Here we get into the details about faith and life

Intercession: When Trouble Comes

Intercession is going to God on someone’s behalf. It a holy privilege and duty, not to be taken lightly. It is strenuous and it can be messy. But it is one of the greatest ways we can minister and show love to others. We have learned from Nehemiah and his BURDEN for others, and from Daniel and his IDENTIFICATION with those for whom he was interceding. Most recently, we learned from Elijah how to pray for those who are sick. Today we’ll learn from King Hezekiah how to pray for ourselves and others when trouble comes.

Hezekiah was the king of Judah, the southern kingdom. In 701 BC, the mighty Assyrian army surrounded Jerusalem ready to lay siege to the capital city and complete its conquest of the nation. Twenty years earlier, Assyria had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel so the threat was very real to everyone. Hezekiah had emptied the treasury and stripped the gold from the doors of the Temple to get a tribute of eleven tons of silver and a ton of gold. This did not satisfy the Assyrian king. His general delivered a letter to Hezekiah, threatening him and mocking the God he served.

In 2 Kings 19, Hezekiah took the letter to the Temple and laid to before the Lord and he prayed.

Hezekiah approached God on the basis of His covenant relationship with Israel, and His place above all as creator.

15 Then Hezekiah prayed before the Lord: Lord God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you are God — you alone — of all the kingdoms of the earth. You made the heavens and the earth.

How do we approach God? We have a unique position and relationship with Him because of the blood of Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 4:16). But coming boldly is not the same thing as coming with flippancy, demands or a sense of entitlement.

Hezekiah next draws attention to the Assyrians’ sacrilegious mocking of God.

16 Listen closely, Lord, and hear; open your eyes, Lord, and see. Hear the words that Sennacherib has sent to mock the living God.

Notice this. God’s glory and God’s reputation are Hezekiah’s primary concerns. He does not mention the cities that have already been overrun by the Assyrians. He does not mention whether the city of Jerusalem has enough provisions for the coming siege. He does not mention the size of his army versus the size of the Assyrian army. Even when trouble came, Hezekiah understood that when God is revered as God the other things fall into place.

Finally, Hezekiah requests deliverance so that God gets the glory.

19 Now, Lord our God, please save us from his power so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are God — you alone.

Hezekiah could have prayed, Save us so that Your people whom You love don’t suffer. Or perhaps, Save us so the city You have chosen isn’t destroyed. But he didn’t. He prayed for God to be recognized as God alone.

None of this is to say that if you pray using these words, God will automatically answer like it is some incantation. That is NOT how God works. Rather it is an invitation to consider how our hard times can be situations where God gets glory. We, that is I, usually seek the restoration of my own equilibrium, I seek relief from hardship. I complain and launch into how God doesn’t love me because He fell asleep at the wheel and let these terrible things happen. It’s not fair. I have been a faithful servant. And on and on.

What Hezekiah models in his prayer is that we need to take a step back and see a bigger picture. He keeps God’s character and His greater purposes in focus. He knows what the Assyrians are capable of. He is afraid– any sane person would be, but because he knows God’s power and God’s character, when trouble comes Hezekiah prays that this trouble would be an opportunity for God’s glory to be revealed.

That is a prayer of great faith.

Intercession: For the Sick

By Paula Wiseman

Intercession is intervening. More specifically it is going to God on someone’s behalf. It a holy privilege and duty, not to be taken lightly. It is strenuous and it can be messy. We have learned from Nehemiah and his BURDEN for others, and from Daniel and his IDENTIFICATION with those for whom he was interceding.

Now let’s switch gears a little and think more specifically about what we pray for. If you are in a group and someone asks for prayer requests, what do mot of the requests deal with? Illness. We live in a fallen world and one of the evidences of that is sickness. It touches young and old. It seems to strike without rhyme or reason. Along with the physical suffering, it causes emotional anguish and financial devastation. If we have any faith at all, we need to pray for those who are sick. James 5:14-15 instructs us to call the elders to pray for us when we are sick.

Does Scripture give us any guidance on how to pray for the sick?

In 1 Kings 17, the prophet Elijah is staying in the Canaanite town of Zarephath. A widow there is providing food and a room for him as God miraculously provides for her during the three and a half year drought. The woman’s only son becomes sick and the sickness is fatal. After the boy’s death, she confronts the prophet. While there are deeper theological implications here — like the local god Baal could not raise the dead while Yahweh could — and there is the fact the Elijah was a powerful prophet of God, he teaches us some important things about praying for the sick.

