Your Kingdom Come - Intercession
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Matthew 6:9–13 (ESV)
9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Thought exercise: What if everything you prayed for this last week came to pass? How would the world be different?
This then brings us the topic of
Intercession | Asking God For Things For Others
Intercession | Asking God For Things For Others
In this particular subject we find nearly the hardest subject of the Christian life.
The life of intercessory prayer is one of excitement, confusion, euphoria, complexity, wonder, and mystery.
If you have dabbled in this lifestyle you have undoubtedly walked the tightrope of wonder and mystery continuously. So then let’s address this unavoidable contrast.
Wonder
Wonder
Throughout the Bible we have promise after promise of how God not only can intervene in our situations, but He also deeply desires to. And I’m sure that more than a few of us have stories of how God heard their prayers and moved in wondrous ways.
Women with Cancer healed with a Bible - Vanessa - Mancy - Curtis
We’ve seen the powerful hand of God moving Heaven & Earth to loving insert Himself into our stories of desperation.
Mystery
Mystery
Additionally we see that, with the same belief in the same God, those same types of desperate prayers are seemingly answered by Heaven with silence.
Becca - Lucy
These moments promote within us something perplexity or confusion, but sometimes move us to the place of anger or doubt. How could a good God, who wants to do good things for His children, not do this so obviously good thing?
This is the unavoidable tension of a life of Intercession. Wonder and Mystery
But here we find in the instructions from Jesus that praying that the “Kingdom *would* Come” goes well beyond just mere requests for the temporary improvement of earthly & temporal lives. This type of prayer is an invitation. And very likely the greatest invitation after salvation.
Just look at what additional instructions Jesus give us through out His ministry
9 And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.
24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
11 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
We took Jesus’ invitation seriously we would find it hard to do anything but pray and intercede.
So let’s dive in.
Intercession > Hebrew “Paga” > Greek “Enteuxis” > Latin “Intercedo” >>> “To come between” two parties being a friend of both.
Intercession > Hebrew “Paga” > Greek “Enteuxis” > Latin “Intercedo” >>> “To come between” two parties being a friend of both.
Jesus inviting us into the act of loving and caring for a person(loved ones, friend, strangers, the poor, oppressed) to the degree that we would bring their needs to the Everlasting Father.
Ezekiel 22:29–30 (ESV)
29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice. 30 And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.
And by doing so we would shape the world. Through our prayers we can shaper history.
“History belongs to the intercessors.”
-Walter Wink
To get the full scope of this massive, history changing invitation we must look at the subject from beginning to end. And the beginning, like most things, starts in Genesis
God’s Original Plan
God’s Original Plan
Yes, God’s original plan is all about dwelling with God but it’s also about ruling...
Creation
Creation
All the way on the first page of the Bible we see that God created a guy name Adam. Now, Adam is a representative for all of us. All of mankind. The Hebrew word that we see through out the Hebrew bible (OT) is in fact adam. And here’s what God says is the original plan and purpose for God creating man.
Genesis 1:26 (ESV)
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Right here on page one of the Bible is the answer to the number one question that every one from inquisitive toddlers to angsty teens all the way to the most prestigious philosophers have been asking.
Why are we here and what is our purpose? Answer: To Rule
To rule. Not the domineering & manipulative type of rule. The type that reflects the character, love, and provisional care of God Himself.
An intercessional type of rule. One that “goes between” to connect the two in love and unity. Creator to creation and vice versa.
We see this so clearly in Psalm 115.16
Psalm 115:16 (ESV)
16 The heavens are the Lord’s heavens, but the earth he has given to the children of man.
God hasn’t completely handed off the earth to us. His intent is for us to rule with Him as partner is His grand creation. To form it, shape it, to bring the glory of His name to every square inch of creation, together, for His glory and for our absolute good.
So all of this begs the question…
What went wrong?
The Fall
The Fall
If we are supposed to “rule” it seems that we’re doing a pretty pathetic job of it. A person only has to watch the 5 o’clock news to see that the world and the people in it aren’t as they should be. People are oppressed and manipulated and God’s world is pillaged and hoarded by the most powerful at the expense of the disadvantaged.
How did all this come about?
How did something that started out so beautiful become this depraved so quickly?
Simple. We didn’t believe it.
We didn’t believe that God was that good. We didn’t trust Him that His intentions for us were that pure. We couldn’t wrap our heads around the reality that God created us to be with us just because He wanted some to love and pour His affection out on. Some to share His creation with. We couldn’t believe that. We thought that it was too good to be true.
One lie from an adversary, that twisted the truth and promised us that if we tried this life on our own we could be the sole rulers. That we could be gods. And we believed that.
Romans 1:25 (ESV)
25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
We believed the lie and were swindled out of our rightful place. Created to rule alongside Yaweh. Now we find ourselves slaves to the things we thought would serve us. (power, status, riches, sex, drugs)
And now that Adversary is ruling over the creation that we forfeited. Stealing, killing, and destroying (Jhn 10.10) every good thing that God has created.
