Category Archives: Prayer and Intercession

Last week I was in as deep a temptation to give up as I have been in my Christian walk of some forty years.  I desperately needed to hear from God about a certain matter.  Would it be this, or that?  I needed to make a decision.  Yet prayer was so difficult.  God was so silent.  It seemed I had no other choice but to give up on God.  I won’t go into detail, but let me tell you how it happened that I did not give up.

I went to a prayer meeting, and it hardly got going before one of the brothers spoke of George Mueller and his continual experience of answered prayer.  George Mueller proved, demonstrated, over and over again that God answers prayer.  Then a sister shared that the Lord had laid on her heart again the same two passages that have been given to us in our prayer gathering over several months.  They both involve prayer that does not take no for an answer.

One is the parable Jesus gave with the express purpose of teaching that “men [the word is gender inclusive] ought always to pray, and not to faint” (Lk. 18:1).  That is, not give up.  It’s the story of the widow who relentlessly pressed an unjust judge to avenge her of her adversary.  Although the judge gave God no place in his life, nor sought favour of man, he finally did for her what she wanted just to be rid of her.  Jesus then comes to His point.

And shall not God avenge His own elect which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them?  I tell you that He will avenge them speedily.

He then adds this:

Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?

So He gave this parable specifically to encourage people to “not faint,” to not give up on God, but keep pressing Him with our prayers and believing He will yet answer in a day when God is silent and faith is severely challenged, tested, because of it.

The other parable is the story of a man with two friends—one in great need, the other with great provision.  The friend in great need has come to the man hungry in the middle of the night but the man has nothing to set before him.  So he goes to the friend with great provision and, standing outside the door, calls out and wakes him up and asks for what he needs—three loaves.  But calling to him from within, this friend puts him off, he is rebuffed—go away, we’re all in bed here, I can’t give you what you need.  But the man keeps after him till finally he gets what he wants.

Jesus then brings out that it is this importunity, not their friendship, that got the man the provision he needed.

And I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth”       (Lk. 11:8).

Importunity—it means to ask or demand urgently, repeatedly, persistently, relentlessly, tenaciously.

Just prior to this parable the Lord has given his disciples what has been called the Lord’s prayer in response to their request that He teach them to pray.  Then with this parable He continues to teach them to pray—to be importunate in prayer.  Then after the parable He says this:

And I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you.  For everyone that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.

Ask just once?  Seek for a while?  Knock once or twice?  That’s not what the man with two friends did.  He kept on asking, seeking, knocking, till he was given his heart’s desire.  And that, actually, is the force of the Greek tense here—present continuous.

Keep on asking, and it shall be given you; keep on seeking, and ye shall find, keep on knocking, and it shall be opened unto you.  For everyone that keeps on asking receives, and he that keeps on seeking finds, and to him that keeps on knocking it shall be opened.

We need to know and believe that our God greatly desires to answer us and give us our longed-for requests, though it seem He is a reluctant God.  Not so.  We must never take unanswered prayer as God’s answer to prayer.  We must be persistent.  Importunate.  We may not understand why just yet, but this, it seems, is something very important to Him.

At the outset I called it a temptation that I was about ready to call it quits.  I chose that word specifically, because another of the brothers in our little prayer gathering brought out how the disciples slept through the greatest opportunity they’d ever had—that of praying with Jesus in Gethsemane in His hour of temptation to evade the cross.

What, could ye not watch with me one hour?  Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation… (Mt. 26:40).

It was when the brother brought this out that I suddenly recognized what I had been going through.  It wasn’t just my own thoughts, it was a temptation.  I have an Adversary who would love nothing more than to see me pack it in, and persistently advises me to do so.  I am so thankful that with the help of brothers and sisters I was able to disappoint him.  I was able to recognize the temptation for what it was, and not enter into it.  If the Lord Himself had been sitting in the prayer gathering in that living room He could not have spoken to me more clearly than He did through the brothers and sisters who were there.  I heard my Father Himself speaking to me.  Don’t give up.  I hear your prayers.  I’m going to answer them.

