Why Pray?
12 Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come because of your words.
13 “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.
The end of verse 12: Your words were heard. I have come because of your words.
Daniel knew that God’s promises invite our prayers and participation. They do not exclude our prayers and participation. – Guzak
John Wesley said God does nothing on Earth except in answer to prayer.
Does the almighty limit himself to praying saints?
Adam: God’s Intercessor
God gave authority to Adam over the earth.
Psalms 115:16 (NKJV): The heavens, even the heavens, are the LORD’s, but the earth He has given to the children of men.
Genesis 2:15 (NKJV): Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it.
The word keep is the word Shamar. Watchman or guardian.
Represent—to exhibit the image of.
Adam was a shadow or phantom. Creation had to do a double take: For a second, I thought it was God.”- Dutch Sheets
Psalms 8:5 (NKJV): For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.
Angels are the Hebrew Elohim-God. The amplified gets it right here.
Adam represented God with full authority;
Adam was in charge.
So (summary): Adam was similar to God.
He was so much like God that it was illusionary
Adam carried the glory and weight of God on the earth.
Adam was God’s manager.
The earth was under Adams’s charge or care.
How things went on the Earth depended on Adam, who was the watchman.
Why would God do this?
God wanted a family.
God wasn’t lonely ( I hate it when ppl say that) He was complete in himself.
We are the overflow of his love.
He wanted Sons and daughters that could relate to him, and he could relate to them.
So he made them like him, put his life and spirit in them, and gave them a beautiful home
So we have the necessity of prayer.
God chose from the very start to work on the Earth through humans, not independent of them.
He always has, and he always will, even at the cost of becoming one.
Scripture tells us that the sovereign Almighty God limited himself concerning the affairs of the earth to working through human beings.
God needed Elijah’s fervent prayers.
James 5:16. In the birth posture, 7 times avail, much.
Andrew Murray: God’s giving is inseparably connected to our asking. Only by intercession can that power be brought down from heaven, which will enable the church to conquer the world.
Intercession
to go between (or mediate) with the intention of reconciliation.
Pleading for another.
We see this in court all the time.
Humanity needed two things after the fall.
They needed someone to go between themselves and God to reconcile themselves with God.
They also needed someone to go between themselves and Satan to separate them from him.
The only intercession God accepts is Christ. It must be for Christ and through Christ.
We are distributors, not producers. ( give ye them to eat)
The disciples distributed the loaves and fish.
Intercessory prayer definition:
An extension of the ministry of Jesus through his body ( the church,) whereby we mediate between God and humanity for the purpose of reconciling the world to him or between Satan and humanity for the purpose of enforcing the victory of Calvary.
Jesus needs a human on earth to represent him, just as the Father did. ( John 20:21). The concept of being sent is important. Like an ambassador, we have no authority of our own, but we represent those who were sent See John 14:10.
Paga
Hebrew for intercession.
A meeting( some prayer meetings people just meet with each other)
We are taking people to Jesus
It is also used as a battlefield term, sometimes for a violent meeting.
Remember when Jesus cried from the Cross?
Tetelestai: It is finished. Stamped on invoices, meaning paid in full.
The Hebrew word here means to create; it is used in Genesis when God created the earth. Jesus is saying, in effect, “Come forth, new creation.” The earth quaked, Old Testament saints resurrected, and the veil was torn!
He’s giving birth to something
1 John 3:8 destroyed a legal term. To dissolve a contract that legally binds or to pronounce or determine that something or someone is no longer bound.
Our responsibility is to enforce the victory. We must step between the person and the forces of darkness, meet them, and break Satan’s hold. Enforcing the victory of Christ.
This is intercession.
Intercession also means “bearing”
There are two words in the N.T. for bearing, meaning to stake, like to hold up, as in Colossians 3:13 (CSB), bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. ( we stake up our little trees and tomato plants 🌱.
Galatians 6:2 (CSB): Carry one another’s burdens; in this way, you will fulfill the law of Christ.
The word bearing here means to carry away. All things are under Christ’s feet. They are legally ( under his feet) through the cross.
But they are literally ( under his feet) when we do our part
Another meaning for Pega (the word for intercession) is
Boundary
Obedience is the key.
Preacher and the rattlesnake.
7 times around Jericho.
He that dwells in the secret place.
We need laborers.
Our Prayers are often too sporadic to build solid walls.
Another important term
Kairos – a specific time
Kairos times.
It’s possible that some would. They would not have fallen away from Christ if someone had interceded for them.
There are also Kairos times of persecution.
Acts 12:1-3 (CSB) About that time, King Herod violently attacked some who belonged to the church, and he executed James, John’s brother, with the sword.
3 When he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter too, during the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
We’ve got to wait and listen to the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
Ephesians 6:18 (CSB) Pray at all times( kairos) in the Spirit with every prayer and request, and stay alert with all perseverance and intercession for all the saints.
This is saying to be alert and watch for the strategic times that the enemy has designed to take us down. We are to watch so we can create that boundary during these critical times. God clues us in so we can set these boundaries.
Birthing- travailing prayer
“He who believes in Me [who adheres to, trusts in, and relies on Me], as the Scripture has said, ‘From his innermost being will flow continually rivers of living water.’ ””
John 7:38 AMP
The innermost being is the word koilia, which means womb.
We do not generate life, but we release the creator.
In Genesis 1 the Holy Spirit was Brooding or hovering over the water it means to birth something.
When we say God is moving , the Holy Spirit is birthing something
Travailing intercession- a form of intercession that releases the creative power or energy of the Holy Spirit into a situation to produce create, or give birth to something.
John 11 before giving, raising Lazarus Jesus was troubled travailing in the spirit.
Jesus was stirring up the anointing in himself.
John 11:33 (NKJV) Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled.
When you obey the prompting of the Holy Spirit to travail in prayer you are releasing the Holy Spirit to hover.
I Kings 18
Elijah prayed 7 times in the birthing position
It also means persevere in prayer
The devil was cast down for his pride.
Do you think for one minute that he is going to admit that it’s working?
Like a wrecking ball like a wrecking ball slowly but surely the walls are coming down, the captives are big, set free and souls are being birthed into the kingdom.
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