Ephesians 2:2 (ESV)
2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—
But that thankfully isn’t the end of the story...
The Promise of the Kingdom
The Promise of the Kingdom
As we spoke of last week Jesus absolutely knew that He was the resolution to all these problems, the remedy to the sickness, and the liberty to the oppression that His creation faced.
Isaiah speaks of Jesus’ intentions
Isaiah 9:6 (ESV)
6 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
In a few short months we’ll be celebrating Emmanuel. God with us. A God that intends to be amongst us and set things right. “The government will be upon his shoulders”. That is a statement. not just one of a good teacher or philosopher, but of a ruler.
Jesus has come to reclaim the rule. And he knew this...
Jesus says:
John 12:31 (ESV)
31 Now is the judgment of this world; now will the ruler of this world be cast out.
He has come to “cast out” the current ruler (The Adversary ) and reclaim His rightful place.
And through His life, death, and resurrection He accomplishes this and then at this point He aligns everything back to its proper place as intended in Gen. 1.
Matthew 28:18 (ESV)
18 ...“All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go...”
Christ has reclaimed the rule that we lost and then gives it back to us to live in. That’s why John says
Revelation 1:5–6 (NLT)
5 ...All glory to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by shedding his blood for us. 6 He has made us a Kingdom of priests for God his Father. All glory and power to him forever and ever! Amen.
Priests are those who are the “go between” God and man. So then, we are ruling mediators. Interceding for those in our lives who are still oppressed by the Adversary. Bridging the gap and making a way for God’s name to be honored and glorified for His glory and our worlds good.
Praying in Jesus Name
Praying in Jesus Name
That is why we pray in Jesus name. When we pray we come boldly before heavens throne, in robes provided through Jesus’ work we now walk in a new authority. Jesus says this to His disciples right after he tells them that He will eventually leave them for their good.
John 16:23–24 (ESV)
23 In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. 24 Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
Jesus says this is the true way to pray. That all other prayer before this type was inferior. That when we pray with the authority of being His representative, we will receive and our joy will be full.
Of all the means God could have used, prayer seems the weakest, slipperiest, and easiest to ingore. So it is, unless Jesus was right in that most baffling claim. He went away for our sakes, as a form of power sharing, to invite us into direct communion with God and to give us a crucial role int the struggle against the forces of evil.
-Philip Yancey
This is how we rule with God in the here and now. Through intercession, through standing in the gap and pleading with both sides to be one again.
On Earth As It Is In Heaven
On Earth As It Is In Heaven
Now we’ll look at this particular piece of the Lord’s prayer that follows both Kingdom Come and Your will be done which we will cover next week.
This phrase obviously speaks to the fact that when we pray Kingdom Come we’re talking about more than just things happening in the unseen realm of God’s creation, like our hearts and the heavens. This phrase directly speaks to the fact that we should be praying for things here on the physical tangible earth should be changing. Homes, governments, sickness, finances, etc.)
But it would mistake to understand all of things need to and can change and not understand that we ourselves need to change. Mainly how much that the posture of our physical bodies can change the way we pray to God our Father.
It’s important for us to be aware of how intentional we need to be when approaching the Lord in prayer. Our culture puts great significance into body language. My mannerisms and body language when i come home from really affect the outset of the next hour or so of my evening with my family. Our physical posture matters in times of prayer. And I don’t mean sitting up straight.
Unfortunately for those that like things like rules and regiments will be left with none. Some find it easier to sit, some to stand. Some can kneel. Others like myself kneel for too long and then have to pray for healing as a result from kneeling too long. Some are a bit anxious about raising their hands, some need to be a bit more anxious :).
.
So then what is the proper posture when praying?
The ideal posture, they would tell us, is relaxed but not slumped; poised but not tense; alert but not fidgety; above all, humble but happy in the presence of the Creator whom you are learning to call 'Father'. Find the posture that does all that for you; find the gestures that express and symbolize the life and love of Jesus for you; and you will be teaching your body to pray - which, to the surprise of many modern persons, is no bad way to teach your mind, heart and soul to pray as well. What is more, you will be acting out, in one little but vital local instance, the prayer you want to pray anyway: Thy Kingdom Come, on earth as it is in heaven.
-NT Wright
Many of us struggle with practice of praying hoping and waiting for the desire to come so then our body can follow. But many experts attest to the fact that if you form a habit in your life that is consistent and habitual regardless of desire, you will find that desire is quick to follow.
Practice
Practice
Daily Prayer Rhythm
Daily Prayer Rhythm
Morning - Pray for a good day
Midday - Intercede for the lost
Evening - Gratitude
Prayer Framework
Pause
Rejoice
Ask
Yield
Prayer Posture
Find a posture that works for you that intentionally sets your entire self. Body and mind pointed at God. These examples might help.
Running
Sitting in your living room chair with a cup of coffee
Rocking chair on the porch
Walking in the woods
Kneeling
Sitting
Standing
Whatever gets you to a place of your heart set on things above…Thats where your should be.