The following is a transcript of Carter Conlon’s remarks and prayer during the Sunday June 29th, 2014, Times Square Church service.  The prayer was part of a U.S. national initiative calling all churches in the United States  to pray for that nation.  After reading Psalm Two, Carter Conlon said that it was a psalm that talked about  times when leaders get together to cast off God’s restraint.  Conlon then continued:

This morning we have the privilege as a church congregation of joining with two million other believers across the country… who at this moment or thereabouts are going to fall to their knees… and say, Lord God, heal our land.  Lord, do what we have not done; forgive us for how we have misrepresented you.  The Scripture says that “When there is no vision the people perish.”  And that means that when there is no demonstration of the power of God, when there is no visible manifestation of who Christ really is, society throws off its moral restraints, and that’s what we see happening in our day.  We can point our finger, we can blame government leaders, and we can try to blame various elements of our society, but really the blame belongs in the house of God.  It belongs in the pulpits of the churches across this nation.  Where we have turned, and focused on ourselves, and have not preached the cross of Christ, we’ve not fully embraced the power of prayer, nor allowed God to make us a visible testimony of who He really is to this generation.

But I want to remind you that even though judgment seems to be abounding in every corner of our nation, mercy still rejoices over judgment.  I believe that with all my heart.  Now I want you to picture in your mind that perhaps for the first time since this country was formed, people from all across the nation are going to be falling to their knees in the house of God for about five minutes and asking the Lord to have mercy on us, and come and do what we have failed to do, and heal our land and let the testimony of Christ abound one more time.  Give us a spiritual awakening  in our generation.  It doesn’t mean that all things are going to carry on as they have in the past.  It’s not about saving sand castles and retirement accounts.  It’s about people.  Christ  died for people.  And I thank God that we have the privilege of prayer this morning…. we’re going to pray with believers from all across this nation, and we’re going to ask God to do what we have failed to do, and I want to remind you that God is a God of mercy.  Remember in the Scriptures that Daniel saw the power of God’s mercy in the Scriptures, he saw it written, and he opened his window and began to pray toward Jerusalem, and he said, “Lord, we have sinned.”  He had not been among those who had been responsible for the captivity, nevertheless he didn’t exclude himself in his prayer: “We have sinned.”  As a testimony of God, we have fallen greatly short of what we ought to have been.  We took the blessing of God and began to worship it, we built a golden calf in the house of God, created our own Christ that we could carry on our shoulders and point in any direction that we wanted Him to go, and subsequently  the nation looked at us, and laughed, and cast us out as salt to be trodden under the feet of men.  Though we have churches on every corner throughout the cities and towns in this nation, we have failed to represent Jesus to this generation.  God, give us the grace to walk humbly now before you.  Give us the grace to put away all finger pointing.  Give us the grace to look within, and say, Jesus, we call on you one more time to do what only you can do in this country….

Conlon then got down on his knees with the TSC elders and continued with the following prayer:

God Almighty, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Lord, you are the only Creator, beside You there is no other God, and Lord, we gather together today to pray with brothers and sisters of all denominations throughout this nation.  And we realize the perilous times we are now living in, where evil is becoming good and good is becoming evil.  We are living on the precipice of a social, political, and moral, and financial collapse.  We have rightly judged ourselves, God, we have rightly brought ourselves into these rough waters, because we have ignored Your word; we have ignored Your warnings; even in the house of God we have crafted our own Christ; God, forgive us for this abominable evil; forgive us, Lord, forgive the pastors of this nation, for what we have done, standing in pulpits and not preaching a Christ that people can lay hold of.  Lord Jesus Christ, we ask you, God, for a season of mercy, we ask for a spiritual awakening in this land, we ask You, Father, in Jesus Name, to touch our hearts, touch our homes,  God, touch our churches.  Lord, you are the God in the book of Ezekiel who breathed on bones and brought them back to life, even though they died around the altars of their own making.  You showed how merciful You can be.  Oh God, You are the one who stood before the grave of someone you loved who had been dead for four days, and You called him back to life again.  So this is Who we cry out to this day, Lord.  You are able to breathe on us again, You are able to call to us again and bring us back to life.

