"The Privilege of Intercession
'...You were to them God-Who-Forgives, though You took vengeance on their deeds. Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at His holy hill; for the Lord our God is holy.' (Psalm 99:8,9)
Prayer is a privilege that carries with it a multitude of blessings. It demolishes spiritual strongholds, it sets in motion a harvest of souls, while all the time God is affecting the heart of this congregation [all of you!]: changing our hearts personally to be like His toward the world He loves.
The Passion of Our Intercession ('the God who forgives')
1. To become a channel of His grace to the world - II Corinthians 3:6
2. To stand in the gap in the face of judgment facing our world - Ezekiel 22:30
3. To confess sin for those who cannot in our city and world - II Chronicles 7:14
The Price of Our Intercession ('took vengeance on their deeds')
1. Was paid on the cross by Jesus - Romans 3:25,26
2. Spared us from judgment we deserve - John 3:16-18
3. On the cross, Jesus became the ultimate Intercessor - Isaiah 53:12; Luke 23:34
The Purity of Our Intercession ('the Lord our God is holy')
1. Based on who He is and what He does - Isaiah 6:3
2. Bringing about holiness in His own peoiple - II Corinthians 5:17
3. Calls us to serve our world in purity - Luke 1:74,75
The Power of Intercession ('exalt the Lord our God')
1. Worship is the intercessor's pathway to understanding - Psalm 95:2,3
2. Bringing about holiness in His own people - II Corinthians 20:21,22
3. Our worship and witness are linked together - I Peter 2:9, Acts 2:47
The Lord is teaching us through prayer to love His world on His terms. He's answering prayer and changing us in the process. What a wonderful privilege. We believe that, by prayer and the Word, God is committed to building us up in the faith to be more like Him, causing us to move with a stability that accomplishes things in the Spirit while, all the time, producing in us a unity of purpose that lets Him be the head of the Church and lets us be a people knit together in love.
Ron Mehl"