Elijah got personally involved.

But Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him from her arms, brought him up to the upstairs room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. (1 Kings 17:19)

He took the woman’s son, figuratively taking her burden and her sorrow. There would be no rest, no business as usual for Elijah as he prayer for this boy.

This is connected to identifying with those we pray for and to the burden we have for them. If it doesn’t touch us personally, if we don’t become involved personally, we will mumble, “Be with the sick,” and call it good.

Elijah didn’t have the answers.

Then he cried out to the Lord and said, “Lord my God, have you also brought tragedy on the widow I am staying with by killing her son?” (1 Kings 17:20)

Elijah was confused. Would God do a miracle to keep them alive only to let the boy die? What would that do to the budding faith of the woman? What about God’s reputation here in Zarephath? What about Elijah’s own reputation? Was he somehow responsible for this like the woman said?

God’s ways are not ours and it is arrogant to presume we know why things happen the way they do. Elijah was humble enough to pour out his confusion to God. We can do the same when we pray for the sick.

Elijah did not give up.

Then he stretched himself out over the boy three times. He cried out to the Lord and said, “Lord my God, please let this boy’s life come into him again!” (1 Kings 17:21)

I don’t know why it took three times. God certainly could have raised the boy after the first prayer. Maybe there were bonus lessons for the widow or for Elijah in this. I don’t know what laying down over the boy meant. The stretching out over the boy perhaps demonstrated to his mother that the prophet was identifying himself with her son. Perhaps Elijah was acting out what he was praying for by laying down and getting back up.

In any case, Elijah was actively, physically, intensely involved in praying. It is that intensity and that unwillingness to give up that we can learn from.

Now, we also know that despite our intensity and sincerity in praying for the sick, sometimes healing does not come in this life. You may recall in 2 Samuel 12 David’s fervent prayers for the recovery of his young son. Despite David’s fasting and mourning, the child died. David clung to his assurance that he would see his son again.

In my own experience, I have seen God miraculously heal and I have seen Him refrain from intervening. The same God. How God chooses to work out His will does not absolves us from the charge to pray for each other, especially to pray for the sick.

Intercession: Identification

By Paula Wiseman

Intercession is intervening. More specifically it is going to God on someone’s behalf. In the Old Testament, the priests did this. As New Testament believers, we are priests (1 Peter 2:9, Rev 5:10). We have access to God through Jesus Christ, but rather than enter the Holy Place in the tabernacle or Temple, we enter God’s presence through prayer. It a holy privilege and duty, not to be taken lightly. But it is no less strenuous and sometimes no less messy. Last week we looked at Nehemiah and his BURDEN for others. This week, let’s learn from Daniel and his IDENTIFICATION with those for whom he was interceding.

We know Daniel was a man of prayer. Habitual, heartfelt, prayer. Several are recorded in Scripture, but we are going to focus on his great prayer is in Daniel 9:4-19.

I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. Daniel 9:4-5 (ESV)

Look at what Daniel confessed. WE have sinned, done wrong, acted wickedly, rebelled and turned aside. Daniel had not done any of those things. I mean, he wasn’t perfect, but his life was exemplary. Was it false modesty? Was it delusion? Was it an overly active guilty conscience? No. None of those. He was identifying himself with his people who needed God’s forgiveness and help.

It takes humility and compassion to identify with those who have sinned and stand in need of prayer.

In the days of the Old Testament sacrifices, the one bringing the offering would first put his hands on the animal’s head in a symbolic gesture. It was a way of proclaiming, “The death of the animal is the death I should have received because of my sin.” That’s the humility part.

But it also takes a deep sense of compassion for those in sin, and sense of responsibility for their well-being. Daniel had just finished reading Jeremiah and he understood that the exile was the outworking of God’s judgment. Now the people would continue to suffer unless God showed them mercy. Because Daniel loved his people and identified with them, he interceded for God to act quickly to forgive them and restore them (vv. 16-19)

Identifying with sinners is Christlike.

Jesus Christ identified with us. Philippians 2:8 explains how He humbled Himself and became a man. Hebrews 2:9-10 shows us that His being made a little lower than the angels allowed Him to go through the death sentence for every person.

Identifying with sinners is not sinning with them.

