Kingdom intercession

We have the impression many times that intercessors must be some mystical group, usually a very small minority in the church, who pray. The rest of the people hold them in awe, for these are the silent, undergirding minority which keep the church running. There have been times when that was largely true. But the real ministry of intercession has to be viewed as an integral part of every ministry. There cannot be a ministry without intercession.

When we consider the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, we find a great deal of prayer. We are told He continued all night in prayer (Luke 6:12). If the Lord found it that necessary, why should we not? Samuel said, “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in failing to pray for Israel” (Samuel 12:23). He sensed that there would be sin in his heart if he were not given to it. The ministry of Christ, even now, in His exaltation at the right hand of the Father, is to make intercession for us. And He is able to save us to the uttermost, seeing that He ever lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25). A great High Priest standing on our behalf: this is the ministry of intercession in Christ.

In the apostles’ lives we find the same thing. Very early in the history of the Church, Peter and John went to the temple at the hour of prayer, which was about three o’clock in the afternoon. That is when they found the lame man and healed him (Acts 3:1–8). Thousands of people came to the Lord as a result (Acts 4:4). Paul speaks of how he prayed day and night for them, and upon every remembrance of the people he had won to the Lord (Romans 1:9; Ephesians 1:16; Philippians 1:4; I Thessalonians 1:2; Philemon 4). Continually they were before him.

There is no ministry of Christ, there is no apostolic ministry, there is no ministry of elders, there is no ministry of any member of the Body of Christ, if it is not linked with the component part of intercession. And there is not intercession—at least no effective intercession—without worship. This is fundamental, basic teaching on intercession.

As you get into intercession, you say, “Oh, I have a burden.” Day be day you pray over that burden. You hit it, pray over it, hour after hour you cry over it. Finally you leave it because you find Satan meeting you day by day and battling it. The reason is that you have not ascended upon the mountain. You have not done as Moses, who withdrew from the conflict in the battle and came apart to the Lord to wait upon Him. You haven’t raised the spiritual level beyond the activities of humans and demons that would constantly assault you.

The beginning of all intercession should be thorough worship, in which you lift your own spiritual level higher than all the irritating, aggravating things that have reached you. You dissociate yourself from everything else that was constantly demanding your attention. And, by your very worship of the Lord and your utter focus upon Him, you have lifted yourself up out of a great deal of the conflict. If you want to be successful in intercession, get a minimum of conflict by a maximum of worship. Keep that little axiom in mind. Minimize the conflict by emphasizing a maximum of worship.

Now, we go a little bit further. Since we came into this Walk, we have seen there is quite a difference between the soulish level of much religious activity and the spirit level. This is largely because we are ending one age and starting into another. The age before us is the age in which the human spirit will be in dominance: during the age past the soul was in dominance. Notice how even the language has changed in the last few years; how rarely do we talk about winning souls, saving souls. We talk more about people’s spirits, how their spirits are alive to God, and about having a right spirit. We don’t speak much about the soulish emotions; we speak more about the submissiveness of spirit, the right relationship in the divine order, and the Kingdom. We are leaving the emphasis of elementary, individual salvation, and we are coming into the whole Body of Christ as it is being projected into a foretaste of the Kingdom. This also reflects itself in our prayer life, in our intercession.

Intercession is no longer prayer like prayer meetings used to be. At best, it must be a Body ministry instead of an individual exercise. Our prayers are different: we seldom have prayer in the church. We used to say, “Well, now we’ve had a song, and now Brother So-and-so will lead us in prayer.” Practically a liturgy developed, because the prayers almost always followed the same pattern. But we don’t pray like that anymore. Now we say, “Brother, would you pray over that? Loose this for us. Bind this for us. Bless this for us, brother.” We are moving in a different way. Our prayers and our intercession have an aggressive note of authority, of entering into privileges, entering into promises, entering into the provision that God has made for us and loosing it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So, prayer takes on another form. It is no longer a semi-sermon that everybody listens to and agrees, “That’s about it, Lord.” We are not sitting back like spiritual advisors to the Lord, telling Him what He forgot to do. Instead we blend ourselves to the divine authority and will and provision. We become in tune with it. And our prayer life changes—has changed drastically. This was what made prayer meetings difficult. People in the old order became very critical when God brought this move, saying, “You don’t have prayer meetings anymore.” Well, it took time for us to unlearn the faulty ways of prayer; the age was changing and we were becoming a part of something else.

Once in awhile when I get down to pray, I wonder what it would be like if I prayed as I did over forty years ago when I started in the ministry. I prayed differently then, with much heart-searching; everything emphasized by the holiness movement, the pentecostal movement, the fundamentalists. It was accompanied by great shakings and a great deal of tongues, a great deal of prophetic flow. Prayer was the most exhausting work! But pray we did, and God was in it. God honored it, because it was part of that age.

