Intercession: Precursor for Revival
My daughter, Jubilee, as a little girl crying out to God
Intercession, Precursor to Revival
In God’s Providence, the Lord established a working Kingdom relationship with the brethren of Northern Ireland. So far, I’ve gone twice and I’m scheduled to return this coming May for a few more weeks of missionary work.
The brethren there framed our work together as an “Awakening Tour.” The divine goal was and is to seek the Lord for a heaven-sent revival that would equip the church in Northern Ireland to free their land once again from tyranny, abortion, and sodomy. No small task and no small stir once we started to press in to the vision and mission.
While there in that blessed land, I was taken to the very house where the prayer meeting was set up that ushered in the 1859 revival. A group of four men cried out to God for a couple of years based upon the reports from America on the Second Great Awakening. Later I was taken to the very hills, hamlets, and villages where God rent the heavens, came down, and poured out His Holy Spirit. The revival lasted for 7 months and it is estimated that over 100,000 souls were birthed into the Kingdom and added to God’s Church. The miraculous accounts still stirs my soul to this day.
In order to fulfill the vision of the Awakening Tour, I thought it prudent to minister on the essential role of intercession to prepare the way of the Lord. Here is the essence of the message that went forth in Northern Ireland. I pray it inspires those of you who read it to “Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, till He comes and rains righteousness on you” (Hosea 10:12).
By God’s grace we want to explore the necessary preparations that Biblically and historically prepared the way of the Lord to visit certain regions and lands with revival.
Isaiah 40:3 states, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’” In context, this passage prophecies the calling upon John the Baptist to prepare the world to receive her King, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For our purposes, I want to concentrate on the vital importance of preparing a pathway for the Lord, a highway for God to visit our desert lands that are filled with abominations and idolatry.
We desperately need God’s intervention to set things in divine order in accordance with the rest of the text, “Every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight and the rough places smooth; The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
In a very real sense, John preparing the way of the Lord was a great example when it came to Jesus teaching His Church about the role of prayer and intercession. He wants His Church to hallow the Father’s name and pray, “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This is the first priority of any Christian worth his salt. We need to seek first God’s Kingdom and righteousness and all the things we worry about will simply be added to us (Matthew 6:33).
It is clear from God’s prayer priorities that He wants His Kingdom and will in heaven manifested in the earth. Logically, we know there is no child sacrifice and the shedding of innocent blood being committed in heaven. No one is parading their sin like Sodom. There is no governmental tyranny or cultural corruption in heaven. There is no confusion between what constitutes a boy and a girl. God wants that reality established on the earth. How do we know this for sure? It is by the church fulfilling the divine task set forth in the Great Commission detailed in Matthew 28:18-20.
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
To a certain degree the government we have, the laws we live by, and the culture we live in reveal God’s report card on the effectiveness of His Church in fulfilling the Great Commission and the Cultural Mandate. I don’t know the grade for Northern Ireland, but I certainly know the grade in America and cringe.
Two powerful Intercessors
The church and every individual Christian that is born of God’s Spirit have two powerful intercessors advocating on their behalf. One is in heaven, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and one is within us on earth, the Holy Spirit.
Hebrews 7:25 reveals, “Therefore He (Jesus) is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” The divine purpose of this intercession is to save God’s people to the uttermost. Jesus is our advocate in heaven and he does not lose a case. Truly, it is “Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine. O what a foretaste of glory divine.”
Some theologians and Bible scholars believe our Lord’s intercession is related to just prayer. There is another aspect, though, of intercession that actually might be more the case, which is intervention on the behalf of His people. Psalms presents this interposition well, “This poor man cried out, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles (Psalms 34:6).
The Holy Spirit is our intercessor on earth. Romans 8:26 reveals, “Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.”
Few Christians believe in or seek the Spirit of God to make intercession through them based upon their limited knowledge on how to truly pray in any given situation. It is a strange phenomenon in the church. Most of the church has strong theology and doctrine when it comes to God the Father and God the Son, and yet when it comes to the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Ghost, most are skittish.
