Devotional #20       

Intercession- “Please permit me to speak once more!”

             Intercession for some believers is a full-time ministry. I’ve met beautiful, godly people through the years that have had this ministry. They usually don’t ask if you’d like prayer, instead they just begin praying for you. They always seem to have some insight into what you are going through.  Intercession takes a very bold faith that causes you to come to God and in a sense remind Him of His promises, grace and mercy. Intercessors bravely ask big of God! People who walk closely with the Lord often have special knowledge and understanding of God’s plans, even before He executes them. As Amos declared, “Surely the Lord God does nothing, Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets.” (Amos 3:7).   

             For instance, when God was about to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, He told Abraham of these cities’ impending doom. The Lord, knowing all things, knew that Abraham would be concerned about his nephew Lot, who was living in Sodom then. As Abraham intercedes for these cities, with compassion for any redeemable souls living there, he asks God, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” God promises to do so! The dialogue continues as Abraham boldly entreats the Lord to save the city for 45, then 40, 30, 20, and finally only10. Each time Abraham did so humbly and God graciously agrees. Later we find that there were in fact less than 10 righteous in that city, as Lot and his daughters are actually the only ones who escape.

            On one occasion, I was privileged to be used by the Lord in this ministry of intercession in a powerful way.  I went with two believing friends to the mall in Menlo Park, New Jersey. While there at the mall, a very strange feeling came over me, I then felt like the mall was shaking under my feet, as though there were an earthquake. My friends, immediately noticing that something was troubling me, helped me to a bench. Once sitting, visions of the mall falling apart (pillars breaking, people crushed beneath them, explosions, etc) were flashing before me. Once able to speak, I convinced them that we had to leave the mall. We drove around the mall praying until we felt a peace that everything would be OK.

Several weeks later one of the friends in our group found an article in the New York Times (March 25, 1994) entitled, “Explosion in Edison: The Pipeline; 7 Feet Underground, a Silent Superhighway Carries Enormous Energy.” This occurred only miles from the mall. I believe that God used our intercession that day to avert what would have been a worse disaster.

See It for Yourself: Genesis 18:20-33, Amos 3:7, I Timothy 2:1-4

Prayer Focus:         

Dear Lord,

Make me an intercessor that helps to enable Your kingdom to come and Your will to be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.

In Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Working It Out: 

Ask God for the blessing of partnering with Him in the ministry of intercession. Working with God; wow, what a partner!