I followed that until God said, “Now let the old pass away and let the new come.” Now, I open up to what is new, and I am ready to open up to anything more that God brings, regardless of how the form changes. (You might be surprised how blessed you could be in one of those old-type prayer meetings. Sometime I would like to conduct a prayer meeting, but I don’t think it would work. I don’t think I could find a half-dozen people who would know how to pray with me the way we used to pray.) Thank God that some of us, in spite of all our experiences, were new wineskins ready to take the change. We are concerned not about the old ways of praying, but about how we should be praying now.

A basic passage on intercession is Ephesians 6:10. It is about the whole armor of God and spiritual warfare. Anyone who has read the book of Ephesians many times is aware that it speaks of the wealth of the believer, the surpassing riches of His grace (Ephesians 2:7). It also talks much about the walk of the believer: walk as dearly beloved children, walk in love (Ephesians 5:1, 2). Walk not as a Gentile (Ephesians 4:17). This is very practical teaching, not only dealing with the wealth of divine provision and grace, but how we have our feet on the ground in the way we live day by day. But it speaks of warfare, too. The warfare of the believer is outlined here from the tenth verse of the sixth chapter.

It is very essential for us in this walk to understand we cannot escape warfare. We are walking with God from one age into another. And we will be opposed by principalities and powers who dread to see that hour coming. When devils were cast out in Jesus’ day, they would say, “Art thou come to torment us before the time?” And Jesus still cast them out (Matthew 8:29). But if the devils say to you now, “Are you come to torment us before the time?” say, “Oh, no, it’s the time!” We face these principalities and powers as we aggressively push on into the next age: so a great deal of your prayer and intercession becomes warfare against demon spirits. For every blessing you receive from the Lord and awareness of His presence, you will have at least a corresponding evidence of satanic activity. You are going to face it.

“I don’t want anything to do with the Devil.”

Don’t magnify it. I have noticed what little credit and emphasis Satan is getting lately. The principalities and powers coming at us have been the big ones, and we talk less about it than we have ever before. We are magnifying the Lord so much that we don’t have time to give publicity or emphasis to the enemy. There is a minimum of description of satanic activity; but a little of it is necessary, because we have to understand the nature of the enemy in order to glorify the Lord in the intercession that is before us.

This is one of the basic lessons on intercession: Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might. Ephesians 6:10. You cannot get anywhere unless you constantly appropriate His strength, His provision. You stand in His victory. Intercession is not praying and struggling and beating an altar and praying through to victory. If that idea is in your mind, you are thinking a thought more pleasing to Satan than you can imagine. Beating on the altar and struggling and praying through to victory displeases God and pleases Satan. The basis of intercession has to be a finished, accomplished work, a set provision by the Lord, promises and prophecies that are confirmed.

The victory has been finalized by the Lord Jesus Christ and we move in and appropriate that victory. In no way do we approach Satan and the principalities and powers as though it were our struggle. We are strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. We prevail in the Lord’s victory completely. We are not struggling to victory, but we are enforcing the victory that God has given unto us. This is very basic. That is the gospel: you don’t pray through to salvation; you believe and accept a salvation that is provided for you. How much more do we do the same thing in spiritual warfare. He won the war. We are just enforcing it, we are enforcing the victory.

Put on the full armor of God (there is the key: the armor of God) that you might be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. Ephesians 6:11. The armor of God, in other words, is appropriating a provision or an attribute of God Himself. This, of course, is understating it. For God intends that we are strong in the Lord and the power of His might to appropriate Him. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able… I Corinthians 10:13.

“But,” you say, “I had such an assault that I didn’t have the strength to meet it.” God is allowing Satan to always push you (though this sounds like a contradiction to the Scripture) beyond the human reserves, beyond human strength, beyond human wisdom. That is the divine intention. He did not intend to say in that verse that you will not be tempted above what you will be able to bear in yourself. He said, … but with the temptation, (He) will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it. It is always in God. You are always in a place where you don’t have the wisdom to solve it; you don’t have the strength or the endurance to go on; you don’t know the answers; you don’t know how to meet it.

Then you look in and you draw, and you are strong in the Lord and the power of His might, you put on God as your armor. When the floodtides have receded, there is a deposit of deity in your very nature that wasn’t there before. That is how you meet your problem. So, God is continually driving you into Himself. Now, once you understand that, do it voluntarily. Every time you are under pressure, don’t try to meet it in yourself. Draw on the Lord. This is the key of intercession.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the worldforces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the full armor of God (notice, the armor of God), that you may be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm. Ephesians 6:12–13. In other words, when it’s all over you want to be the one who is standing while the referee is counting over the other guy. The fellow who is on his feet is the one who is declared the winner.

