God is Looking For An Intercessor 神在寻找待祷者
20 Mar 2019 | 7 min readsermon2019singapore | intercession
Eze 22:30-31
God was looking for a man who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before God on behalf of the land so that He wouldn’t destroy it. But God couldn’t find anyone. Why did God want to destroy the land of Judah? Because they went against the commands of the Lord, doing as they wished. So God was going to recompense their deeds. From the whole chapter, we can read of all their sins. From the priests to the prophets, God pointed out all their sins.
Let us take a good look at the sins the priests and prophets committed, because we are priests. Even though we are not prophets, we often have to prophesy the word of God. What kind of sins did the priests and prophets commit in the eyes of the Lord?
Eze 22:26, 28 (read)
The priests false interpreted the laws of God. Neither did they distinguish between the Holy and unholy. They disregarded the sabbaths. Aren’t these things what we also break?
The prophets plastered the walls with untempered mortars to cover up the unclean things. But did it really cover that up? They also gave false visions and bore false testimonies to the people saying, “Thus says the Lord God” when God hadn’t talked to them at all.
Still God had mercy and sought a man among them who would make a wall and stand in the gap before Him on beheld of them so God wouldn’t destroy it. This was just like Moses.
Psa 106:23
The Israelites went against God and worshipped the golden calf. God wanted to destroy them but because of Moses’ intercession, the wrath of God was turned away and the Israelites received salvation. That’s why the Israelites look up to and are grateful toward Moses, because he stood in the gap and interceded for them.
The prophets in those days were Ezekiel (in Babylon) and Jeremiah (in Jerusalem). Didn’t they not intercede for the people? Didn’t they stand in the gap? Of course they did. But God wasn’t just look at the intercessory prayers of these two. God was looking whether there was anybody else besides these two who would stand in the gap to intercede. Disappointingly, God couldn’t find one. Was there no godly man along the people? The truth was that in Israel, there were still many people who were godly. They often prayed for the sins for the people. But they saw their prayers didn’t bring about much change. They prayed for so long but the Israelites’ sins still continued and their hearts were hard. Their zealous hearts 热心 of prayers became hearts of despair 灰心, till they gave up on prayers. In such a time, who would be willing to continue to pray for the household of God? God was seeking for such a man.
Hosea 12:13
The prophet here refers to Moses. Through much difficulties, Moses brought the people out of Egypt; preserving Israel willingly at the expense of his own life. He pled earnestly with God for the sins of Israel. “Forgive them and blot my name out of the book of life instead.” This was why the people looked up to Moses. Even though they murmured against Moses often, he had no regrets in interceding for them. After the time of Moses, the Israelites continued to sin and go against the word of God. But in each generation, there were still faithful men who prayed and interceded for the people. Israel indeed was preserved through the prophets.
Now we come to our generation. Many of God’s people go against His word. Do we realise we have the responsibility to be like prophets to intercede for these people? A person who interceded stands in the gap for life. If he doesn’t stand in the gap, life would be lost. We must find the responsibility/duty to stand in the gap so life won’t be lost. Maybe we can’t change the reality, perhaps we feel disappointed, no matter what, have hope in God. Pray to God to have mercy and help those who have problems and are weak in their faith. Ask God to move their hearts that they may understand and know to turn back; that they may once again receive the grace and salvation of God.
2 Cor 1:11
Paul and the apostles pastored the church and preached the word, saving souls. They were faithful and zealous in their work. But the work of God cannot be completed just by the will of Man. There’re many aspects where the heart is willing but the flesh is weak 有心无力.
We hence have to rely on the spirit of God. Paul hence asked the Corinth to help in prayers that more people would repent; that more people would come to believe.
We can see prayer is an important thing that can help in the work of the church. The weaknesses and sins of believers is likened to a breach in the wall. If we don’t repair the breach, the breach will grow in size and collapse in time. The kinds of problems the church faces is like a breach in the city walls. When enemies see the breach, they’ll see the opportunity to attack at any time. Hence all of us have the responsibility to repair the breach in the city wall. We can’t just be preoccupied with our own matters. If the enemies manage to breach the city walls by capitulating on the weaknesses, won’t your families residing in the city face threat? Let us not just be concerned with the safety of our own households. We have to be concerned about the safety of the whole city.
