I. Great responsibility is involved in the ministry of intercession.
A. Because the Lord God did not find anyone to “stand in the gap,” to intercede for the land, He was requited to pour out the judgment due its disobedience.
حزقيال 22:30-31
B. He would not have destroyed Sodom, because of Abraham’s persistence, had He been able to find ten righteous men in the city.
منشأ 18:23-32
C. Moses’ intercession for the people of God, in pleading with the Lord for mercy, held back the hand of God from consuming the nation in His wrath.
رحيل 32:7-14; سفر التثنية 9:8-9, 12-20, 23-27, etc.; المزامير 106:23
D. Because “prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God,” Peter’s “chains fell off from his hands,” “the iron gate … opened to them of its own accord,” and he was led out of the prison by an angel of God!
أعمال 12:5-12, etc.
E. God told Jeremiah to search the city and see if he could find even one righteous man; that then He would spare the entire city (chapter 5:1). But Jeremiah knew that their hearts were all hardened against the Lord; that they were reprobate, beyond the place of repentance (ch. 5:3). God told him therefore to not even intercede for them (ch. 7:16; 11:14; 14:11).
II. God Himself seeks faithful intercessors.
المزامير 14:2 (2 سجلات 16 :9) “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children
of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.”
حزقيال 22 :30 “And l sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge,
and stand in the gap before Me for the land, أنني لا ينبغي تدميره: ولكنني وجدت لا شيء.”
A. The ministry of intercession is of divine appointment.
اشعياء 62:6 “I have set . . .”
B. But it is the responsibility of each individual to take the initiative to “stir himself up
to take hold of” إله.
اشعياء 64:7
C. Scripture says that God was amazed “and wondered that there was no intercessor.”
اشعياء 59:16
III. The Bible expresses in a descriptive way the very nature of this ministry and the great heaviness of spirit and burden of prayer experienced by those in intercession.
A. “Mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people. Mine eye trickleth down, and ceaseth not, without any intermission, till the Lord look down, and behold from heaven.”
Lamentations 3:48-50
B. Job cried, “Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, as a man pleadeth for his neighbor!”
وظيفة 16:21
C. When God speaks of His intercessors (“watchmen”) and their persistence in prayer,
He says that they “never hold their peace day nor night” و “give Him no rest.”
اشعياء 62:6-7; Lamentations 2:18-19
D. “Their heart cried unto the Lord, O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears run down
like a river day and night: give thyself no rest; let not the apple of thine eye cease.
Arise, cry out in the night: in the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart like
water before the face of the Lord …”
Lamentation 2:18-19
E. “Let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar,
and let them say, Spare Thy people, O Lord, and give not Thine heritage to reproach…”
جويل 2:17
F. Moses told the children of Israel that in his intercession for them “I stood between
the Lord and you.”
سفر التثنية 5:5; المزامير 106:23
G. يسوع “began to be sore amazed, and to be very heavy; and saith unto them
(his disciples), My soul is exceeding sorrowful … And He went forward a little, و
fell on the ground, وصلى . . .”
علامة 14:33-35
IV. Certain people should be the focus of intercessory prayer on a regular basis.
A. Leaders and government authorities.
I Timothy 2 :1-2
B. The people of God.
جويل 2:12-13, 17; الرومان 1:9; أفسس 6:18
C. Those in spiritual leadership.
2 كورينثيانز 1:11; I Thessalonians 5:25; العبرانيين 13:17-18a
1. That they may have boldness to speak the truth.
أفسس 6:19-20
2. For their divine protection, spiritual strength, and victory over the enemy.
لوقا 22:31-32 ; يوحنا 17:15; أعمال 12:5; 2 تسالونيكي 3:1-2
3. That they will have an open door of ministry.
الرومان 15:30-32; كولوسي 4:3; 2 تسالونيكي 3:1-2
D. The community in which we live, or any city or nation.
المزامير 112:6; إرميا 29:7; دانيال 9:3, 16-19
V. True intercession involves more than prayer in general. The intercessor bears a sense
of burden and responsibility.
A. Great cries and tears in travail of prayer are known to those who have felt the
urgency of a burden revealed to them by God.
عزرا 10:1; Nehemiah 1:4; اشعياء 22:4 إرميا 13:17; 23:9
Lamentations 2:18-19; 3:48-51; جويل 2:12-13, 17; العبرانيين 5:7
B. It often involves fasting.
سفر التثنية 9:8-9, 12-20, 12-27; عزرا 10:6; دانيال 9:3-4
جويل 2:12-14, 17-18; يونان 3:5-10
VI. Characteristics of a successful intercessor.
A. Persistence and determination.
اشعياء 62:6-7
Lamentations 2:18-19 “keep not silence, and give Him no rest…day and night …”
B. Patience.
اشعياء 62:6-7; Lamentations 2:18-19
C. Faith.
اشعياء 64:7
D. Severe self-discipline and selflessness (due to personal identification with the need).
علامة 14:33-35; Lamentations 3:48-50
لا تعليقات حتى الآن