House Of Prayer - Intercession (Bronte Fitch)

``Moses was not an independent agent capable of turning a genie like god on and off with a switch. Instead, he was a man connected with god, a god who invited him onto his divine council. God says to Moses, here's the crisis I'm experiencing. I want you fully in it with me. You're my partner in this. And in doing that, God's sovereignty isn't disturbed. [00:11:08] (31 seconds)  #Do you want a hashtag for each paragraph as separated in your text, or one per unique quote (the passage repeats several times)? How many hashtags should I produce?

As he tells Moses later, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. And yet, while he is still utterly sovereign, he too is our father who invites us as his children onto his divine council, allowing our prayers to be in some sense effective in this world. [00:11:39] (27 seconds)

So how do we grow in it? Well, first, as we've discussed, powerful intercession means coming before the Lord in a certain way. Standing in the gap between God and his creation with both the boldness of a child who knows him as our father in heaven and the reverence that comes with recognizing that we are standing on holy ground, hallowed be your name, humbly acknowledging that we need the holy spirit to help attune our hearts to his as we pray, your kingdom come. [00:20:46] (38 seconds)

But it also highlights some key tensions that intercessory prayer brings up. If Moses didn't choose to stand in the gap, would God have destroyed his people? Was Moses completely and utterly and entirely responsible for the ultimate outcome? And if that's true, then should we not all be living in crippling fear that the thought that our prayers are that powerful that they can literally change the mind of a god who apparently needs some form of direction? These questions completely miss the mark of what intercessory prayer is all about. [00:10:26] (42 seconds)

So rather than getting caught up in all of these complicated questions of whether God would not would or would not have done something. Instead, we just simply hold on to the truth that prayer moves the arm of God. We pray because we believe prayer changes things. And so when we approach intercessory intercessory prayer, it's also important that we acknowledge this tension coming before God with the confidence and boldness of a child to his father, but also with a holy reverence, acknowledging his sovereignty. [00:12:29] (38 seconds)

Now as with the entire book of Hebrews, this is dense with theological significance. I mean, we don't have time to get into the nuances of it, but here's the crux of it. Jesus was heard by God not because he was an incredible intercessor prayer warrior, not because he was the wisest man to ever live on Earth. He was heard by God not even because he was the divine son of God. Rather, he was heard because of his deep reverence for God. [00:13:24] (37 seconds)

If our prayers for others in difficult situations are laden with apathy, if we're not aware of the problems and pains that people in our community are experiencing, or if we're flicking through, scrolling through, breaking news stories without even thinking about praying, then simply, we need the Holy Spirit to work in us. We need him to break our hearts for what breaks his. We need him to open our eyes to the brokenness problems and challenges those around us are facing. We need him to make us desperate to see him breaking through and transform transforming people's lives for his glory. [00:17:57] (45 seconds)

When the very foundation of our lives are adoration and thanksgiving, then I think both petition, that type of prayer that Ian spoke about two weeks ago, and intercession which we're looking at today becomes so much more powerful. As Ian explained, petition is when we bring prayer before the Lord that focuses on selves, asking god to meet our own needs. In contrast, intercession is when we ask god on behalf of others. [00:04:21] (32 seconds)