Prophetic Intercession - True Prayer

Matthew 6:9: In this manner, therefore pray: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts and we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

What is Intercession?
here's a lot of talk today about the ministry of intercession, and intercessors, and people who intercede. This word is thrown around quite loosely especially in Charismatic circles today and you often hear people saying, "Well, I'm an intercessor." Well, what is an intercessor and what is intercession? Is it just praying? Is it a prayer? Can anyone do it? Is intercession something that any believer can do? And does it have any special relationship as regards the ministry of a prophet?

We’re dealing with the prophetic ministry and this message is part of the same series that relates to the ministry of a prophet so I especially want us to consider how intercession and the intercessory ministry relates to the prophet. But in order to understand the subject better I'm going to look at whole subject of intercession tonight. It's a very big subject. We could probably preach a whole series just on this subject. Whole books have been written on it, so don't expect me to go into too much detail here otherwise it's going to take too long.

I want us to look at and understand clearly what the ministry of intercession is and how it relates specifically to the office of the prophet because there seems to be a lot of confusion in prophetic circles regarding this ministry of intercession. I hear people say, "Well, I am an intercessor, but I'm not sure if God's called me to the prophetic ministry." And I hear people saying, "Well I know God's called me to be a prophet, but I'm not sure if I should also intercede." These are some of the issues that I want to address here.

I want to look at the subject of prayer generally, and I'm going to see how prophets get involved in and approach the subject of prayer generally. The Lord gave us a pattern for prayer in the passage we just read, and He gave a pattern to His disciples of how they should pray. Most people in Christendom today who have been exposed to Christianity in some way have learnt the Lord's prayer by rote and can say it, but haven't a clue what it means. Ninety percent or more are like this, and the ten percent who have a clue what it means, still don't know what it means. You'll understand what I'm talking about when I'm finished this message because I'm going to explain to you what it means. I'm going to show you what the Lord was talking about. I'm going to show you what He was getting at when He gave them that pattern of prayer. And you'll begin to understand how to use that pattern, and how to get involved in true intercession.

The Four P's of Prayer
I always like to create a little skeleton on which to hang principles when we study a subject like this, so I'd like to give you a skeleton on the subject of prayer. I like to call them the 4 P's. I actually used to originally preach this as the 3 P's, but when I came to look at it from the point of view of the prophetic ministry I discovered that there was a fourth P. So I'm going to share all the 4 P's with you now.

The 4 P's are easy to remember - P for Prayer, and four different words that begin with P that are all related to prayer and describe a different type of prayer. I'm going to give you the 4 P's and then we're going to look at each one of them in detail.

The first P of prayer is praise, and worship associated with it.

The second P is petition.

The third P is penitence.

The fourth P strangely enough is prophetic proclamation.

Praise, petition, penitence and prophetic - you'll see all four of those in the Lord's prayer, and I'm going to show you that. Let's start with praise and worship. Jesus said you must pray this way, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name." This is praise and worship. You start with praise. In Psalm 22:3 David said, "But You are holy, O You that inhabits the praises of Israel." David knew all about praise. God inhabits the praises of His people.

Praise
What does praise do? Praise turns our attention from our problem to God. Romans 8:28 says, "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God and are the called according to His purpose." In recent decades there's been a resurgence and a revelation of fresh revival and restoration of praise in the church of the living God. At one time there was a whole release of books on the subject, and a man by the name of Merlin Corruthers spearheaded a lot of this with a very famous book. Some of you may have read it if you're old enough. It is still around, but it was released a long time ago, and it was called "Prison to Praise" and it sparked off something.

He wrote a whole lot more books on the subject, and the gist of the teaching was this: To learn to praise God for everything. For everything? Yes, praise God for everything. Many people thought that Merlin Corruthers was an absolute heretic because if you came to him and said, "My husband just left me," he would say, "Praise the Lord for it, sister. Start saying, 'Lord, I praise you that my husband left me.' " Are you mad?

You know what it did? It took your eyes off the problem and started to see that God was in control. It got you saying, "Lord I thank You and I praise You that no matter what has happened, You are in control." It took your attention of yourself. It took your attention off what the devil was doing. It put your attention on what God is doing. Today the church is so concerned about what the devil's doing. I get newsletters and publications in my email box all the time telling me about what the devil's doing all over the world. And everybody's getting ready for the mark of the beast and the antichrist and all the things that are going wrong, and all over the world Satan is moving. It's given to you under the guise of 'pray'.

All the time we're hearing what Satan is doing. We're not seeing what God is doing, and we become so focused on what Satan is doing, we become so focused on the evil that's in the world that our hearts become filled with fear and we wonder if God is there, and we tremble. Praise lifts your eyes off what is going on about you and in the world and puts your attention on the One who is on the throne.

Jehoshaphat
Jehoshaphat knew about praise. When he sent his army out to battle he put the singers right in the front lines. What a stupid thing to do. Here they were going into battle against the enemy, and instead of putting the best soldiers that he had at the front to face the onslaught of the enemy, he puts a bunch of stupid namby-pamby singers, a bunch of arty types you know. These musical types are usually effeminate aren't they? There's no masculinity in them. They're all softies. (;-) But Jehoshaphat knew the power that there was in praise. He knew the power that was released when the very first people who went out praised the beauty of holiness. They glorified the Lord and they sang praises to God, and when they did that, you know the story, the enemy just turned on themselves and killed each other. By the time the army got there it was all over.