Stand firm, therefore, having girded your loins with truth… (God presents the same truth when He says, … I am the way, the truth and the life. John 14:6.)… and having put on the breastplate of righteousness. Ephesians 6:14. It is not filthy rags, it is the breastplate: it is not human righteousness, it is His righteousness.

… and having shod your feet with the preparation of the Gospel of peace: in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith (but this is not human faith: it is an impartation of divine faith) with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, … Ephesians 6:15–17a. He didn’t put salvation over the heart. He put salvation on the head. Isn’t it wonderful that we not only get our heart saved, we get our head saved. That is where we need salvation, because the old carnal mind is enmity against God (Romans 8:7).

… and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:17b. The sword of the Spirit: again, understand, all this is on a spiritual plane. You cannot reason, “Well, I take my Bible. The Bible is the sword of the Spirit.” Wait a minute. Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Don’t look upon the Bible as your sword. If God would just take all the bad people and make them good, and take all the good people and make them nice.… But there are so many good people who are not nice. They go around with little daggers: “I’ve memorized 148 Scriptures and I’m ready to go.” The minute they can, wham! they hit you with one. “Oh, I’ve got it for you! How do you like that?” That’s their idea of soul-winning. But they have no idea what the Scripture means. That isn’t the sword of the Spirit, that’s the sword of John Henry Timothybrush. And John Henry Timothybrush is going after you with Scriptures.

Well, what’s new? The devil has done that all these generations, to heap condemnation on you. He came into the wilderness to tempt Jesus, saying, “Isn’t it written? Isn’t it written?” For all that, he was still the devil. And the Lord said, “It is written” (Matthew 4:3–10). When Satan speaks, it doesn’t matter if he can quote Scripture by the yard. He is still the Devil. So I am not impressed by people who quote Scriptures to argue and to jab at you.

But I am deeply impressed with what God is doing in the Walk. Do we memorize Scriptures? Oh, yes. We put them down on the sheath of the heart. They are written there; they are pondered there. They are sharp, beautiful. And as we walk along, an occasion come forth—the enemy is there. Very subtly the Spirit draws His sword and drives men to their knees. That is the way it should be. So, when we take the whole armor, we take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. But, we never forget that it is His sword. It is not the sword of John Henry Timothybrush, nor is it your sword: it is the Spirit’s sword. Let Him draw it and bring to mind whatever the Lord has spoken to you (John 14:26). And let it flow not from a human argumentative spirit but from the divine Spirit that wants to speak to men to change them and bring them into the grace of God (Ephesians 4:29). If we see that, we have the answer.

Now, what makes it work for us? With all prayer and petition pray at all times IN THE SPIRIT and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints. Ephesians 6:18. How comprehensive! All prayer, all petition, all times, for all the saints, continually.

Why has intercession suddenly become so important? Why does it have such emphasis? We don’t use the word “pray”; we say, “We want you to intercede.” What has caused the change of terminology in this walk? Don’t we pray? We talk more about going away to wait on the Lord and about interceding (and I think our terminology is better now), because prayer seems to be dictating to God what should be done. It is the squeal of a pig caught in a fence. It is the howl of people who want circumstances and conditions changed. Waiting on the Lord is to find the divine will, the divine purpose, to find what God has to say about it.

Then the intercession begins with warfare, crying, entering in, laying hold upon it, watching your spirit take ascendancy over all the conflicting human emotions of the soul, over the interruptions and distractions of the mind, over all the things that nag at us and pull us down to the fleshly level. The Spirit says, “Rise up. Rise up,” and the intercession becomes violent, not because of God’s reluctance, but it becomes violent to lay hold upon His willingness. So we intercede: we cry and we groan and we yell—not because God is deaf, but we have to rise above everything else to lay hold upon His willingness.

At no time do we feel that God is reluctant. He is able; He is willing. This becomes the whole burden of intercession. This is what intercession is all about. It is not thumping an altar and crying and groaning to persuade God, but it is the ascendancy our spirit takes over a thousand things that distract! And we cry until we have prevailed, like Jacob of old. We are not trying to win against God. We are trying to win over ourselves. We want to see His perfect will accomplished within us.

The Apostle ends with this: … and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Ephesians 6:19–20.

I can relate to that passage very easily. This is a basic passage defining the way of prayer, the way of intercession, and a way of living before the face of God and walking into the fullness that God has set before us. We claim it, we seal it to our hearts to become dedicated and devoted to this kind of intercession, to prevail before God. May the Lord make us a praying Church, a prevailing Chruch, succeeding in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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