rest or pay. Slaves had no say over to whom they should serve & Worship.

John 8 34

NKJ puts it ”. .Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. “

Although The Message puts it

“I tell you most solemnly that anyone who

chooses a life of sin is trapped in a dead-end life

and is, in fact, a slave. A slave is a transient, who

can’t come and go at will. .”

The Hireling  Who serves for ‘wages’

   John 10 12/113

But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not

own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep

and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.

 The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not

care about the sheep.

   John leaves no doubt as to the true meaning of these people. For if they had to stand at the pulpit teaching the Lord Gods word, was not paid. There would not, sad to say, be a large percentage of leaders/Preachers. To be one of these you must have a calling from God.

The Son  Who serves for ‘Love’.

   He should be one who looks to please his Father & Mother, and be bringing grief & strife. . .

Proverbs 10 1  “. .A wise son makes a glad father,
But a foolish son is the grief of his mother. .”

. .Instead he should be seeking that that only shows love & peace, because he is free to do so. Unlike the ‘Slave’ he needs not to be oppressed into showing this. His time & love cannot be bought as he willing/wants to show his parents, how much they mean to him, no so for the ‘Hireling’.

   It is the obedient and the devoted who expects to get the fullness of the Heavenly Father. It is those who present a living sacrifice unto God are able to show all that is good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

Romans 12 1& 2

“. .Those would prevail with God to give them the servants

portion, first of all must take the servants place. .”