Praise has a greater power than any physical force in this world. King David praised before the Lord. He knew the power of it. He set up singers and worshippers and musicians who would praise God and worship Him around the clock all the time. They were employed full-time to do that. The power in praise and worship, expressing love to the Lord, coming into His presence in loving communion and face to face relationship, even as Moses came into the presence of God and spoke to Him mouth to mouth and face to face. Even as Joshua went into the tent of meeting and after Moses left he stayed even longer to be in the presence of God.

Coming Into the Throne Room
If you are going to do anything by prayer, you're going to have to start by coming into the throne room of Almighty God. You know who has the special ability to do that? That's right, the prophet. The prophet has a very special ability to come into the presence of God because his spirit is in tune with God and he can see and he can hear in the Spirit, and he can sense in the Spirit. You start with praise and worship, and you begin to get lifted up from this world. And as you praise and as you worship it's as though you're ascending in the air like a hot air balloon going up, up, up. And you begin to look down at the ground below you there. And that problem that seemed so big and you couldn't see over it, you start to lift above it until you're looking down on top of it; until you begin to realize as the Scripture says, that when Jesus was raised from the dead and He was lifted up and raised up to be seated in heavenly places, we have been raised up together with Him and we're seated in heavenly places. We're seated in heavenly places with Him right now.

Do you know where you should be praying from? Not from down here. "Oh Lord, we're in trouble. Please help us!" No, you need to get up there to the throne. And you need to get onto the throne with the Lord, because you're in Him and He's in you. And if we're seated with Christ in heavenly places, spiritually we're seated on the throne. You need to get your eyes off this physical plane and be lifted up so that you may now look down. That's where you're praying from. That's the first step of intercession.

Prophetic Intercessors
If you're a prophetic intercessor, prophetic and intercessor are synonymous, because intercession is the main function of a prophet is not to predict and speak nice words of personal prophesy over people and tell them what their life purpose is going to be and who they're going to get married to, and whether they're going to be rich. People read horoscopes for that. Satan does that. That is not the work of the prophetic ministry.

The work of the prophetic ministry is to release the will of God into the earth. That's what we're supposed to be doing as prophets, and if we're going to do that we're going to have to start by coming into the throne room. You start your intercession with praise and worship until you become lifted up, and you come into the presence of Almighty God and you find yourself seated in the throne room in heavenly places. And from there you do your warfare. And from there you do your intercession. And from there you do your prayer and you cause change to take place in the earth. But you're not going to get there except you start in praise and worship. That's why the Lord gave that as the very first instruction for prayer.

A prophet has the ability to bring the anointing presence of God into a meeting. You know why? Because a prophet has the ability to move into the throne room very quickly. And when you move into the throne room you begin to communicate down where your body is, while your spirit is there, and you begin to communicate outwards into the very place that you are. You begin to communicate outwards the very presence of God.

Using Music
Prophets can use music and singing to release the power of God, and I have yet to meet a prophet who doesn't have some ability in this area. I don't care if you can't sing well. I don't care if you're not much of a musician. There is just something about the prophetic ministry that leads you into expressing and releasing the anointing of God through music and singing and worship. You might start just by walking around and singing in tongues. You'll be amazed how you can sing in key just by singing in tongues. It doesn't really matter. You don't even know what you're singing. You don't understand the words you're singing and you can go up and down the scales and change the notes as much as you like. It doesn't matter. You are creating a harmony in spirit, soul and body which releases the anointing power of God.

That's a subject all on it's own and we're going to cover it some time, but music has the ability to bring resonance in the soul. Music is the only thing that has the ability to take your mind and your emotions and your will, and bring them to flow all together in harmony at the same time, in tune with your spirit. And your whole spirit, soul and body begin to vibrate with the very power of God. And His glory begins to come upon you and begins to radiate forth from you as you begin to move into that. It's a powerful subject.

So the prophet enters into the presence of God through praise and worship, and having come into the throne room, then begins to wage warfare in the Spirit. I'm not going to go into detail in warfare now because that is also a subject on it's own and we're just talking about prayer and intercession and I'm only touching on the main points.

Petition
The second 'P' is petition. Actually in the Lord's prayer the second 'P' was prophetic, but I'm leaving that for last seeing as we're speaking about prophetic intercession. Petition - Give us this day our daily bread. This is about the only prayer that most people know.

"Well did you pray today?"

"Yes, I got down on my knees and I prayed for auntie and uncle, and mommy and daddy, and Aunt Suzie and everybody else in church … and pastor and everybody I know. I asked the Lord to provide my needs. I prayed the prayer of petition."

"So, did God answer your prayer?"

"Well, sometimes He does."

"Are you sure?"

"Well I prayed. Sometimes He answers, I really don't know. We're supposed to pray aren't we?"

