God Needs 'Mountain Movers' (Prayer Intercessors)

Intercessory Prayer,

God Needs ‘Mountain Movers’

July 25, 2020

Larry R Evans

There is something about the simple trust of little children that is inspiring.  While standing high above a parent they are willing to jump into the open arms of the waiting father or mother.   As we get older and bigger, we don’t dare jump into the arms of someone standing below. We compare our weight with the strength of the one encouraging us to jump.   Rationally, we conclude, there is no way we would trust someone to catch us.  

Such is often the case with prayer. We give the impression that prayer is about jumping.  What we sometimes forget is that the little child was willing to jump because she or he had spent more time holding their parent’s hand and being embraced by them. It was that relationship that made the jump even possible.

Jesus was aware of this human tendency when He said, “when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8, NLT). There is certainty but that certainty is God’s part. He is coming again!  Theuncertainty has to do with our part, “will he find faith on the earth.”   

It is amazing how as we get older, we seemingly grow weaker in our ability to trust. Perhaps it is out of self-protection that we develop so much distrust and sometimes that carries over into our relationship with God.  I remember when I was but a young boy how one Bible verse really impressed me.  It is found in Matthew 17:20.  

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

With a lot of curiosity, I remember walking outside our house, looked a hill across the way and with a gesture of my arm simply said one word, “Move!”  Let me assure you, the seismographic instruments recorded no earthquake that day.  I suspect I am not the only person who has put God to a test in some way. Sometimes when our prayers are not answered the way we think they should, we get discouraged or perhaps we even lose what faith we did have.   

Today, many are familiar with who Jesus is, but unfortunately little in their lives is changed.  Simply saying that Jesus is the Son of God doesn’t necessarily mean He is the Lord of our life. It is only faith in Christ that releases God’s changing or healing power.   

E.M. Bounds shared an important insight when he wrote,

 “Prayer projects faith on God, and God on the world.  Only God can move mountains, but faith and prayer move God.” (E.M. Bounds, p.13). 

Perhaps “mountain movers” need to put more attention on knowing God than on the mountains they want to have moved.  

To move mountains, whatever they may be, our faith in God may actually be the first “mountain” that needs to change. There is often what we call a “delay” in receiving the answer for which we prayed.  As Bounds says, “Delay is often the test and the strength of faith.” (Ibid, p.15)

Consider the example of Jacob as he prayed for deliverance from Jacob. Before that prayer could be answered, a number of things needed to take place:

·      Jacob needed to be changed

·      Esau needed to be changed

·      Jacob needed to be converted to God before

·      Esau could be converted to Jacob.

All of that would take time but that doesn’t mean God wasn’t listening!  Perhaps we should think about the Jacob-Esau experience when we read words of Jesus such as:

Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. (John 14:12-14

Our subject this week has been intercessory prayer.

Intercessory Prayer: God’s Need

Carefully consider the following Bible passages:

I have posted watchmen on your walls, Jerusalem;

they will never be silent day or night.

You who call on the Lord,

give yourselves no rest,

and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth.  Isa 62:6,7

And . . .

The Lord looked and was displeased

that there was no justice.

He saw that there was no one,

he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; (Isa. 59:16)

And . . .

“I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one. (Ezek.22:30)

And, finally, . . .

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit —fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other. (John 15:16-17)

Andrew Murray in his book, The Ministry of Intercessory Prayer, pp. 103-107, lists several reasons God needs intercessors.  Summarized they are:

1.    Millions in the world are perishing

2.    God is able to meet their needs

3.    The privilege and power of prayer is awesome

4.    God calls out/appoints His people to represent the interests of His kingdom

5.    God is waiting for more intercessors – and wonders why His people don’t abide in His strength more than they do.

6.    God longs to dispense larger blessings.

7.    God cannot take the work out of the hands of His Church.

8.    God asks His servants to give the assurance of His willingness to respond to His people’s requests. (From secret prayer to scattering the blessings to others.

9.    God challenges His own ministers to pray more: “The first duty of a clergyman is humbly to pray that all he would have God do in his people may be first and truly and fully done in himself.”

 The Context of Prayer: 

A Cosmic Struggle

The Bible raises the curtains between the seen and the unseen world. What we see playing out in our world right now is the struggle between the forces for evil and the forces for good—the battle between Christ and Satan.  Consider the following:

Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought back. But he was not strong enough, and they lost their place in heaven. The great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him. (Rev. 12:7-9)

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Eph. 6:12)

We Do Not Face Evil Forces Alone

Jesus Is Interceding

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:31,32)

Therefore, he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. (Heb. 7:25)

Paul’s Intercessory Prayer

Note how he prays for others to develop spiritual discernment to discern truth and to have the confident hope of eternal life.

For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. (Ephesians 1:15-19)

Intercession During Times of Opposition

The Experience of Daniel 10

An apparent “delay” does not mean god is silent.

·      Daniel deeply concerned. Mourns, prays, and fasts for three weeks (21 days).

·      Sets his heart on understanding and humbling himself before God.

·      His prayer is heard in heaven on “the first day”(v.12)

·      Gabriel is confronted by prince of Persia for 21 days. (v.13)

·      Michael comes and helps and then brings understanding to Daniel. (v.13)

·      Gabriel returns to the fight (v.20).

·      Daniel’s prayer is answered

Key insights from Daniel’s experience:

·      “By this we see that heavenly agencies have to contend with hindrances before the purpose of God is fulfilled in its time. The king of Persia was controlled by the highest of all evil angels. He refused, as did Pharaoh, to obey the word of the Lord. Gabriel declared, He withstood me twenty-one days by his representations against the Jews. But Michael came to his help, and then he remained with the kings of Persia, holding the powers in check, giving right counsel against evil counsel. Good and evil angels are taking a part in the planning of God in His earthly kingdom. It is God's purpose to carry forward His work in correct lines, in ways that will advance His glory. But Satan is ever trying to counterwork God's purpose. Only by humbling themselves before God can God's servants advance His work. Never are they to depend on their own efforts or on outward display for success” (Letter 201, 1899).  {4BC 1173.3}

·      “Could Christians realize how many times the Lord has ordered their way that the purposes of the enemy concerning them might not be accomplished, they would not stumble along complainingly.  Their faith would be stayed on God, and no trial would have power to move them.”  PK  576

Be Wary of Presumptuous Prayers

“The prayer of faith is never lost; but to claim that it will be always answered in the very way and for the particular thing we have expected, is presumption.” 1T 231.1

Concluding Reflections:

The Real Struggle for Intercessors

Martha, the sister of Lazarus, suggested to Jesus that had He come earlier things would have been different. Her brother would still be alive! But the words of Jesus were a rebuke not only to her but to all of us who try to map out the route God must take.  Here is what Jesus told her (and us):

“Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” (John 11:40).  

With this story in mind, Jim Cymbala makes this observation.

“The great battle of our spiritual lives is “Will you believe?”  It is not “Will you try harder?” or “Can you make yourself worthy?”  It is squarely a matter of believing that God will do what only he can do.  That is what God honors.  He treasurers those who respond and open their hearts to him.  He’s looking for faith so strong that it will anchor on his Word and wait for him, the One who makes everything beautiful in its time.”  Jim Cymbala, Fresh Faith, pp. 104-105.

As intercessors, our perspective is critical!  God’s way of thinking is not always our way (Isa 55:8).  

Let me say that receiving a pure heart from God is better than getting healed of cancer. It is. Better than becoming rich overnight. It is better than preaching marvelous sermons or writing best-selling books.  Receiving a pure heart is to be like God at the core of your being. (Ibid., p.167)