Intercessory Prayer February 24, 2002 Rev. William Huegel Sermon taken from Exodus 17:8-16 “O Lord Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth…deliver us from his (the king of Assyria) hand, so that all the kingdoms on earth may know that you alone, O Lord, are God.” Isaiah 37:16 and 20 Introduction This sermon on intercessory prayer is the second sermon in my series, “Tools for Spiritual Growth”. There are two introductory points that I’d like to make. 1. I’m preaching today to a small group of people. a. To those who deeply believe in prayer and understand the power of prayer. b. To those who don’t understand the power of prayer, yet, but who are seeking to know more about it – even hunger to know more about this amazing subject of intercessory prayer. c. To those who may be led by the Holy Spirit to engage in the work of intercessory prayer- typically 10-15% of the congregation. (15% is a very large number). 2. It’s important that I define Intercessory prayer: It is the art of passionately pounding on the gates of heaven in prayer on behalf of a person, or a group of people such as a church or a country with the goal of bringing about physical or spiritual change. It is a gift of God. Biblical Support for Intercessory Prayer Think with me about the story of Moses as the Israelites faced the Amelekites in the wilderness as told in Exodus 17. Moses stood on the mountain with his hands raised to heaven. As he did, the Israelites were winning. When his hands dropped, the Israelites were losing the battle. So, Aaron and Hur needed to support his arms. They needed to keep them lifted up. Moses interceded on behalf of his people. The battle clearly belonged to the Lord. It was won, not with military might, but in the power of God. That is the image of intercessory prayer. Think again of the story of the Prophet Elijah in I Kings 17. Elijah had gone to seek protection and food from a widow in the small town of Zarephath. While he was there, the widow’s son died – he had stopped breathing. In desperation, she came to the prophet and blamed him for her son’s death. The prophet took the boy into his chambers, laid him on his bed, stretched himself out on top of the boy, and fervently prayed to the Lord to return life to the boy. God answered prayer immediately. The boy lived. The prophet engaged in intercessory prayer on the boy’s behalf. In the book of II Chronicles 7:14 the Lord appeared to Solomon and instructed the Israelites at the time of the dedication of the temple to engage in Intercessory prayer. God said, “If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.” They are told to be humble, to turn to the Lord, and to call upon the name of the Lord for forgiveness and salvation. Holiness and humbleness are prerequisites for intercessory prayer. Jesus tells several parables giving illustrations of intercessory prayer. One is found in Luke 18 in which Jesus says his disciples should “always pray and never give up” and then tells about a widow who comes before an unjust judge. That judge finally gives into the widow’s plea for justice simply because she just keeps on coming to him. The implication is that we must keep on coming before God in prayer. In yet another story, Jesus tells of a man who has company in the middle of the night but he is unable to give the hungry guests even a slice of bread, because he is out of bread. So, in the middle of the night he goes to a neighbor and begs bread. The neighbor is tired, he is in bed, and gets out of bed very reluctantly to give him some bread, only because it is the only way to get rid of the man at his door. Jesus said, “Pray like that”. Be persistent. Don’t give up. Be serious. Ask fervently for what you want. God will hear you. The Theology Of Intercessory Prayer Why must we do it? God knows our every need. Why can’t we simply ask once and be done with it. In fact, why must we pray at all? Surely God knows our needs even before we ask. What’s the big deal about prayer? If God wants to change a person’s life, or a church, or a nation, why doesn’t He do it? Why must we pray? Are we trying to talk God into doing something He is otherwise reluctant to do? No I don’t think so. But why then? I don’t know why. There is somewhat of a mystery around prayer. I don't entirely know why it works, and why we are so instructed. I only know that it works and that we are instructed to pray. God has set up this universe intentionally to engage us in His work. And I don’t really know why. But there are quite a number of things I don’t understand: Why must we pray and then work to feed the hungry around the world? Why doesn’t God simply do it? Why are there weeds in our Garden? Why don’t the weeds produce good food? Why must we weed our Gardens, sometimes water our gardens, and fight off insects? Why are not the insects themselves good food? Could not God make beetles as tasty as chicken? You don’t have to raise beetles. They do a very fine job of raising themselves. I only know we have to kill off the weeds and the beetles to grow good vegetables. So, I don’t know the answers to all the Why’s of life and I especially don’t know the Why of intercessory prayer. I only know what God says. Then we must ask, what is the difference between Intercessory Prayer, and any other kind of prayer? When you are praying for your own needs you are engaging in petitionary prayer. You are making petitions to God regarding your own situation and your own needs. When we worship our Lord, we offer prayers of adoration and praise. At times we may enter into meditative or contemplative prayer in which we meditate on the Word of God and ask Him to speak to us. But Intercessory Prayer is when we engage in prayer on behalf of others. We stand, as a priest would stand, between people and God. And we go to God on behalf of people. We intercede on their behalf. But there seem to be several layers of intercessory prayer. Simple Intercession is what we do, for example, when we have an interest in someone’s well being. If someone has the flu, we pray for their healing. If someone is going on a trip, we pray for their safety. If a student is facing an exam, we pray that they will do well. It is simple, often short, going to God in prayer on behalf of another. Intense Intercession is what we do when our hearts are especially burdened. Sometimes we perceive that it is a life or death situation. I can assure you that when Elijah lay on top of a dead boy and prayed for him, it was intense. I can remember one time when friends of ours who have two young children were very concerned when their boy stepped on a rusty nail. It had gone clear into his bone, resulting in a bone infection. Those are the hardest to cure. Antibiotics were failing to help the situation. These dear parents called us and asked for our prayers. Both my wife and I became very worried. I had gone to bed before my wife, who I think was praying downstairs. I lay on my