Some of this may be due to the emotionalism characterized by the Charismatic and Pentecostal churches. Besides that, the tendency of some within that Christian persuasion to exalt subjective spiritual manifestations as more authoritative than the written Word of God and the spooky spiritual gobbledegook that proceeds from that Biblical error.
And yet, it is the Holy Spirit that is actually with us in this world. We are His Temple and thus we should not throw the baby out with the bath water. If there is a deceitful counterfeit that should alert us to the original that God established for His glory and our good.
The Apostle Paul experienced this depth of intercession at least twice in his life and ministry. In fact, it is probably a deeper level of Holy Spirit intercession that he called travail. Once, he travailed to birth souls into the Kingdom and add them to God’s church and he travailed again till Christ was formed in their souls (Galatians 4:19).
Only twice in my life did I experience a similar intercession of travail. Once, when the Lord poured out on me the Spirit of grace and supplication to birth me into the ministry and convicted me to leave my acting career behind at the Debbie Reynolds rehearsal studio in Hollywood, CA. and once at the Haskell death camp in Dayton, Ohio. This was the abortionist that was an inventor of evil who was responsible for creating partial birth abortions. At both times and places, groanings welled up big on the inside and it was crystal clear the Spirit of God was making intercession according to Romans 8:26.
Interestingly enough, Isaiah the prophet reveals the importance of travail that is foundational for evangelism. He stated, “Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children” (Isaiah 66:8).
Question, when was the last time you or other Christians you know have been moved to weep over the souls of men and this generation that is being devoured by sin and the Devil? This is not meant to condemn, but to perhaps call us all back to our first love and first works as Christians (Revelation 2:4, 5).
Keep in mind that one definition of intercession means to “take the place of.” In the case of abortion, the preborn baby does not know the evil intent of what is about to happen to their precious life and the church does. How would you pray if you were the child in womb aware of the danger? That is intercession.
The same is true when it comes to interceding for the lost. Their minds are blinded by Satan. They are held captive to obey His will. In their fallen, sinful state, most don’t have the spiritual and moral sense to be like the publican who beats his breast and cries out to God to be merciful to him a sinner. How would you pray if you knew that you were in that wretched state? That is intercession for the lost.
Intercession also has a tenacity element that cannot be quenched until the breakthrough comes. Effective intercession employs the prayer of importunity. In our micro-wave generation that taps its toe waiting for things to instantly heat, we do not seem to have the same perseverance in prayer as those who have gone before us.
Luke 18:1-4 speaks of the persistent widow that would not take no for an answer from the unjust judge. Jesus commenting on this parable meant to inspire Christians to pray and not lose heart that he would avenge His own speedily, but would He find faith on the earth.
Apparently, faith, persistence, and patience is required to inherit the promises of God in the earth (Hebrews 6:12). We see this same teaching from our Lord when it came to the annoying neighbor who comes in the middle of the night to awaken his sleeping neighbor to get food for a visitor (Luke 11:5-8). It is the persistence of ask and keep asking, seek and keep seeking, and knock and keep knocking that Jesus promised would yield good Kingdom fruit (Matthew 7:7-12).
True intercession is not prayer that is content with the religious status quo. It is not prayer that merely is obligatory as it checks off the prayer box as a Christian. It is prayer that wants to see a powerful change take place in our personal lives, the church, and our nation. There is an element of desperation involved.
Rachel demanded children or else she would die. John Knox cried out to God, “Give me Scotland or else I die.” George Whitfield killing himself trying to be holy enough collapsed and cried out, “I thirst.” The Holy Spirit fell on him, filled him, and empowered him to become one of the most powerful preachers in history.
Jesus on the cross cried out, “I thirst.” Was he just thirsty because he was parched dying on the cross or was he thirsty to fulfill, “It is finished?” Was he thirsty to fulfill God’s will, pay the price, and establish justice, so God’s mercy could be extended to guilty sinners like you and me?
God promises those who hunger and thirst will be filled. The issue for us today is to discern if we are hungry and thirsty for God to move upon our dry and weary land that is going through religious motions, while we resort back to the brutal darkness of paganism?
A broken and contrite heart, God will never despise (Psalms 51:17).
IN KING JESUS’ SERVICE,
Rusty