The church is the spiritual city of Jerusalem. There are some areas that may have gaps. Let us take up the responsibility to repairs the gaps and breaches; to pray and ask God to repair them. Let us not just pray for our own personal matters, let us also pray for the church. Don’t just be a 祷告者, also be a 待祷者.
Luke 22:31-32
Jesus too did the work of intercession. Simon Peter still did not know where his breach/gap was, but Jesus already knew. The breach he had would have given Satan the opportunity to have a foothold over him. But Jesus prayed for the breach to be repaired that he may be preserved. “I have prayed for you that your faith will not fail.” Jesus didn’t just pray for Peter, He prayed for all His disciples.
John 17:9
Jesus said He would pray for His disciples but not for the world/世人. Doesn’t God love all men? “You only love your disciples that’s why you only intercede for them?” Why then does Jesus say this? The reason Jesus isn’t praying for the world but His disciples is because doing so would benefit people in the world ultimately. When the faith of the disciples is strengthened, they would be able to preach the word and save the people in the world. So although it seems Jesus is neglecting the people in the world, His prayer for His disciples is also for the world ultimately.
What did Jesus interceded for His disciples on? 3 things:
- v11 To keep them that they may be one
If the disciples weren’t of one heart and united, how would they be able to preach the gospel to the world? - v15 For the Heavenly Father to keep them from the evil one
If they aren’t kept from the evil one and fall, how can they preach and save the sinners of the world? - v17 To be sanctified by the truth
If they aren’t sanctified by the truth and don’t obey the truth, how will they be able to preach the gospel that forgives sins?
The content of Jesus’ prayer is also how we should intercede today. Let’s not just pray for the ailments of the flesh. The sufferings of the flesh are temporary and cannot harm the soul unto death. The truth is that many people through sufferings in the flesh learn how to repent and turn to God. Although the ailments and problems they face in the flesh causes them physical sufferings, it brings them spiritual blessing. What’s way more dangerous is when someone is physically well but commits sins; or when there’s jealousy and strife between believers; when their hearts are unclean, love the world and indulge in the flesh, unable to be sanctified by the truth. Aren’t these things more worrisome? On the surface they look like Christians but inside there is no Christian life. These are all things we have to intercede about.
All this is said over again and again. The person who listens to this reminder also feels super sian hearing it and may be disappointed. Although we may be disappointed by Man, we shouldn’t be disappointed by God. Because our hope is in God. When we’re helpless, we can only rely on God to help us. Intercessory prayers aren’t just to help others, it also helps us. Although everyone else has given up, we must hold on and rely on God.
God is looking for that one person who will intercede. He sees many who were once zealous in their prayers. But many have given up after growing weary and disappointed. “God why have you not done anything after I’ve prayed for so long?” God has actually seen all this. He is looking for that one man who continues hoping. When all have given up hope, can that one person continue to hope? To rely on the Lord to persevere to the end?
The power of God comes from whether we rely on Him. The crux of it is whether we are able to persevere in our prayers. God is looking for a person to intercede. Are we willing to be the person who intercedes?
411: The Beautiful Garden of Prayer
This hymn likely reminds us of Jesus praying in the garden of Gethsemane. At that time, Jesus needed His disciples to be serious and watchful in prayer with Him. But they fell asleep. Jesus said to them, “Could you not watch for an hour?” This hymn reminds us: in the beautiful hour of prayer, don’t let Jesus be the only one praying there. He wants us to pray with Him. To pray for His disciples. To pray for His church. Let us ask the Lord to help us. If we feel we aren’t able to help the church, we can help through our prayers. But don’t have the misconception HAHA “I don’t have to preach the word and participate in other church work. I just need to pray. God won’t scold me!”
Recently there was a post about how few turned up for door-to-door. Don’t be disappointed. God will help and lead. People will also observe and perhaps one day when the spirit of God moves them, they may also come. If we give up, those who don’t come may say, “See in the end they also do nothing like us!” Persevere.
Truly we need people to pray for the matters of the church. We need the spirit of God to move our hearts. Only when the spirit of God moves our hearts, we’ll be willing to sacrifice. We won’t care about what others say or the number of people who turn up to serve. All we care about is praying together with the Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane, to do what we can for the Lord and His church.
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