It is intervening on their behalf before the Father. Again, Jesus did not sin. Ever. Daniel did not commit the sins that caused the captivity of Judah. But their love for others, their heartbreak at the suffering caused them to act. In an oversimplified analogy, think of it like a prince who has access to his father the king. The prince knows a group of people in his kingdom who are suffering because they rebelled against the king. But the prince goes and asks for the king to be merciful. While the king might not hear the rebels, he might be moved by the pleas of his son.

The people may never know you are interceding for them.

It is unlikely the people in Judah knew how Daniel prayed for them. We don’t know all the ways Jesus intercedes for us even today. That shouldn’t stop us. In humility, we don’t pray to win points with God or with those we pray for. We do it because we love people, we want God to bless them and we know that God cannot bless them in their rebellion against Him?

So, what situations cause your heart to break because you know God is not pleased? What injustices need to be made right for us to live as God’s people? These things, the things that move you are invitations to intercession. Take those opportunities, identify with those people, and meet God in humility and with compassion just like Daniel.

Intercession: Burden

By Paula Wiseman

Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Romans 8:34 (NKJV)

Intercession is intervening

More specifically, intercession is going to God on someone’s behalf. In the Old Testament, the priests did this. It was an exhausting, messy business. Think about it. The priests handled the sacrifices for the people. It was physical. It was bloody and messy, but it was critically necessary.

As New Testament believers, we are priests (1 Peter 2:9, Rev 5:10). We have access to God through Jesus Christ, but rather than enter the Holy Place in the tabernacle or Temple, we enter God’s presence through prayer. It a holy privilege and duty, not to be taken lightly. But it is no less strenuous and sometimes no less messy.

Over the next few weeks we’re going to look at some intercessory prayers in Scripture to learn from them. Let’s start with Nehemiah.

Nehemiah had a tremendous BURDEN for his countrymen. A burden for others and their situations is essential to intercession. We will not pray without one.

Late in the year 446 BC, Nehemiah was in the winter palace of the Persian kings, where he served Artaxerxes as cupbearer. His brother, Hanani, visited with some men who had just returned from Jerusalem. They had gone with Ezra in 458 BC in the second return.

He asked about the Jews who had returned with them. How were they doing? How were things going? A burden for others will show in concern for their well-being.

They told Nehemiah that the people lived in a burned out broken down city. They were enduring the insults and oppression of the locals and it was making life miserable for them.

Nehemiah was overwhelmed with grief, weeping and mourning for days over the news. A burden for others makes us tender-hearted toward them.

In his mourning, Nehemiah prayed and fasted for the Jews in his homeland. It was a serious concern that consumed his attention to the point that he didn’t eat.

Here’s what he prayed:

Nehemiah 1:5 And I said: “I pray, LORD God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments,”

Nehemiah is humble, not making demands. He appeals to God on the basis of God’s character, not his own.

Nehemiah 1:7 “We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.“

Again, a humble confession that God owes us nothing, because we are sinful and rebellious.

Nehemiah 1:10-11 “Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.“

But we have a standing because He has called us His people. Then Nehemiah makes his two requests. 1. Hear my pray and the prayer of others. 2. Grant him mercy in the sight of the king.

Those requests also teach us something important about intercession. Nehemiah had enlisted others to pray with him and for him. Paul tells us to bear one another’s burdens. Intercessory prayer is a way we do this.

Second, Nehemiah was resolved to act. We must be willing and prepared to act on behalf of others if we intercede for them.

If you keep reading in Nehemiah chapter 2, you’ll see it was four months before Nehemiah approached the king. His desire act was subject to God’s sovereign timing. In the intervening time, I’m sure there was more fasting, more praying. With Nehemiah’s great burden for his people and their situation how could he do any less?

Who are you burdened for? How are you interceding for them?

God’s Provision

By Paula

And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 1 Kings 17:7-9

If you’ve read the Old Testament or remember your Sunday school lessons as a kid, you’re probably familiar with the story of how God took care of Elijah. Tucked in that account are several lessons about God’s provision.

1 Kings 17 opens with Elijah announcing to King Ahab that a drought was coming as a judgment for the idolatry in Israel. After he delivered the message, God hid the prophet and provided for him by commanding ravens to bring food to Elijah each morning and evening. Ravens won’t even take care of their own young, but at God’s command, they brought food– real food and not the rot they usually eat– to nourish the man of God.

God’s provision sometimes comes from unlikely places.