1 John 5:14 says this:

Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.

Praying According to God's Will
Petitionary prayer, in order to be effective, has to be made in accordance with the will of God.

"I’ve been praying for a wife."

"Are you sure that it’s God’s will for you to have a wife?"

"Well, it must be because my current wife is just bad and I need to get rid of her."

Hold it! (;-) How do I know what the will of God is? Well, He’s written a few chapters about it, and if you’d like to have a read sometime, it’s the first place you’re going to find out about His will. And if what you’re praying is contrary to what’s in the word, if I were you I wouldn’t waste my breath because God is not even going to listen to your prayer. You’re out of order. You’re asking something that God has specifically forbidden.

There are areas that could be, or could not be. We’re praying something that could be in agreement with the word, but there’s two alternatives, and both of them could be in accordance with the word, but which is the right one in our circumstances? What is the right one? What is God’s will in the situation? I find that for most people they seem to think that God has planned out your life for you and decided for you which way you’re going to go exactly. So God has decided that you are going to be poor, so it’s pointless you praying for finance. God has decided that you are going to have ill health so it’s pointless praying for divine health. God has decided that you’re going to marry somebody ugly, so don’t ask for somebody attractive. God has decided that you’re going to be an evangelist, so forget about being a prophet.

People have this idea that God is this cruel tyrant who said, "I know that you don‘t want to do this, but it’s My will, so you’ll have to! Tough!" No, God’s will actually takes into account the very desires of your heart, and the Lord never imposes anything on us. God knows what you’re capable of, and He knows the end from the beginning, and so in terms of His foreknowledge, in terms of what He knows concerning you and your abilities and the experiences you’ve had in life, according to those things God makes a plan, according to your prayer. I want you to think about that. It’s according to your prayer.

I remember before Daphne and I met I was praying and I’d asked the Lord for a new wife. I told Him what I wanted. I had about fourteen points that I had laid down, and I was waiting for God now to choose my wife. I didn’t know how He was going to do it, but I figured I would be standing up there preaching one day, and she would walk in the room and our eyes would meet and @#! (;-) And God would say, "This is she!" But nobody ever walked in while I was preaching.

But one day I began to pray and said, "Lord, where is this woman that You promised me?" The Lord said, "I’m not going to choose your wife for you." He said, "This is within the limit of your own free will. But tell Me what kind of wife you want and I’ll show you were you can find one like that." You see, there’s a difference. And God brought to me somebody who matched the exact specifications that I’d asked for. Of course, some people give specifications that are not easy to meet and they have to travel all the way overseas to Mexico before they find their partner. (;-) Do you understand what I’m saying? God has not decreed, "This is the person you’re going to marry, so I don’t care if you don’t like it. I don’t care if it doesn’t match what you want. This is My will and you must submit to it!" So people go round looking for a prophet to tell them who they’re supposed to marry. Nonsense. God will never overrule your will.

Recognising God's Plan
When I speak about knowing the will of God I’m not talking about that kind of thing. I’m talking about knowing, in the circumstances, what it is that God is going to accomplish in the earth. So when I come to pray and I wait on the Lord, the Lord has taken what I have given to Him and He’s formulated a plan for me, and all I need to do is get in line with that plan and let it run it’s course. And if I miss the plan, I’m going to miss the course that He’s laid for me and He may have to start all over again.

You know what it’s like on these modern freeways? You go dashing along and suddenly a sign flashes in front of you and before you know it you’ve ridden past the sign and you say, "Oh no, that was the turnoff we were meant to take." It’s too late. And you’ve got to go about 20 kilometers down the road before you find another place where you can turn around and go all the way back again.

You know sometimes we’re like that in our spiritual lives. We’ve asked the Lord to do something and He’s arranged the circumstances very nicely for us, and He’s brought people into place and brought finances into place. He’s arranged certain situations and it’s all there ready to go. You think He’s going to take a long time to do it, and suddenly the sign flashes in front of you and you miss it. You ride right past. I want to tell you, sometimes you can catch it, but sometimes by the time you get back to the turnoff your chance has gone, the circumstances have changed. There’s people that were there that aren’t there anymore. There’s situations that existed that don’t exist anymore. They’re gone.

You see, that is why you need to know the will of God in a situation and you need to be in tune to hear His voice so say, "Now is the time for this plan to be set in motion." That is what the prophet does in petitionary prayer. The prophet knows, now is the time, now is the moment for this request to be fulfilled. You’ve got to be in tune with the Spirit of God. You’ve got to be able to hear His voice to know, to walk in step with Him, to get His perfect timing.

Praying in Faith
Mark 11:24 says:

Therefore I say to you, "Whatever things you desire, when you pray believe that you receive them and you shall have them."

Prayer has to be made in faith. If you do not believe that you are going to receive you won't get it. But actually this verse goes one step further. It doesn't say, "Believe that when you pray you're going to receive what you've prayed for." It says, "Whatever things you desire when you pray believe that you receive them." When did you receive them? When you prayed. Faith is always a past tense. Faith does not say, "Well, I believe that God can provide my needs." Faith does not say, "I believe that God wants to provide my needs." Faith does not say, "I believe God is going to provide my needs." That one threw you didn't it? Do you know what faith says? Faith says, "I believe God has provided my needs. It is done. It is mine. It is finished." And faith then walks out and says, "I have a beautiful new Dodge Ram. I have whatever my heart desires. I have the petition that I have brought to Him."

