Read PDF The Ministry of Intercessory Prayer

The Ministry of Intercession

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Intercessory Prayer

Because of the blood of Jesus, we can approach God boldly without timidity Hebrews 4: Jesus was an intercessor while He was here on earth. He prayed for those who were sick and possessed by demons. He prayed for His disciples. He even prayed for you and me when He interceded for all those who would believe on Him. Jesus continued His ministry of intercession after His death and resurrection when He returned to Heaven.

The Ministry of Intercession

He now serves as our intercessor in Heaven. Intercessory Prayer - Effective Intercession In intercessory prayer, we follow the Old Testament priestly function and the New Testament pattern of Jesus - standing before God and between a righteous God and sinful man. In order to be effective standing "between" we must first stand "before" God to develop the intimacy necessary to fulfill this role. Numbers 14 is one of the greatest accounts of intercessory prayer recorded in the Bible. Moses was able to stand between God and sinful man because he had stood "before" Him and had developed intimacy of communication.

As New Testament believers, we no longer sacrifice animals as in Old Testament times. We stand before the Lord to offer up spiritual sacrifices of praise Hebrews It is on the basis of this intimate relationship with God that we can then stand "between" Him and others, serving as an advocate and intercessor in their behalf. Peter uses two words to describe this priestly ministry: We are able to do this only on the basis of the righteousness of Christ, not our own righteousness. Royalty is descriptive of the kingly authority that is delegated to us as members of the "royal family," so to speak, with legitimate access to the throne room of God.

God , the Father, sent His only Son to satisfy that judgment for those who believe in Him. Jesus , the creator and eternal Son of God, who lived a sinless life, loves us so much that He died for our sins, taking the punishment that we deserve, was buried , and rose from the dead according to the Bible. If you truly believe and trust this in your heart, receiving Jesus alone as your Savior , declaring, " Jesus is Lord ," you will be saved from judgment and spend eternity with God in heaven. John the Baptist spent a lot of time communing with the Lord in the wilderness of Judea Mt.

Prayer was a high priority to the leaders in the New Testament Acts 1: Consider just a few of the many statements reflecting the value of prayer in the New Testament Acts 2: It is easy to find leaders in the New Testament who were consistently engaging in prayer and the Word; it is actually difficult to find a precedent for leaders who did not do this. Prayer causes the work of outreach to the lost and needy to be much more effective. Some are concerned that intercessory missionaries may develop lazy, isolated lives in prayer, detached from the real needs of people. Anyone who has prayed four hours in one day, with fasting, and then gone out to preach the gospel, will know that the call to be an intercessory missionary is not for lazy people.

Some ask if too much prayer leads intercessors to neglect walking in love for others. I have observed just the opposite. Night-and-day prayer is a practical expression of the commandment to love one another, through which multitudes are blessed and delivered. Intercessors also grow in love for the ones they take up in prayer.

Intercessory Prayer

When someone has a family member who is being tormented by a demon, that family member needs someone to cast the demon out. Jesus linked greater effectiveness in casting out demons to prayer and fasting. He spoke of the need for prayer and fasting when ministering to certain kinds of demonized people Mt In other words, the rigorous lifestyle of an intercessory missionary is one that embraces the first and second commandments to love God and others. She was a token of what will happen across the nations during the generation in which the Lord returns. Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess.

She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. Notice that Anna was a prophetess v. The grace for prophetic ministry, intercession, and evangelism came together in one woman.

Anna was widowed after living with her husband for seven years v.

At eighty-four years old—approximately sixty years later—she was still ministering to the Lord in much prayer with fasting. Anna stayed faithful in her calling to long hours of prayer! What a remarkable woman! Anna represents those with the grace to sustain long hours of prayer for many years. Anna is the most extreme example of the intercessory missionary lifestyle in the New Testament. She probably spent more hours in prayer each day than we ask our intercessory missionaries to do.

