I Looked for a Man
JCC 10.01.10 pm Prayer Session 4
Ezekiel 22:23-31
Quote: In the words of Augustine. "Without God, we cannot; but without us, God will not."
In His sovereignty, God has voluntarily linked Himself to our human cooperation
He has bound Himself to the prayer of faith of His children
He merges His work with mans praying
It is a deep mystery
It is clearly revealed in the Word and throughout history how God uses people in his plans through prayer
Joshua’s day in battle would have gone badly without Moses’ prayer Exodus 17
Jacob’s place in Israel’s history would not have been the same without Penuel Genesis 32
The cross would have been unbearable without Gethsemane Luke 22
John Wesley and the members of the "Holy Club" held their prayer meetings and God ignited a revival that was felt around the world
Evan Roberts and his friends prostrating themselves before the Lord night after night resulting in the Welsh Revival
Then the Prayer Mountain in Seoul, Korea added to the growth of several of the largest churches in the world
The revival that swept Brazil was evidenced by extra police being put on duty to control traffic in several major cities on prayer meeting night!
Revelation 5:9 The twenty-four elders singing this new song will be holding golden vials full of incense which are the prayers of saints
God showed Ezekiel what the state of the nation was like in ‘His eyes’
We can read out this list and see for ourselves that we are in the same state here and so are many other countries around the world
What have we done?
Or rather, what have we not done?
Paul in Eph 6 speaking on spiritual warfare not only clearly highlights the armour for our protection in war, but also identifies two of the major weapons of our warfare: the Sword of the Spirit and prayer
In spite of all of her weaknesses, failures and shortcomings, the Church is the mightiest, and the only force God is using, that is contesting Satan’s rule in human affairs
Quote: Spurgeon said, “It is God that writes intercession upon men’s hearts. All true prayer comes from Him, but especially that least selfish and most Christ-like form of prayer called intercession—when the suppliant forgets all about himself and his own needs—and all his pleading, his tears and his arguments are on behalf of others. I repeat that such men are a most precious gift from Heaven and I feel certain that before the Reformation, there must have been hundreds of godly men and women who were, day and night, interceding with the Lord and giving Him no rest until He answered their supplications—and Luther and the rest of the Reformers were sent by God in answer to the many prayers which history has never recorded, but which are written in the Lord’s Book of Remembrance. The Church on her knees is the only purifying and preserving influence that can keep the world from decay and despair.”
Quote: Samuel Chadwick said, ’The one concern of the devil is to keep Christians from praying. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work and prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray!"
Prayer is not us begging God to do something
It is not overcoming God’s unwillingness to act
It is enforcing Christ’s victory over the power of sin and Satan
It is the effective, fervent communication with the Creator of the Universe
What can I do Lord? Here I am
It is praying in line with God’s will which then controls the balance of power in our lives, our community, the Church and world affairs
Prayer moves us out of the dimensions of time and space and brings us into the very throne room of God, worshiping, petitioning and interceding
We are in the spiritual realm of the eternal now
The past has gone, the future hasn’t arrived, so we are always in the eternal now of time when we pray
Prayer is sometimes an alleluia of praise Psalm 150
It is sometimes telling God the details of our needs Philippians 4:6
Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God
It is sometimes labouring in groans and words that cannot be uttered; true intercession Romans 8:26
But notice we do not face intercession alone
The Spirit Himself helps
Prayer is also spiritual warfare
Those who enter, are in touch with a world in need
Those who enter warfare regularly know the scars, but also the victories of the battles
Prayer is where the real action is
The front line of war
And yes you will be hurt first and more badly than if you were at the back of the troops
Prayer is supporting and sustaining yourself, the church and others
It is vitally important to have a strong prayer support team
All Christians are involved in spiritual warfare
But some just allow the enemy to keep them captive
And a few find the release of power because they know and understand their general and the outcome they believe by faith in the Son of God
Wherever we are aggressively battling the enemy, there is a greater vulnerability to his attacks
The family
The Church
The community
Our workplace
Sometimes we pray and we see no answers
James said we could be praying wrong, so we have no answer
Refer back to this morning session on Luke 11:5-13 ASK, SEEK, KNOCK
Look at your prayers and then the prayers of Paul, David, and others in the Bible
Write some of them out and read them regular
They weren’t asking God for the same things as we do
You don’t hear David pray for his Uncle Fred
Moses doesn’t ask for a nice home and a new camel
Paul wasn’t heard praying for his own family and a job to settle down in comfort in this world
These ’model prayers’ from Scripture seem to centre more directly on God and His program, rather than on people and their plans
Read articles on prayer; read all the books about prayer. But when you have, study and pray the prayers of the Bible
In-the-Gap Praying
"And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none" Ezekiel 22:30
I wonder how God felt?
What would the Devil’s response be?