Yonggi Cho was reported to have said that he had asked God for something and God had shown him that he had conceived that thing in his spirit, and he began to tell everybody, "The Lord's given it to me." And when they came to see where it was he said, "I'm pregnant with it. It's inside me." (;-) You'll all know the story if you've read his books.

"I've got it, it's mine, it just hasn't manifested yet." That's the prayer of faith. Now how is it going to get manifested? I want to tell you that God answers your prayer of faith most of the time through somebody else. If you are believing God for a healing touch in your body, and you've reached out and by faith received your healing - you can't see it, you can't feel it, your still suffering - but when I prayed I know God gave me what I asked for." A lot of people get it wrong right at that point. They say, "Well I've prayed, and therefore God's given it to me and it's going to come one of these days. I'll wait for it to come."

Do you know what God does? God sends you somebody with a gift of healing. And they come to you and they say, "I feel led to pray for you for the healing of your body." You say, "I'm not sick. I believe I'm healed by faith. I don't need you to pray for me. I have received my healing." You could die. You know why? God answered your faith by sending you the answer through somebody else, and they came to you with the gift of healing from Almighty God.

God Works Through People
How does God do things in the earth? He does it through people. Until somebody prays God does nothing! When God created this world He put His man Adam in control and He said, "Adam whatever happens in this world is up to you. I’ll come and visit and give you all the help you want, but I’m not interfering here. You’re in charge." God does nothing except through human agency. It is whatever you bind on earth that is bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth that is loosed in heaven.

If God is going to answer your prayer He’s going to do it when a man prays. He’s going to send forth His word, and we’re going to look at it just now especially as it relates to the prophet. God answers your prayer through another. I’ve seen people who pray and say, "Father we have a financial need. Lord please provide." Then somebody comes to them and says, "I feel led of the Lord to give you $100." And they say, "No, I can’t accept money from you. God’s going to provide, I’m trusting God, don’t worry you don’t need to give me any money." He just provided it and you turned it down.

God provides through human agency. Do you see what I’m saying? I’m leading onto something and you’ll see it shortly. You see, God provides the ministry of intercession, the prophetic intercessor especially, the authority to release into the earth, the word of authority that will bring the answer to your petition which you prayed by the prayer of faith. When you reached out to God in prayer and by faith embraced His promises and claimed them as yours, and received at the hand of God the thing that you asked Him for, God is going to answer your faith through a person. He might give it to you, but a lot of the time He gives it to somebody else.

So as I’ve stood here in prayer and prayed and asked God to intervene in my situation, God moves on an intercessor who is somewhere else, and God moves upon that person and says, "There is somebody I want you to pray for. There is somebody who is believing Me who has stood on My word in faith to receive at My hand. Now you speak the word of authority into the earth for that thing to be released." And all the intercessor does is speak forth the word, the rhema word of God which has been revealed to release the authority in the earth for that thing to take place.

Praying on Behalf of Another
And finally, prophets can do a lot more than simply pray for another person in bringing petitions and requests. A prophet can carry out true intercession which means not only praying for another person, but praying as another person. You see, intercession involves praying on behalf of another. Now, how can you fully pray on behalf of another without fully understanding their situation, without fully understanding what’s going on in their heart, without fully understanding the conflict that is going on within them. God at times gives the intercessor, the ability by the word of knowledge, to actually enter into the experience of a person, and the prophet actually enters in the spirit and begins to feel and know and experience the very conflict that that person is going through.

You’ll have an intercessor, having risen up into that heavenly realm to prepare for intercession, and God will show the intercessor somebody across the world who is lying sick and suffering. And the intercessor will sometimes begin to experience the very pain that is in the body of that person. The intercessor will begin to sigh and to groan, and to wail and to feel travail and despair. Sometimes it can be very confusing if you don’t understand what’s happening, but what is actually happening is you as an intercessor have actually become that person in the spirit. You are not praying for that person anymore, you are praying as that person. You have literally become that person in the spirit, and now as that person you are petitioning God on behalf of that person.

In Charismatic circles there is a common expression that is used, and it’s called standing proxy for someone. And sometimes someone will go forward in a meeting for prayer and they will say, "I don’t have a need myself, but I’m standing proxy for someone else. There is someone who is at home lying in bed sick, and so I’m standing in their place and I want you to pray over me as though you were praying over that person." It’s the same kind of thing. You actually become that person and pray as that person in the spirit. Therefore you can pray with full authority on that person’s behalf.

Perhaps the person you’re praying for has been beaten into unconsciousness and is dying and therefore cannot pray for themselves, but their spirit has reached out to God. God will move upon you as an intercessor and you will enter into the experience of that person who’s lying unconscious, and you will pray for them the prayer that they cannot pray. And you will release the authority of God to bring about deliverance, victory and healing or whatever is needed.