I pray, God, forgive us our ignorance, bring us back together as a body all over this nation, bring us back together in prayer, singleness of purpose, bring us back to the Scriptures again, help us to cast off the gods of our own making.  Oh Jesus Christ, we ask You, Lord, for a season of mercy in this nation, we ask you for a time, God, such as You gave the apostle Paul in the book of Acts Chapter 27, when men and women had an opportunity to hear who You were one more time.  God, give this generation an opportunity  to hear about You.  Turn back the flood of evil, turn it back, O God, Your word says that He who sits in the Heavens shall laugh, and vex them in His sore displeasure and have them in derision.   God Almighty, we ask you, God, to blind those who are trying to drag this nation into a moral abyss, and we ask You, Lord, to open the eyes of this generation, open the eyes of the people of God, open our eyes to who You are, and what You desire to do, Your ability, God, to move Heaven and earth as we begin to pray.  You Yourself said that if My people will humble themselves and pray and turn from their wicked way, I will hear from Heaven, forgive their sin, and I will heal their land.  Now, My eyes shall be open, My ears listening, for the prayers that are going to be prayed in this place.

And so Lord God, we are asking not for ourselves, but we are asking for others, we are asking for a great turning of our young people who in our schools and colleges have been lied to and told there is no God.  Lord, we’ve allowed the Enemy to build fortifications around all of our institutions, and God Almighty, we ask You to bring these walls down, for David the king said, By God I have leaped through a troop, by God I have leaped over a wall, by God my arms have been strengthened so that a bow of steel is broken by them.  Oh Jesus Christ, Son of God, give us power, give us strength for this last moment of time. Let our praises truly be birthed in God, let the word of God be preached again in the house of God.  Oh Jesus, Lord, we ask for mercy, Lord, for all of our pastors across this land in every denomination.  Lord, those who are still alive, cause them to be encouraged, those who barely have a flicker, breathe on them, bring them back to life again, those who are dead, call them, raise them out of the grave, but oh God, let every man and woman of God  have a testimony, Lord, of the resurrection power and life of Jesus Christ.  Bring the Cross back to the central focus of our theology; deliver us, Lord, from all of the foolishness that we have presented as being from You and Your kingdom and Your heart, and bring us back to that which really matters– the shedding of Christ’s blood, the power over sin and death, the resurrection life that belongs to everyone who turns to Christ for redemption.

God, we yield ourselves to this purpose, for New York City we ask that You would breathe on… this city, and bring it back to life; let there be a massive touch of God come into our streets, our boroughs, our homes, our colleges, O God, let even our park benches become places of prayer meetings.  God, stop all the commerce, let men and women begin to turn to You with all of their hearts.  Father, be merciful, O God, to those who parade their sin in our streets, be merciful, God, to those who do these things, we’re asking, Lord, for mercy, we’re asking for salvation, we’re asking, God, for a true joy, a true peace, and true life.  Father, we’re asking for these things, we praise You, and we bless You in the mighty unmatchable Name of Jesus Christ, King of kings, and Lord of lords, in His precious name we pray, Amen, and Amen.  Thank You, Hallelujah, thank You Lord, thank You, mighty God.

All I can say to this is, Amen, Amen.  Regardless what nation we are living in, the moral collapse Conlon speaks of is all around us; we groan for this, sigh and cry for this; our need for the shining forth of the living Christ is beyond words.  And He, for His part, is breaking to manifest Himself.

