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. .”
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. .”