After a while, the brook that had been Elijah’s source of water dried up. Elijah had to have known this was coming. He must have watched the trickle shrink each day all while waiting for God to intervene, to make the brook flow or to make it rain. It didn’t happen.

God’s provision doesn’t always come according to our plans or on our schedule.

Instead, God told him to go to Zarephath. Eighty-five miles away. Think of that. Israel is desert-ish. Elijah is going to hike 85 miles. In a drought.

God’s provision isn’t an always an easy handout.

The Bible doesn’t record how God took care of Elijah on that trip, only that the prophet arrived safely. In Zarephath, God commanded a widow to provide for the Elijah, only it seems God hadn’t told her that plan. In fact she’s more shocked than Elijah. She explained she had enough food for one final meal and then she and her son would starve like everyone else. Elijah asked her to feed him first, and she did. God honored her faith and took care of all of them for the duration of the drought.

God’s provision for us blesses others.

How has God’s provision for you proved these lessons?

Into the Wilderness: Protection

By Paula

But she was given two wings like those of a great eagle so she could fly to the place prepared for her in the wilderness. There she would be cared for and protected from the dragon for a time, times, and half a time. Revelation 12:14 (NLT)

Our journey through the wilderness in Scripture is nearly complete. We know the dictionary defines a wilderness as uncultivated, uninhabited or undisturbed by human activity. There is often no clear path through it. Metaphorically it is a bewildering situation. We’ve seen a lot happens in the wilderness. Wandering. It is also a place of transition. The restoration of relationships can happen in the wilderness. Sometimes it is an opportunity for instruction. It was a place of temptation. Last week we saw that it was a time for communion with Jesus. It is also a place of protection.

In Revelation 12, John sees some amazing events play out in a vision. He is shown a woman clothed with the sun (v. 1). She gives birth to a son, the one who will rule the nations (v. 5). John also sees a great red dragon, identified as Satan himself (v. 3, 9). This dragon not only tries to devour the woman’s son, but later he pursues the woman to destroy her. Both times, she flees or is carried to the wilderness where she is protected and nourished.

It is easy to read this and immediately begin thinking eschatologically, and get bogged down identifying the woman, setting a timeline and so forth. While I have ideas on those, that is beyond the scope of what we focusing on here. Let’s just look at the events at face value and learn what we can from that.

Satan hates the woman and wants to destroy her and her offspring.

I’m not sure we grasp how deeply, how completely Satan hates us. All of us. And the more suffering he can cause, the more death and destruction he can bring, the more havoc he can wreak, the better he likes it. His attacks are not always physical. Sometimes they are emotional, mental or spiritual. If we had no other recourse, Satan would achieve his goals.

God prepared a place of protection.

Verse 6 and verse 14 both state that God prepared a place of protection for the woman in the wilderness. She is safe. She can rest, and God provides nourishment until she regains her strength.

God knows the attacks will come against us and He has already taken action to deal with them. God has equipped us with His armor and the attacks will either help us gain proficiency with that armor or the attacks will teach us the wisdom and humility to recognize when we are outmatched.

Where are you now?

Are you under attack? Is it time to fall back and regroup? It is not a failure to do so. God has prepared a wilderness place where we are protected and fed. Once we are restored and re-energized we can go back to the battle.

Are you in the wilderness? If so, consider whether God providentially rescued you and placed you in a safe place. Thank Him, then let Him care for and nurture you.

Intercession: When Trouble Comes

Hezekiah approached God on the basis of His covenant relationship with Israel, and His place above all as creator.

Hezekiah next draws attention to the Assyrians’ sacrilegious mocking of God.

Finally, Hezekiah requests deliverance so that God gets the glory.

Intercession: For the Sick

Does Scripture give us any guidance on how to pray for the sick?

Elijah got personally involved.

Elijah didn’t have the answers.

Elijah did not give up.

Intercession: Identification

It takes humility and compassion to identify with those who have sinned and stand in need of prayer.

Identifying with sinners is Christlike.

Identifying with sinners is not sinning with them.

The people may never know you are interceding for them.

Intercession: Burden

Intercession is intervening

Nehemiah had a tremendous BURDEN for his countrymen. A burden for others and their situations is essential to intercession. We will not pray without one.

Here’s what he prayed:

God’s Provision

Into the Wilderness: Protection

Satan hates the woman and wants to destroy her and her offspring.

God prepared a place of protection.

Where are you now?

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