And will.  Let us not, then, miss the hour of our visitation.   Let us in this difficult hour– this tremendous hour, which is the prelude to that visitation– give ourselves to Him utterly without reserve.

The Bible describes the sovereign God as the One who does as He wishes in Heaven and earth (Ps. 135.6).  At the same time He is the God who hears prayer.

O Thou that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come (Ps. 65.2).

This is quite something—that the great, the omnipotent, the sovereign God, desires to, is willing to, involve us in His sovereignty.  This ought to inspire us greatly in our praying.  I think it was John Wesley who said God will do nothing but in answer to prayer.  For years I missed the import of that.  This is not just saying we need to pray more, and that if we don’t we’re not going to see God do anything.  It goes deeper than that.  What Wesley meant is that God is the kind of God who wants to include a man in His sovereignty—someone who has an in with Him, and is recognized by others as having an in with Him.  God wants to do things, but He wants us to be part of that doing.

The implication is that certain men and women have pull with Him, as they say.  They are people with connections—connections in Heaven.  Who are these ones?  As we read further in Psalm 65 we discover they are those whom God has chosen to draw nigh to Him.

Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto Thee… (Ps. 65.4).

Simply put, then, they are people who are close to Him.  We think immediately of the apostle John.  Even the other apostles recognized that John had a certain in with the Lord Jesus—a closeness of relationship with Him that they themselves lacked.  During the last supper as they were all reclining around the meal, John was the disciple who “reclined in Jesus’ bosom” (Jn. 13.23).  You can see that in your mind’s eye—John reclining, leaning on his elbow, his head very close to Jesus’ breast as they supped together.

And at some point during the supper Jesus tells them that one of them will betray Him.  They are all aghast.  Who might this traitor be?  Each of them, tender of conscience, is anxious it could be himself.  They want to ask the Lord who it is, but this is something they sometimes struggled with.  They would talk with one another about their concerns and questions, but there was sometimes a certain fear in them about approaching their Lord Himself.  They stood so in awe of Him.  But it was more than that—their own insecurity.  They lacked the security of relationship with Him, the knowledge and assurance of His love that would enable them to draw near to Him and speak to Him face to face.

With John it was different.  John somehow had the assurance of His love.  The verse that tells us he was reclining in Jesus’ bosom goes on to describe John as the “disciple whom Jesus loved.”  You mean He didn’t love them all?  Of course He did.  But somehow there was an open-faced relationship between John and Jesus that enabled John to receive this love, to know and believe this love.  And so during the supper he is reclining in Jesus’ bosom just where he wanted to be—and knowing that’s where Jesus wanted him to be too.

And while the attention of the others is on something else—perhaps they are anxiously conferring with one another about this very matter—Peter beckons to John to ask the Lord who the betrayer is.  And the Lord reveals this to John.

This, I think, captures the essence of our message.  The closeness of our relationship with the Lord puts us in the place where we stand between God and men on behalf of men.  John was the “disciple whom Jesus loved.”  John was secure in this love… and, oh, that we all might have the same open-faced relationship with Him—knowing His love for us, and loving Him in return… and therefore, instead of being among those who, like Peter, are asking someone else, “You ask Him…” we are the one reclining in His bosom, the one others are urging, “You ask Him for me, please.”

Consider Job.  After God revealed Himself to Job He reproved the three men who with their unkind and unjust accusations had given Job such a hard time.  They were in serious trouble with God now.  His wrath was kindled against them.  So He advised them to go to Job and offer up a burnt offering to God.

And my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept (Job 42.8).

This is very intriguing.  Could not these men have prayed to God themselves?  Could not God have transacted this whole thing with these men directly, telling them what He required of them to set things right?  I suppose so, but we see here how much God desires this—a man praying to Him on behalf of other men—even men who have hurt that man.  A man like Job.  A man He has accepted.  A man in close relationship with Him.  Satan had tried to separate Job from God.  Everything he did brought about the exact opposite.  Job came through the great ordeal a man approved of God.  He was now one who was accepted with God—meaning that his prayers would be accepted as well.  Let us remember this in our own trials.  God’s objective in it all is to make of us the kind of person who is near Him, has an in with Him.