Penitence
The third P is the prayer of penitence. Penitence means confession of sin. Jesus said in the Lord’s prayer that we must pray, "Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." The prayer of repentance clears the conscience and opens the way for faith. Why is that necessary? 1 John 3:21 says:

Beloved if our heart does not condemn us then we have confidence towards God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.

If our heart does not condemn us we have confidence towards God. This means that the opposite is true. When my heart is condemning me, I cannot have confidence towards God. If I have sinned and if I have failed, and if I feel guilty before God, how can I come boldly into His presence and say, "Lord, I need this. Please provide my need."? I’ve got to have confidence towards God, and I cannot have that confidence while I’m under condemnation so the prayer of penitence clears my heart.

A lot of people get this all wrong and they seem to think that if your heart is not right before God, God is going to judge you, and God is going to refuse to answer your prayer. NO. The Scripture says that "Without faith it is impossible to please Him. He that comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."

God is moved by faith, but you see when you sin, your heart condemns you not the Lord. The Lord never condemns you. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus." Your heart condemns you, and when your heart condemns you, you do not have faith towards God. And if you do not have faith towards God you’re not going to get an answer to your prayer. We’ve got it all back to front. It’s you that’s condemning yourself. It’s your own conscience that’s condemning you. It’s not the Lord, it is your heart.

The prayer of penitence, the prayer of confession of sin is not a bribery to the Lord. It’s not an attempt to try and curry favor with Him. You say, "Well, if I confess all my sins I must come with a list and say, ‘What did I do today, and yesterday and the day before and the last week? Hey, I may as well go through the last week and the last 10 or 20 years and make a list of all the things that I did that I haven’t confessed yet because obviously the Lord is not going to bless me until I’ve dealt with all those sins back there."

Hey if I can’t remember them do you think He does? He forgot them as soon as you did them because He covered them already on the right hand of the Father. How? In intercession. Did you know that? Jesus is the greatest intercessor that there ever was. Do you know what He’s doing? He’s praying as you. Do you know that? Every time you sin He’s stood before the Father and said, "Father, forgive me, I have sinned." Think about it. The prayer of penitence is to clear your heart. Just say it out loud. "Father, forgive me." You’re under condemnation, your heart is condemning you.

Repenting on Behalf of Others
You know, we can pray also on behalf of others. Some of the early prophets like Daniel would fast and pray and intercede and confess the sins of the nation. "Father we have sinned. We have forsaken You." He was praying on behalf of someone else. An intercessor very often will receive the burden and the guilt of sin as they’re interceding on behalf of somebody else and they will take that burden to the Lord in prayer. 1 John 5:16 says:

If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and He shall give him life for them that sin not unto death.

This is a big subject and I'm not going to go into detail here, but John is talking about sins that affect people that we can pray for. He's saying that we can pray concerning another person's sin. Do you remember when they brought the sick man to Jesus and his four friends let him down by making a hole in the roof? Jesus came to the man who was lying there sick in bed and paralyzed and He said, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." And everybody started to think evil thoughts and say to themselves, "How can He forgive sins, He's a man. Only God can forgive sins." And Jesus said to them, "Why are you thinking these thoughts?" He said, "Just to show you that the Son of Man has authority on the earth to forgive sins, rise up and walk."

The Son of God - is that what He said, that the Son of God has authority on the earth to forgive sins? No, He said the Son of Man. And I can show you a verse where Jesus, after He'd risen from the dead came to His disciples at an event called the insufflation. You'll find it at the end of John's gospel. Jesus came and He breathed into them and He said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." And He said to them, "Whosever sins you remit, they are remitted, and whosever sins you retain they are retained." He said that to the disciples.

Do you know that you have power to speak forgiveness of sins to God's people? It's one of the most powerful ministries involved in inner healing of past hurts, and especially past events that have left a scar of guilt on the lives of people, and they need to confess and share that failure with a fellow human being, with another believer in Christ who can, on behalf of the Lord say, "You are forgiven in Jesus' Name. You are cleansed in Jesus' Name. Maybe the Catholics aren't so far off after all.

Do you know that Agnus Sanford who was one of the early pioneers of inner healing came to experience it for the first time? She was an Episcopalian who didn't believe in confessional, and one day somebody said to her, "Why don't you go and confess your sins to a priest?" She really didn't like that idea at all, but she did it as an experiment. And she said the power when he spoke those things out loud and somebody else said to her, "Your sins are forgiven," really set her free.

I don't want to get into all of this now and say it is a load of heresy. Don't misunderstand me. We have the power to pray concerning other people's sins at times. There are sins that we cannot. John says there is a sin that is unto death. There are sins that are deliberately bringing curses on others and speaking words of destruction, and willfully coming against the kingdom of God.

Breaking Curses Over Others
There are different kinds of sins. But there are the sins that people are caught in. There are the sins that are affecting people because they are under the curse of sins from family generations, and under the curse of people they are associated with, and other people that have spoken words over them. We have the authority, especially the prophet of God has authority to intercede on behalf of somebody else and to break the curses over them, and to break the power of sin over them, and to speak life to them. We can set them free from that bondage that’s binding them and speak to them in the Spirit and say, "In the Name of Jesus I speak forgiveness, I speak cleansing, I speak forgiveness to you now and I set you free." And the power will be broken.

