God has made us a royal priesthood with the privilege and the responsibility to pray for one another, which ought to drive us to ask, as did the disciples, “Lord, teach us to pray.”
He taught them and He will teach us.
Jesus answered the disciples request, first with the “Model Prayer” of:
Luke 11:2-4 (KJV) 2 …Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.
Then Jesus gave the parable of the friend at midnight. The parable is a powerful illustration of intercession, involving three parties. Intercession is a triangle of prayer: one person going to another person to get bread for a third person.
Luke 11:5-8 (KJV) 5 And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? 7 And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. 8 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.
Intercession is bold praying.
Daring, bold, audacious, these are the only adjectives that rightly describe intercessory praying.
The situation in the story called for boldness. The hour was inconvenient, it was the night. The circumstances were inconvenient, my children are in bed with me.
It was common in those days for families to sleep together, not only for warmth, but also because of a lack of space. The typical one dwelling would contain one large mat on which the entire family, usually along with a few far animals. My children are packed about me in bed. Do you remember those maddening occasions when you're trying to get your baby to sleep? You would sing and hum and rock for an hour. And finally, when the little thing falls asleep, the doorbell rings.
But the barely sleeping baby doesn't dissuade the midnight caller. He bangs on the door and keeps banging until lights come on in the neighbors houses and dogs start barking.
Daring and boldness, all the intercessors of the Bible had these qualities.
Listen to Abraham as he intercedes for godless Sodom:
Genesis 18:23-25 (KJV) 23 And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? 24 Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? 25 That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?
Every time I read that, I have an urge to remind Abraham who he’s talking to. That’s daring praying.
Moses was another bold intercessor. A drama is unfolding in Exodus 32. While Moses has been with God on the mountain, the people have gone wild. They have forgotten the Lord who saved them and have bowed down to worship a god made with their own hands, a golden calf.
When the people rose up to play, God rose up to judge.
Exodus 32:7 (KJV) And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.
His patience is exhausted; He is through with them. Finished. End of story.
Exodus 32:10 (KJV) Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.
But Moses intercedes for them. Exodus 32:12 (KJV) Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Notice that God calls them Moses’ people, but Moses calls them God’s people.
Moses makes two bold statements. First, he tells God that destroying His own people will ruin His reputation; the Egyptians will mock and say that God delivered them from Egypt so He could kill them in the mountains.
Second, if God does this, He will be breaking His promise and violating His own Word. Exodus 32:13 (KJV) Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.
The result? Exodus 32:14 (KJV) And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
Think of it…one man wielding the weapon of intercession saved an entire nation.
Intercession is stubborn praying.
The most critical part of the story in Luke 11 is Luke 11:8 (KJV) 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.
Evidently, Jesus considered stubbornness in praying an advantage because He emphasized it again in the parable of the widow and unjust judge.
The judge, with no fear of God and no regard for man, refused to aid a widow who came to him seeking justice. How could anyone refuse to help a widow? That’s the point.
Although there was no pity in the judge, there was importunity in the widow. The judge said to himself, Luke 18:4-5 (KJV) 4 …Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.
“Though” is emphasized in the Greek text. It is the critical part of the story. It is the widow’s continual coming, not a change of heart in the judge, that persuades him.
Now listen to Jesus’ application of the story: Luke 18:6-8 (KJV) 6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
If an unjust judge will surrender to the persistent pleading of a widow, how much more will God honor the persistence of His people.
Do you recall the Old Testament story about Jacob wrestling with an angel? Something about that has always bothered me. This is an angel that Jacob is fighting, an angel who wants to get away, but Jacob won’t let him. “Let me go,” the angel says.
And Jacob replies, “I will not let you go until you bless me.”
Now here’s what bothers me. Have you ever seen an angel who couldn’t break away from a mere human if he really wanted to? Do you believe Jacob was so strong he could pin down an angel? That fight was fixed. I believe the angel was saying, “Let me go, but under his breath he was whispering, “but I hope you don’t. Hang on a little longer and you’ll get the blessing.”
I wonder how many times we have stopped short of the blessing? Would Sodom have been saved if Abraham had not stopped at ten? Could our church, our towns, our country see a spiritual awakening if we pray like Jacob. “I will not let you go until you bless me?”
Intercession is desperate praying.
A cry of desperation sounds throughout this parable. It would have been easy to convince a more practical host to wait for a more practical hour to go banging on the neighbor’s door. Unconcern always finds an excuse, deep concern always finds a way. Only desperate people take desperate actions and prevail.
Our inescapable responsibility
The problem is that the situation is desperate but we are not. We should be. Our inescapable responsibility should make us desperate.
“A friend of mine has come to me on his journey.” He has come to me. Not my neighbor, not my pastor, but me.
There are people who, in their journey have come to us. They live next door, they sit behind us at school, they work in the same office as us and we are the only Christians they meet. They are our inescapable responsibility.
Do you think you just lucked into that particular house on that particular street? Could it be that God wanted a harvest there and you are the seed He planted? Think about it.
You may say your company transferred you to this area and that is the only reason you are here. Perhaps it is more than that. Perhaps your company is the instrument God used to disburse you.
Maybe God planted you where you are because He knew that a friend on his journey would pass your way, and maybe God wants you to identify with his need and in Jesus’ Name meet that need. This person is your inescapable responsibility.
Our inadequate resources
Our inadequate resources should make us desperate. Listen to the plaintive words of the host, “I have nothing to set before him.” His words echo our own desperation in the face of life and death responsibilities God places within our borders.
Lord, my neighbor is lost and dying of cancer and I have nothing to set before him.
Lord, I have a teenage daughter facing severe temptation and I have nothing to set before her.
Lord, the man I work with…his home is breaking up and I have nothing to set before him.
Who is sufficient for these things? No one…and that should drive us to the throne of grace “that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
If the church does not learn to knock boldly at the Father’s door, our magnificent sanctuaries will become empty breadboxes, and starving travelers, finding no bread at our doors, will turn away with empty stomachs and aching belly’s.
If a man gets hungry he will eat break from a garbage can. If he walks away from church, the devil will be there ready to give him plenty of garbage can bread.
God’s inevitable reward
Which leads us to the final point in our parable. God’s inevitable reward. Luke 11:8 (KJV) …he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. Did he get three loaves? I don’t know, but he got as many as he needed. No one goes away from the Father empty handed. The promise of Christ is:
Matthew 7:11 (KJV) If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?
We enter the place of intercession with our much need and leave with His much more.
There is only one place to get bread…from the Father. There is only one way to get it…by asking.
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