A CALL TO THE INTERCESSORS

The challenge and the promise. II Chronicles 7:12-15 “Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: “I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place.” Prayer that reaches the ear of God must be living prayer, not dead prayer. Zechariah 4:6 “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.” God’s promise to those who pray is that His ears are open, waiting, in anticipation, wanting to answer. This call fixes our relationship. Notice the repentance issue. I am convinced that the most outstanding enemy in prayer is the lack of knowledge of what we are in Christ, and of what he is in us, and what he did for us, and of our standing and legal rights before the throne. E. W. Kenyon Jesus prepares us to prayer. Matthew 21:12-16 “Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” First of all the temple is cleansed. Then He issued the call to prayer. As a result, power comes to the temple. When God’s work is made evident, the temple becomes a place of praise. We are the temple He plans to use for the ministry of prayer. I Corinthians 3:16-17 “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.” Each of us is a part of the church that is the habitation of God. Ephesians 2:19-22 “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit enables us to pray. Romans 8:26-27 “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. 27 Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” We must discipline ourselves to prayer. I Corinthians 9:24-27 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. 26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. 27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.” Discipline and persistence is vital if we are to be winners in any endeavor including prayer. Physical achievement is minor in comparison to our spiritual race. I Timothy 4:8 “For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.” IV. The early Church was a church filled with prayer warriors. Acts 2:42 “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” A. The Apostle Paul was a great intercessor for the Church. II Thessalonians 1:11 “Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, 12 that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” B. The apostle Paul teaches the intercessors how to pray for those involved in ministry. I Corinthians 1:4-8 “I thank my God always concerning you for the grace of God which was given to you by Christ Jesus, 5 that you were enriched in everything by Him in all utterance and all knowledge, 6 even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you, 7 so that you come short in no gift, eagerly waiting for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 8 who will also confirm you to the end, that you may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1. That the workers would be so blessed that nothing would hinder them from the work God has called them to. 2. That the workers would have special insight in regard to what God has called them to and would have boldness to carry forth that work. 3. That the workers would live holy lives that are a testimony to the presence of Christ in their lives and that they would demonstrate Him. 4. That the workers would discover their unique gifting and begin to activate those gifts in their lives and ministry. 5. That the workers would have a hunger to receive revelation concerning Christ and His kingdom. 6. That the workers would keep themselves pure and spotless that they might not bring reproach upon the kingdom of God. C. Paul also acknowledged his great need for intercessors for the ministry he was involved in. Colossians 4: 2-4 “Continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving; 3 meanwhile praying also for us, that God would open to us a door for the word, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in chains, 4 that I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak.” At our midweek prayer service, a member requested prayer for a neighbor woman who was having a difficult time and was feeling "just miserable." Volunteering to take the request, a man fervently prayed, "O God, bless this miserable woman!" -- Gladys Brown, Bucyrus, Ohio. Christian Reader, "Lite Fare." V. Will you answer the call to prayer? A. Has God called you to be a watchman upon the wall? If so, you need to keep watch in the dark night of this age. B. Are you intercessors willing to take an assignment in this army of the Lord to hold up the brethren and the ministry? C. It’s time to respond to God’s call to the prayer warriors. 1. Samuel said, “Speak Lord, your servant hears.” 2. Isaiah said, “Here I am, send me.” 3. Jesus’ disciples said, “Lord, teach us how to pray.” An ordinary simple Christian kneels down to say his prayers.... But if he is a Christian, he knows that what is prompting him to pray is also God: God, so to speak, inside him. But he also knows that all his real knowledge of God comes through Christ, the man who was God-that Christ is standing beside him, helping him to pray, praying for him. You see what is happening. God is the thing to which he is praying-the goal he is trying to reach. God is also the thing inside him which is pushing him on-the motive power. God is also the road or bridge along which he is being pushed to that goal. So that the whole threefold life of the three-personal Being is actually going on in that ordinary little bedroom where an ordinary man is saying his prayers. C. S. Lewis (1898-1963)