This is a very powerful type of prayer that is often left out, but is part of the prophet’s ministry. Perhaps you’re burdened for your nation and your country. You can pray and you can intercede that God will move on behalf of that nation and that country. Perhaps you’re burdened for your church and for people in your church that are not living the way they should. Why don’t you speak the power of God into them and the cleansing of sin and set them free. Take upon yourself the burden to pray as them to confess on their behalf that God would release His blessing towards them.

Prophetic Decree
And so we come to the final type of prayer – the prophetic decree. Jesus said, "Pray this way. Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." We miss the true power of that by not understanding the actual grammatical Greek structure that is given there, but both of those are in the imperative. The imperative tense means a command. When the Lord said we are to say, "Thy Kingdom come," He was saying we are to give forth a command, "Come Thy Kingdom! Come! Be done Thy will on the earth." There’s a big difference there.

You see, when you’re sitting on the throne and interceding from the throne you are issuing decrees from the throne. You’re not praying up to the throne, you’re praying down from the throne. And when you stand in that place as God’s spokesman in the earth, His prophet, ordained and anointed by Him to speak forth His word into the earth, He wants you to issue a decree, a commandment.

If you read the book of Esther you find out how the King Ahasuerus had a ring on his finger, and when the King made a decree and he sealed that decree with his ring, that decree went forth into the land and could not be broken or disobeyed. And in terms of the laws of the Medes and the Persians it could not be retracted either, so much so that when the King gave his ring to Haman, and Haman issued the decree to destroy the Jews, afterwards they said to him, "Stop the decree." But the King said, "I can’t stop it. It is the law of the Medes and Persians. Once the decree is issued it cannot be retracted.

In Isaiah 55:11 the Lord said:

So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth; it shall not return to Me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

"It’s going to go out and it’s going to do it’s job. When that word goes out of My mouth, you’d better believe it, It’s going to hit the target!" Have you ever tried to get a bullet back into the mouth of a rifle after you’ve pulled the trigger? Too late! (;-) When a prophet of God opens his mouth to speak forth the word that God places in his mouth, he is sending forth a decree into the earth that is the very word of God, and it goes forth like the law of the Medes and the Persians. It cannot be retracted.

Amos 3:7 says:

Surely the Lord God will do nothing, except He reveals His secrets to His servants the prophets.

His secrets – what does it mean? It means that God plans to do things in the earth. And when God plans to do things in the earth, God looks for a man (or a woman) to be His agent in the earth. You see, if God’s word is going to go into the earth, it doesn’t come out of the ether, it comes out through a body that is made from the elements of the earth, because only a spirit living in a human body can speak forth the words of authority into the earth. It’s the way God has made it. That is the way God has decreed it, because He put man in control of this earth. And when God is going to speak forth His words into the earth, he’s going to speak it through human lips.

When the prophets of old spoke, and they predicted we’re taught, and they made decrees of what was going to happen in the last days and in the end times, they were not predicting, they were speaking into existence the very thing that God had decreed. They were sending into the earth the very decree of Almighty God. They were uttering and issuing a decree which could not be retracted.

Do you realize the awesome responsibility that there is on a prophetic intercessor, that when he opens his mouth to utter into the earth the authority and the word of God, that the words he speaks are the words of God, and that they are sent to the right place at the right time, in the right way? Do you know what an awesome responsibility God has placed upon us as His prophets, then you wonder why He puts us through such a preparation. Then you wonder why He has to bring us to a place of total dependence on Him; why He has to destroy all self in us; why He has to bring us low; why He has to teach us to have no confidence in the flesh whatsoever, because He’s called us to be His intercessors.

He’s called us to speak forth His word into the earth. And as He speaks forth His rhema words to you of His will and His purpose, you speak it forth. And if somebody’s looking to God in faith, exercising their faith in prayer and believing God, God sends the answer by coming to you and He says, "Issue the decree. Speak it forth now, that My servant’s prayer may be answered."

Waiting on God for Direction
Can you see the difference? So many people think that intercession is taking a whole list of requests and bringing them to the Lord and bombarding Him, and bombarding Him, and hammering it, and hopefully one of us will get it right and we’ll get the answer. No! I’ve found that the kind of prayers that bring instant results is when the intercessor comes into the presence of God and starts out by getting into the throne room and then waits. He says, "Okay, Lord, I’m charged, I’m ready! Just give me the decree and I’ll issue it."

You can bring a request to the Lord, and you can bring a need to the Lord, and you can bring a person to the Lord and say, "Here is a need, Father, I see it. Lord, what do I pray?" And God says, "Nothing." Drop it. Drop it right there. Put it down, God’s not dealing with that one. Maybe that person never exercised faith, I don’t know. It’s not your problem, so don’t you care pray about it.

As you begin to pray suddenly somebody comes into your mind that you haven’t thought about for a long time, and it comes strong, and God says, "Speak it forth. Pray for that person, I’m going to work in their situation. Issue the decree." Intercessors should be spending their time not coming to God with a prayer list, but coming to God to get a prayer list. And when God gives you the word, you speak the word.

