Devotion

I would like to share with you all, a bit of my devotional material on intercession.

God Seeks Intercessors

From the start, God has among His people intercessors to whose voice He had listened and given deliverance. Here we read of a time of trouble when He sought for an intercessor but in vain. And He wondered! Think of what that means - the amazement of God that there should be none who loved the people enough or who had sufficient faith in His power to deliver, to intercede on their behalf. If there had been an intercessor, He would have given deliverance; without an intercessor, His judgments came down. (See Isaiah 64:7; Ezekiel 22:30-31.)

Of what infinite importance is the place the intercessor holds in the kingdom of God! Is it not indeed a matter of wonder that God should give men such power? Yet there are so few who know what it is to take hold of His strength and pray down His blessing on the world.

Let us try to realize the position. When God had, in His Son, wrought out the new creation and Christ had taken His place on the throne, the work of the extension of His kingdom was given into the hands of men. He ever lives to pray. Prayer is the highest exercise of His royal prerogative as Priest-King upon the throne. All that Christ was to do in heaven was to be in fellowship with His people on earth. In His divine condescension, God has willed that the working of His Spirit will follow the prayer of His people. He waits for their intercession, showing the preparation of heart, to see to what extent they are ready to yield to His Spirit's control.

God rules the world and His church through the prayers of His people. That God should have made the extension of His kingdom so dependent on the faithfulness of His people in prayer is a stupendous mystery and yet an absolute certainty. God calls for intercessors: in His grace He has made His work dependent on them. He waits for them.

The Intercessors God Seeks

Watchmen are ordinarily placed on the walls of a city to give notice to the rulers of coming danger. God appoints watchmen not only to warn men - often they will not hear - but also to summon Him to come to their aid whenever need or enemy may be threatening. The great mark of the intercessors is that they are not to hold their peace day or night, are to take no rest, and are to give God no rest, until the deliverance comes. In faith they may count upon the assurance that God will answer their prayer.

It is of this that our Lord Jesus said, "Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him" (Luke 18:7). From every land the voice is heard that the church of Christ, under the influence of the power of the world and the earthly mindedness it brings, is losing influence over its members. There is but little proof of God's presence in the conversion of sinners or the holiness of His people. With the great majority of Christians, there is an utter neglect of Christ's call to take a part in the extension of His kingdom. The power of the Holy Spirit is but little experienced.

Amid all the discussions as to what can be done to interest young and old in the study of God's Word or to awaken love for the services of His house, one hears but little of the indispensable necessity of the power of the Holy Spirit in the ministry and the membership of the church. One sees but little sign of the conviction and confession that it is owing to the lack of prayer that the workings of the Spirit are so feeble and that only by united fervent prayer can a change be brought about. If ever there was a time when God's elect should cry day and night to Him, it is now. Will you not offer yourself to God for this blessed work of intercession and learn to count it as the highest privilege of your life to be a channel through whose prayers God's blessing can be brought down to earth?

Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did, it is a really big reminder that prayer is something so powerful, a real communion to God, a real pleading to God for only He is able to take control of anything.

To be continued...
The Blessedness of a Life of Intercession