pillow, like Elijah lay on top of a dead boy and I intensely wept and prayed to God on behalf of this young boy’s life. God wonderfully, mercifully healed him and he is a very active, very healthy young man today. But I don’t always do that. Sometimes I miss it. I remember receiving a similar call from a very dear friend, who asked us to pray for his daughter-in-law who was in the hospital with some sort of heart problem. But he failed to impress on us how serious the situation was. I think he did not want to alarm us. So, I simply prayed for her and went to sleep. The next morning we woke up to a phone call. Our dear friend had died. Had I known how serious it was, I would have been deeply concerned. I would have wept before God on her behalf. Would God have spared her life? I don’t know. That would be up to God. I only wish I had prayed intensely for her. I tend to engage in intense prayer on Sunday mornings before I preach. I am deeply aware of my inability to affect any kind of spiritual change in anyone’s life. But I feel a keen responsibility. I know there are people who come into this sanctuary on Sunday mornings with all kinds of needs, about which others usually know nothing. I cannot pray intensely for every individual, although I do some praying for individuals. Mostly, however, I pray for the worship service itself. I pray for the musicians, for the sound system and crew, for the readers and the children’s story tellers. I pray for the sermon I am about to give and for other aspects of the morning worship. I pray that when people walk up these steps and enter into this worship space, that they will feel the power and presence of the Holy Spirit – even if they have a problem with me. I believe that the Spirit of God has the ability to override personality quirks and petty annoyances. Truth must be heard and the Spirit must bear witness to our spirits despite whatever else is going on in our head. Many times I had sat through sermons in my younger years. The sermons did not speak to me. But God did, and that’s what I intensely pray for the hearers of my sermons. This morning, I am calling for your help in this business of Intense Intercessory Prayer. There are a few people who are uniquely gifted in this spiritual work. If that is not you, I do not want you to be envious of those who have this gift. Nor do I want you to feel guilty that you don’t. It’s fine. You have other gifts, I’m sure. I hope that you do engage in simple intercession for your pastor, your church, your community, your nation, and the world. But God will gift some of you, and give the strong desire to some of you, to engage in the wonderful work of Intense Intercession. When you intensely pray for someone’s salvation and you later find out they have been saved, your joy is as intense as your prayers. When you pray intensely for someone in crises, and later learn that they have come out of that crises, and are doing well, it is intensely rewarding. I suppose it should be said that Intense Intercession is hard work, but frankly the joy of it is so very rewarding that one thinks very little about how hard the work was. Some of you may not particularly like my preaching, although most of you are polite enough not to mention it. When I listen to my sermons on tape, which I do only occasionally, sometimes I am depressed. I don’t like the quality of my voice. Sometimes I don’t like the way I put things together. Usually I thought it was much better, only to discover it bombed. While it depresses me, it doesn’t surprise me. What surprises me is when someone leaves the church and says that in some way the sermon touched them and somehow made a difference in their life. That’s when I give God great praise for answered prayer – not only for answering my prayer, but for answering yours. That’s my invitation this morning. I invite you to join me, if God has so gifted and motivated you, in the ministry of Intense Intercessory prayer. I am looking for one or more people who will pray intensely for the church and it’s ministry, and for the pastor. You have to believe that God is at work in this church. You have to believe that God is using this pastor. And you have to believe that prayer makes an enormous difference. In fact you must believe that it is the only thing that will make a difference. Those engaged in intense Intercessory prayer know that Doctors don’t heal. God does. Pastors don’t save souls. God does. Boards and committees don’t turn a church around. God does. Planning does not breathe new life into a church. God does. Those engaged in Intense Intercessory prayer on behalf of the church know that old church buildings like this are little more than a gathering place or a mere museum, unless God does a great work in the hearts of his people. Those engaged in Intense Intercessory prayer know that marriages can be saved through the power of God. They know that young people can be delivered from addictions to sex, drugs, and alcohol and can be set free to worship and to serve the living God, by the power of the Spirit. Those engaged in Intense Intercessory prayer know that the hearts of children can be reunited with the hearts of their parents. They know that this world can and will be changed by the marvelous power of the living God. People who are gifted in Intense Intercessory prayer often pray for an hour at a time. Not always, but often. They find great joy entering into the presence of God in prayer. They often stop praying, not because they are bored, but because they are worn out physically and need a rest or need to go on to other things. Here is the invitation. If you are gifted in this special ministry called Intercessory Prayer, let me know. You may not be sure. You may have that gift but have not yet developed it. But if God is speaking to you, I can hardly wait to hear from you. And you will be excited to see how wonderfully God uses you. It makes a difference in people’s lives. It makes a difference in the life of the church. It makes a difference in families. It makes a difference in our world. What if Intercessory Prayer is not a gift that you have? Everyone is called to the task of Intercessory Prayer. Sometimes the situation calls for intense Intercessory Prayer. No one is left out of that. I am not particularly gifted, I don’t think. But yet I seek to engage in intercessory prayer. It seems to me that some people are especially gifted. Consider the gift of faith. We are all called to have faith. Indeed you can’t be a Christian without some faith. Yet, the Bible does talk about the Spiritual Gift of Faith. Some people are especially gifted. But you can’t get out of the need to have faith, to work at having your faith grow. That’s important for all of us. So, too with Intercessory Prayer. We all are called to this task. It is a wonderful work. We should all work at it, whether we are especially gifted in it or not. Let us pray. Back to main Pastor Page