Sometimes it helps to write it down. A large part of our Bible are the writings of the decrees that were issued by the prophets of old. It makes it a legal document in the earth. It’s sealed there, it’s recorded for all the world to see, that such a decree was issued at such and such a time on such and such a date in the Name of the Lord, and it shall not return void, but it shall accomplish that for which it is sent.

You see, we can all pray, but the prophet is called especially to do this. It’s the main part of the prophetic call. The prophet is given the authority to issue decrees into the earth, and when you prophesy over an individual you’re not just predicting, you’re speaking the very will of God over them. And most of the time you’re actually unlocking a door for them. That’s why the golden key has always been the symbol. Whenever I’ve prayed with somebody and God instructs me to impart the prophetic office He shows me the golden key.

The prophet has the authority to bind and loose, to open and to shut. We all have it as believers in some way, but the prophet especially has been given that authority to issue a decree to open the way, or to issue a decree to shut the door. That is what the prophet should be doing, and that is done through the ministry of intercession. So can you see that prophet ministry and intercession are virtually synonymous? The one runs into the other. And if you’re an intercessor, God’s leading you into the prophetic ministry. And if you’re a prophet, you will be an intercessor, you can count on it.



Source:http://www.gmrnet.org/archives/teaching/ldc_prophetic-intercession.htm

WARRIORS OF THE MORNING

By Bill Burns
Faith Tabernacle

The morning watch of the Third Day has come; the Third Day is the day of the Lord's power, which has been birthed from the womb of the morning (Psalm 110:3). It is a day in which He will execute judgment upon His enemies.

The Master has already spoken of the positioning of the morning watchmen, and He has appointed the morning gatekeepers, and now I hear His voice declaring, "I am assembling the warriors of the morning. I am raising up warriors of the Spirit, and I will teach them how to war against the rulers of darkness. My chosen ones will bring My justice forth as they strike the enemy, for it is written."

Psalm 149:5 Let the saints be joyful in glory; Let them sing aloud on their beds.
Psalm 149:6 Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand,
Psalm 149:7 To execute vengeance on the nations, And punishments on the peoples;
Psalm 149:8 To bind their kings with chains, And their nobles with fetters of iron;
Psalm 149:9 To execute on them the written judgment; This honor have all His saints. Praise the LORD!

I believe that the greatest army of spiritual warriors is about to come forth according to this prophetic word given by the Old Testament prophet, Joel:

Joel 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm in My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the LORD is coming, For it is at hand:
Joel 2:2 A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, Like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, The like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, Even for many successive generations.
Joel 2:3 A fire devours before them, And behind them a flame burns; The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, And behind them a desolate wilderness; Surely nothing shall escape them.
Joel 2:4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like swift steeds, so they run.
Joel 2:5 With a noise like chariots Over mountaintops they leap, Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, Like a strong people set in battle array.
Joel 2:6 Before them the people writhe in pain; All faces are drained of color.
Joel 2:7 They run like mighty men, They climb the wall like men of war; Every one marches in formation, And they do not break ranks.
Joel 2:8 They do not push one another; Every one marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, They are not cut down.
Joel 2:9 They run to and fro in the city, They run on the wall; They climb into the houses, They enter at the windows like a thief.
Joel 2:10 The earth quakes before them, The heavens tremble; The sun and moon grow dark, And the stars diminish their brightness.
Joel 2:11 The LORD gives voice before His army, For His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?

These are the warriors that will make up the end-time army of the Lord, and verse 10 says, "The earthquakes before them, and the heavens tremble." The heavens that will tremble will be the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Ephesians 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

The rulers of darkness have established thrones (dominions) in the heavens (spirit world) that keep those who are perishing in spiritual captivity and blindness.

2 Corinthians 4:3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing,
2 Corinthians 4:4 whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.

Satan is the god of this age who has established thrones of darkness from which his principalities and powers influence the people. The prophet, Isaiah, speaks of Satan as he refers to him as Lucifer.

Isaiah 14:12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!
Isaiah 14:13 For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;
Isaiah 14:14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'
Isaiah 14:15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.
Isaiah 14:16 "Those who see you will gaze at you, And consider you, saying: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, Who shook kingdoms,
Isaiah 14:17 Who made the world as a wilderness And destroyed its cities, Who did not open the house of his prisoners?'

Isaiah called Satan "son of the morning." Lucifer means "light bearer, shining one, morning star." The Lord Jesus Christ took Satan's dominion away from him on the Cross of Calvary and became the Bright and Morning Star (Revelation 22:16). The Third day is a day of resurrection power; it is a day of victory over death, hell and the grave. It is a day of victory over Satan's kingdom.

Ezekiel says of Lucifer (king of Tyre), "You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty." And, "You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you." (Ezekiel 28:15) Satan was the light bearer -- the one who carried the morning light, but he went beyond the boundaries that God had established for him. He went to the edge of the morning and tasted the darkness, and he liked the darkness and gave himself to it. Today he is the prince of darkness and seeks to take God's creation captive to his world.