Introduction

In this very hour, the Lord is wooing those with a heart and calling like Anna to the full-time occupation of worship and prayer. He is personally appointing and setting them into their places. These individuals need to be called forth, recognized, and released by their leaders to obey their God-given mandate. Shall not God bring about justice for His elect, who cry to Him day and night? He will bring about justice for them.

When the Son of Man comes [second coming] , will He find faith on the earth? In verse 8, Jesus connected the call to night-and-day prayer to the timing of His return to the earth. It is important to notice that this parable was given in conclusion to what He had just taught about the end times in Luke In other words, He connected His release of justice in the earth during the end times to night-and-day prayer, and, in verse 8, Jesus referred to the generation in which He returns.

We find important information in the Old Testament about the full-time occupation of singers who ministered to God night and day. David was the first one in Scripture to establish the full-time occupation of a worshiper 1 Chr. These are the singers. David established 4, musicians and 4, gatekeepers 1 Chr. David set into place about 10, intercessory missionaries. They were Levites—some were singers and musicians, and others were gatekeepers.

The gatekeepers took care of the buildings and finances and carried out many other activities to support the ministry to God in the temple. In our context, this speaks of those who help in financial or event management, janitorial or organizational service, running seminars, etc. The singers were employed in the work day and night, and thus were freed from other duties.

The Ministry of Intercession - Andrew Murray / Christian Audio Book

In other words, they did not have another job outside their temple responsibilities. Their job was hard work. God commanded David to establish this ministry of night-and-day worship. It required a significant amount of work and was very expensive. David insisted on making this costly investment of time and money, knowing that the Lord had commanded it and that the God of Israel is worthy of such praise.

In the generations that followed, when Israel went astray, God raised up spiritual reformers with a vision to restore worship as David had commanded it. And, according to the order of David his father , [Solomon] appointed the divisions of the priests for their service, the Levites for their duties to praise and serve before the priests as the duty of each day required…for so David the man of God had commanded.

Jehoiada appointed the oversight of the house of the Lord to. Then [Josiah] said to the Levites.

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Both the singers and the gatekeepers kept the charge of their God. In the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah all Israel gave the portions [financial] for the singers and the gatekeepers, a portion for each day. The Lord has led many throughout history to establish night-and-day prayer ministries. Although it is clear that the Holy Spirit has not emphasized this calling to the whole Body of Christ through the 2, years of church history, He has clearly called some to this ministry. Thus, we see a witness of night-and-day prayer down the centuries, a testimony that God desires this kind of extravagant ministry from His people.

Throughout 2, years of church history, intercessory missionaries have been known by different titles. However, we see the biblical values behind this occupation in that they did the work of missions from a lifestyle of being deeply engaged in prayer, worship, and the Word. It became an influential missions-sending community, famous for its choral psalmody and unceasing prayer. Most who embraced this calling in medieval times were monks, priests, or nuns who lived in monastic communities.

He organized rotating choirs into shifts to create uninterrupted prayer and worship twenty-four hours a day. He first organized this perpetual praise near the Euphrates River, where it lasted for twenty years.

They sang hymns and doxologies throughout the night and day. In AD , St. Patrick returned to Ireland having been enslaved on the island previously to preach the gospel. In the twelfth century, the monk Jocelin reported that Patrick had come to a valley on the shores of the Belfast Lough where he and his comrades beheld a vision of heaven. Approximately one hundred years later, Comgall established Bangor monastery in that exact valley.

These monks, through practicing continual prayer and worship, were stirred to evangelize the lost wherever they went. They were sent out from Bangor as missionaries to Europe. Wherever they settled, they first established constant praise and adoration to God, and their mission work flowed from a foundation of prayer. These intercessory missionaries were sent to preach the gospel throughout Europe, leading multitudes to Jesus. For instance, Colombanus set out from Bangor with twelve brothers to plant monasteries that combined prayer and mission work throughout Switzerland.

Martin, practiced continual antiphonal worship and established monasteries throughout Gaul France.