God Delights in prayer

­God delights in prayer.  It is amazing to think that we have access to God, to His resources and that we move His heart when we pray. When we know the power of prayer, we will cultivate it in our own life more. Prayer changes circumstances, hearts, people, events, destiny of cities and nations and trajectory of lives.  Intercession is God's brilliant strategy for including the Church in ruling with Him in power. 

God does His best work for the world through prayer.  Andrew Murray said, “It is only by intercession that power can be brought down from heaven which will enable the Church to conquer the world”.  God does nothing without prayer. 

Prayer has always been a part of God’s redemptive plan. Abraham delayed the judgement of an entire city through intercession (Genesis 18). Moses’ intercession prevented the judgement & destruction of an entire nation (Exodus 32). Daniel’s intercession led to the turning of an evil king’s heart and to the greatest revelation on the first & second coming of Christ! Psalm 2 shows us a divine perspective. God tells His Son to “ask of Him” ~ that’s intercession, “Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession.” (verse 8). In John 17, Jesus’ intercession is about his friends and all those who would come after them.  The book of Hebrews speaks of Jesus as the Great High Priest who has a permanent priesthood (Hebrews 7-9). Intercession is woven as the key strategy to redeem the world.

There are literal lives at stake when we pray. There are cities and nations at stake in our prayers. There is greater revelation and understanding of God’s heart and plan at stake for us and for the Church. We must set our sights beyond ourselves and ask for more! You and I are part of God’s redemptive plan for the entire world.
What happens when we intercede?

1. Judgment is postponed. Intercession can postpone the judgment on a city or nation that rightly deserves it as a result of humanity’s sin.  In the context of intercession, the results of sin are slowed and there is a window for mercy.
2. Atmospheres change. Intercession changes the atmosphere of places, cities, nations, etc. as individuals pray. Intercession releases God’s presence, which prepares the ground for harvest.
3. Revelation released. Intercession is also one of the primary ways by which we, the Beloved of God, receive revelation of God’s plan, in our personal lives, and we gain God’s heart for the people an issues we see around us. Paul prayed for the Church, “I keep asking that the God of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know Him better,” Ephesians 1:17.
4. Paves the way for the return of Jesus. Intercession prepares the earth to receive her king. As intercessors cry out for justice day and night and for God to right the wrongs on the earth, the ultimate fulfillment is for Jesus to return and establish His Kingdom on earth. “And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will see that they get justice, and quickly,” Luke 18:7-8.
5. Justice is released.  E.M Bounds says, “Prayer and faith are twins. Faith is always praying. Prayer is always believing. Faith must have a tongue by which it can speak. Prayer is the tongue of faith. Prayer asks. Faith lays its hand on the thing asked for.”

• Healing:  God’s justice comes on sickness is seen in the manifestation of healing power.
• Revival: God’s justice comes on compromise seen in the Church being revived by the Spirit of God.
• Salvation: God’s justice comes to those who are pulled out of darkness into Jesus’ glorious light!  “Wake up O sleeper, rise from the dead and Christ will shine on you,” Ephesians 5:14.
• Unreached people groups: Justice comes to the nations, tribes & tongues when the gospel is preached in every language and there is a witness to the gospel in every village. “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore to send out workers into His harvest field,” Matthew 9:37-38.
• Righteous legislation: God’s judgment on unrighteous laws (abortion, sex-trafficking, etc).

Having been a part of the prayer movement for over a decade, I have seen the results of prayer. In the last couple years, being part of an elementary school environment, I am committed to train up intercessors for this hour in which we are living.  I know the power of prayer and I want to cultivate young hearts in the spirit of prayer, to seek God and His heart for their lives, families, schools, cities, etc.

E.M. Bounds has said, “He has ordained prayer as a means whereby He will do things through men (women, children, teens) as they pray, which He would not do otherwise.”  Your prayers move the heart of God. He invites you and I to partner with Him for the sake of the world.     

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