The "gap" mentioned in Ezekiel has been used to express a number of concepts
Prophetically Jesus came to bridge the gap between God and man
In the context of Ezekiel, "in the gap" speaks more directly of the role of an intercessor
One who forms a barrier (a hedge) between God (who is speaking) and people or the land so he should not destroy it
"I looked for a man...." Abraham was that man
"God, will you not spare the city for fifty righteous men? Forty-five? Forty? Thirty? Twenty? Ten? Far be it from Thee to slay the righteous with the wicked.... Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Genesis 18
Those were powerful words to speak to the Lord, seeing that he was but dust and ashes
But he stood in the gap
"I looked for a man...." Moses was that man
"And Moses besought the face of the Lord his God, and said, `Lord, why does Your wrath wax hot against Thy people?"
Just four verses earlier, in His anger God had called them Moses’ people
After two more verses of intercession, "the Lord repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people" Exodus 32:11-14
Another time Moses even more boldly said: "Yet now, if you will forgive their sin...; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Your book which You have written!" Exodus 32:32
Read Deuteronomy chapter nine for a review of the many times Moses stood in the gap for His people
Moses was definitely an "in-the-gap" intercessor
"I looked for a man...." Aaron was that man Numbers 16
Nehemiah was that man Nehemiah
Jesus was that Man John 17
Paul was that man Romans 9
Others through the generations of time have become that man or woman who stood in the gap
And today still speaks the voice of God
"I look for someone to make up the hedge, to stand in the gap”
A battle is raging for the souls of mankind
In the book of Job, we have been given some insight into the spiritual realm from which this war takes place
Job had ‘arrived’
He was rich. He was famous. He was perfect and upright. He feared God and hated evil. At least this is what the world could see
But behind the scenes of this visible world is the real world
Satan saw the hedge complete, not only around Job, but "about his house, and about all that he had" Job 1:1-10
Even his family was protected by the prayers of Job
So, it was God who gave an opening in the hedge to test Job
Two good novels, This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness by Frank Peretti, give thought-provoking possibilities to the subtleties of this behind-the-scenes war
The "accuser of the brethren" Revelation 12:10 is "going to and fro in the earth, and is walking up and down in it seeking whom he may devour" 1 Peter 5:8
Get real, that ‘whom’ is you and I!
When the Devil sees a breach in the hedge, a broken-down wall, the secret thoughts of sin, his entrance to the minds and hearts of men is easy
And even when that hedge is complete around you, Satan presents himself before God and states ‘It’s those "perfect ones in Christ I want’ ‘let me prove their unfaithfulness’ ‘allow me to show you how much they really trust you’
So God, knowing his thoughts, says, "Satan, have you set your heart on my servant, Job?" or my servant x x x and x Job 1:8
This is one of the works of the enemy
To set his heart on even the elect, if it were possible Matthew 24:24
Jesus said, "Peter, Satan desires to have you to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you" Luke 22:31
And still now, Jesus prays for you and me
Satan and a third of the angelic host of heaven who rebelled against God with him are out to destroy to whatever degree anything God plans for the church and his people
How many times have you seen marriages fail which were once strong?
Families torn apart by trivial arguments?
Churches split because of personal conflict and unresolved issues?
Picture the scene in that heavenly throne room, that secret place you enter boldly to obtain mercy and grace to help in the time of need Hebrews 4:16
Not only are you and God there as you intercede for "mercy and grace" but also present is the adversary
Always listening in
Some say if we pray in the spirit, Satan cannot understand our prayers
I have yet to see biblical proof for that doctrine
Jesus didn’t pray in tongues
But praying in the spirit means praying in the will of God
Does it matter if Satan hears?
Cause not; he is not greater than God or the Saints of God
The devil may desire us, but it is the Lord who holds us by the power of the word through the blood
The enemy of our souls is either telling the truth about our weaknesses or lying through his teeth about us
He uses any tactic in his wicked mind to break through the hedge, or to rush through a gap
Praying alone is powerful but praying together is mighty
One puts to flight a 1000, 2 10,000 etc
One of the strongest weapons to bind the work of the enemy is the intercessory, effectual, fervent prayer of a committed, united team of believers
This church has to build up its prayer life
We must re-examine how we pray and what we pray
There must be unity and deepest love for one another
Would we be willing to battle through in prayer for this place?
To put ours out for the sake of the body of Christ?
Unbelief is the single most serious factor that breaks down the hedge
God is looking for a team, for a woman, for a man to make up the hedge
To stand in the gap before Him, for the land that He should not destroy it: but can He find one?
In the Ezekiel’s account, destruction came because no one was found
May it not be said of us on that awesome judgement day that He was calling from among us a man, a woman, a prayer support team to stand in the gap, but He found no one
I want to hear Him say, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord!" Matthew 25:21
God is still looking, will you be the one to change history?
Conclusion:
If you don’t this God I’ve been talking about then the Devil has a hold on you
Jesus died to set you free and give you access to communion with the heavenly Father
Response time
