Intercession is defined as an interposing or pleading on behalf of another person; A prayer to God on behalf of another.
After citing the failures of the Israelite prophets, priests, princes and the people themselves, in Ezekiel 22:23-29, God discloses how easily His wrath could have been prevented from being poured out on the land. All it would have taken was one intercessor.
God declares in verse 30:
30 And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none.
Sadly, God could find no one to stand in the gap. As then, let it not be now. Let the intercessors cry out. God is listening.
In His Sovereignty, God reserves the right to alter his plan in answer to intercessory prayer. That’ll mess up your Calvinistic theology for sure.
He showed it with Moses. Exodus 32:9-11, 14:
9 And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
10 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.
11 And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?
14 And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
Had there been ten righteous in Sodom they would have remained in answer to Abraham’s intercession. Genesis 18:32:
32 And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake.
Our nation and the nations of the world need a man, a woman, someone to plead their case before the Father. Someone near to us needs a friend in prayer. Much can be averted by intercessory prayer.
Otherwise the result could be disastrous. Ezekiel 32:31:
31 Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord God.
Will we be the one making up the hedge, and standing in the gap?
--PJF—
Purpose! Ministries
A Praying Church - A Healing Church - A Holy Spirit Church - A Preaching Church
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