Incidentally, by requiring these men to go to Job, God humbled them—something they very much needed.

Now Abraham.  When Abraham went to sojourn in Gerar he fell back again on the old arrangement he had with his wife Sarah.  Sarah was a very beautiful woman.  Abraham’s fear was that someone might eye Sarah and want to take her for a wife—which they couldn’t do legitimately if her husband was alive.  And so whenever they came into unfamiliar territory she was to tell people she was Abraham’s sister, not his wife.

And they come to Gerar.  Apparently even at ninety-two years old Sarah is still a strikingly beautiful woman.  Sure enough, Abimelech king of Gerar eyes her.  And he takes her into his harem, thinking she is the sister of this man who has come to sojourn in his territory.  But then God speaks to Abimelech in a dream.

Behold, thou art but a dead man for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife (Gen. 20.3).

Abimelech confronts Abraham about this and Abraham tells him the truth, at the same time explaining that he hadn’t really lied either: she is in fact his sister—the daughter of his father but not the daughter of his mother.  However, God has afflicted the whole house of Abimelech for this.  None are able to bear children.  How will the matter be rectified?  It’s interesting to note that while never referring to God by His covenant name Yahweh, Abimelech obviously has some kind of relationship with God.  He is in conversation with Him about this, explaining that he took Sarah into his house in his integrity.  And God tells him that He knew that, and withheld him from sinning against Him.  Nevertheless the whole situation has to be set right by Abimelech restoring Sarah to Abraham.

And then God shows Abimelech how the death sentence upon him, and the affliction that is causing the barrenness of all the women, is to be removed.

Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live…

See how high a thing this is with God—that he has nurtured this man Abraham into such relationship with Himself that He is moved by his prayers? Abimelech obviously had a relationship with God to some extent: could not Abimelech have prayed to God himself?  And could not God as a result of his exchange with Abimelech have dealt with the problem sovereignly when he returned Sarah to Abraham?  But once again we see how greatly God desires to include in His sovereignty a man who is in close relationship with Him.

He shall pray for you…

One more illustration.  Simon the sorcerer.  This man was green with envy upon seeing that when the apostles Peter and John laid hands on others they received the Holy Spirit.  He approached them and asked them to sell that ability to him also.  Peter immediately rebuked him.

Thy money perish with thee because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money… Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee (Acts 8.20).

However, Simon isn’t all that confident his own prayers are good currency with God.  He responds—and he is speaking to both Peter and John:

Pray ye to the Lord for me that none of the things which ye have spoken come upon me.

Once again there is the recognition here that God can be moved by the prayers of those who are on good terms with Him and in close relationship with Him—those who are near Him.  Eliphaz the Temanite knew God (you know what I mean: God spoke directly to him).  Yet it was not the kind of knowledge Job had.  God told Eliphaz it would be Job’s prayers that saved him from being dealt with according to his folly.  Abimelech also knew God.  But it was Abraham’s prayers that moved God to heal Abimelech’s household.  Simon the sorcerer did not know God.  But he recognized that someone in close relationship with God could influence Him on his behalf.

And so… this is the kind of God that our sovereign God is.  “O Thou that hearest prayer….”  He is the God who hears prayer.  The Hebrew word here actually means answerest.  “O Thou that answerest prayer…”  God hearing prayer means that He answers, and grants the desire of the heart.

But whose prayer does He hear?  Those who are near Him.  Let us draw near Him, then, nearer and nearer.  Let us set our hearts to be such men and women—the kind that others come to asking us to ask God on their behalf—and being assured that He hears us when we ask.

(An excerpt from my writing The Golden Altar Of Incense)