Pray Hard
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Today I want to talk about the power and importance of intercessory prayer: Intercessory prayer in simplest terms would be praying for others.
Let’s review: Moses went up the mountain, received the 10 commandments, and stayed gone 40 days. When he got back he saw the Israelites worshipping the golden calf. He threw down the commandments and broke them.
Part anger, part symbolic that in short order, they were already breaking the law.
We pick up with the story in 9.25
25 “I fell down in the presence of the Lord 40 days and 40 nights because the Lord had threatened to destroy you.
26 I prayed to the Lord: Lord God, do not annihilate Your people, Your inheritance, whom You redeemed through Your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.
27 Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Disregard this people’s stubbornness, and their wickedness and sin.
28 Otherwise, those in the land you brought us from will say, ‘Because the Lord wasn’t able to bring them into the land He had promised them, and because He hated them, He brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’
29 But they are Your people, Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and outstretched arm.
1 “The Lord said to me at that time, ‘Cut two stone tablets like the first ones and come to Me on the mountain and make a wooden ark.
2 I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets you broke, and you are to place them in the ark.’
3 So I made an ark of acacia wood, cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.
4 Then on the day of the assembly, the Lord wrote on the tablets what had been written previously, the Ten Commandments that He had spoken to you on the mountain from the fire. The Lord gave them to me,
5 and I went back down the mountain and placed the tablets in the ark I had made. And they have remained there, as the Lord commanded me.”
In verses 6-9 there is a short parenthetical section that relates to how the Levites were given the responsibility of tending to the commands and the ark that housed them. This is important to the discussion because the subject is the 10 commandments.
10 “I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights like the first time. The Lord also listened to me on this occasion; He agreed not to annihilate you.
11 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Get up. Continue your journey ahead of the people, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to give their fathers.’
The Industry of intercession
The Industry of intercession
I don’t mean like praying is A business, but praying is getting down to business..
25 “I fell down in the presence of the Lord 40 days and 40 nights because the Lord had threatened to destroy you.
26 I prayed to the Lord: Lord God, do not annihilate Your people, Your inheritance, whom You redeemed through Your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a strong hand.
27 Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Disregard this people’s stubbornness, and their wickedness and sin.
28 Otherwise, those in the land you brought us from will say, ‘Because the Lord wasn’t able to bring them into the land He had promised them, and because He hated them, He brought them out to kill them in the wilderness.’
29 But they are Your people, Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and outstretched arm.
Do not destroy your people 9.26
Remember the Covenant you made with A, I, J, 9.27a
Don’t hold their sin against them 9.27.b
Remember your name is at stake 28-29
16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The urgent request of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.
Literally. Prayer of a righteous one has great working power.
Let’s talk about this word righteous.
Positional righteousness from knowing Jesus as Savior and lord.
Practical righteousness from living lock-step with the Lord (close and clean). The context of this passage leans heavily in that direction.
IF you want God to move when you pray, you need to be saved, and you need to be walking close with the Lord.
Then your prayers have great working power,, powerful in their effect.
The Impact of Intercession
The Impact of Intercession
1 “The Lord said to me at that time, ‘Cut two stone tablets like the first ones and come to Me on the mountain and make a wooden ark.
2 I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets you broke, and you are to place them in the ark.’
3 So I made an ark of acacia wood, cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.
4 Then on the day of the assembly, the Lord wrote on the tablets what had been written previously, the Ten Commandments that He had spoken to you on the mountain from the fire. The Lord gave them to me,
5 and I went back down the mountain and placed the tablets in the ark I had made. And they have remained there, as the Lord commanded me.”
10 “I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights like the first time. The Lord also listened to me on this occasion; He agreed not to annihilate you.
11 Then the Lord said to me, ‘Get up. Continue your journey ahead of the people, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to give their fathers.’
When we pray, we can expect 1 of 3 possible outcomes.
1. Circumstances change.
2. The praying person’s will is changed.
3. The will of God is brought into conformity with the praying person.
God already knew.
Moses labored in selfless, agonizing, habitual prayer on the benefit of others and for God’s glory. And God heard him and responded. I have thought this through over and over.. How does this work? How does the God who already knows everything shift as a result of my prayers. I have wrestled with this for years and years, and I don’t know that I have a good handle on the mind of God.
I do know that Moses prayed (he was no doubt a “righteous man”) and God moved.
I do know that James says righteous people can pray powerful prayers. (By the way he goes on to say that Elijah prayed and God answered, and the Elijah was a man like we are)
I’m about to ask you to pray. To intercede for that which is most on your heart, but before I do.
Are you righteous? Do you know Jesus?
Are you righteous? Are you walking close and clean?
Are you praying big prayers? I want to encourage you today to ask God to do big, not out of selfishness, but for the good of someone else and for His Glory.