Job 30:26 But when I looked for good, evil came to me; And when I waited for light, then came darkness.

But, Jesus has come to destroy the works of darkness and to set the captives at liberty, so He is now enlisting those who will become the Army of the Lord. He is calling to those who are willing to fight the good fight of faith against the powers of darkness. The word "wrestle" in Ephesians 6:12 means to sway and vibrate (to set in motion a prophetic vibration) that will be used to break down the thrones of darkness so that the captives can be set free.

The warriors of the morning will be found functioning in one of these three categories:

1. Prophets who make divine decrees (as led by the Spirit) against the rulers of darkness according to Ephesians 3:10 "To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places." These prophets of the new millennium will announce to Satan that the kingdoms of this world are now to become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever! (Revelation 11:15) These proclamations will be so powerfully anointed that they will set up a prophetic vibration that will shatter satanic chains and thrones and set the captives free. These prophets will lift up their voices like a trumpet that will bind Satan's rulers (kings) of darkness with chains and his nobles with fetters of iron (Psalm 149:7-9).

2. Prophetic psalmists. The following is a word the Lord gave me about the psalmists that he is now commissioning: "Many of those who will be appointed to the morning watch will be psalmists who have the heart of David. And, I will give unto them My windsongs as instruments of war. I will teach them Myself and show them how to tear down the strongholds of the enemy with their instruments of praise. The music and praise of these psalmists will establish a windsong in the earth that will produce a prophetic vibration that will destroy the thrones of the rulers of darkness. I call you forth today to become My weapons of warfare. Come now, for the morning light is piercing through the darkness, and the sound of the windsong is announcing a new day. I am calling for a season of rejoicing among My chosen. I am calling for a season of the blowing of the trumpets. Cry aloud, My people, lift up your voice like a trumpet and declare the victory. Let the windsong come forth, for as you worship Me and praise Me with your voices, with your trumpets, and with your musical instruments, the enemy will be defeated, and you will rule in their midst. The wind of Pentecost has come, and it has brought forth the windsong of victory. Let the song of the Spirit bring a new song to your heart. Sing to the Lord this new song, and bless His holy name. Prophesy to the breath, and His windsong shall come forth. The birthing of His songs within you shall surely bring the victory."

3. Prophetic intercessors. These will be Third Day intercessors. They will be prophetic in nature, and the Lord will reveal the mysteries of darkness to them and give them high impact prayer strategies to upset Satan's plans for specific assignments against governments, nations, cities and churches. The Lord will also give the intercessors divine strategies of prayer that will loose geographical areas from the "ancient strongholds" that Satan has established over the centuries.

These three ministries will be joined together by the unity of the Spirit and will work in unison with each other as well as the watchmen and gatekeepers of the morning. The Lord of Hosts will also commission His heavenly army (angels) to work along side His army of the morning. This glorious event is prophesied in:

Joel 3:9 Proclaim this among the nations: "Prepare for war! Wake up the mighty men, Let all the men of war draw near, Let them come up.
Joel 3:10 Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, 'I am strong.'"
Joel 3:11 Assemble and come, all you nations, And gather together all around. Cause Your mighty ones to go down there, O LORD.

The mighty men (army of the Lord on the earth) will be raised up in Spirit according to Hosea 6:2 to receive His instructions, and the mighty ones, the angels, will come down here to fight with the warriors of His church. What glorious victories we shall see in these days as we move to the end of the age! The Lord will teach our hands to make war, and we shall rule in the midst of our enemies. Hallelujah!

 

Intercessory Prayer - What is it?
Intercessory prayer is prayer for others. An intercessor is one who takes the place of another or pleads another's case. One study Bible defines intercession as "holy, believing, persevering prayer whereby someone pleads with God on behalf of another or others who desperately need God's intervention."

Intercessory Prayer - The Biblical Foundation
The Biblical basis for the New Testament believer's ministry of intercessory prayer is our calling as priests unto God. The Word of God declares that we are a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:5), a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), and a kingdom of priests (Revelation 1:5).

The background for understanding this calling to priestly intercession is found in the Old Testament example of the Levitical priesthood. The priest's responsibility was to stand before and between. He stood before God to minister to Him with sacrifices and offerings. The priests also stood between a righteous God and sinful man bringing them together at the place of the blood sacrifice.

Hebrews 7:11-19 explains the difference between the Old and New Testament ministries of the priest. The Old Testament Levitical priesthood was passed on from generation to generation through the descendants of the tribe of Levi. "The Melchizedek priesthood" spoken of in this passage, is the "new order" of spiritual priests of whom the Lord Jesus is the High Priest. It is passed on to us through His blood and our spiritual birth as new creatures in Christ.

Intercessory Prayer - Our Model Intercessor
Jesus Christ is our model for intercessory prayer. Jesus stands before God and between Him and sinful man, just as the Old Testament priests did: For there is one God, and one mediator (intercessor) between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us (Romans 8:34). Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).

Jesus brings sinful man and a righteous God together at the place of the blood sacrifice for sin. No longer is the blood of animals necessary as it was in the Old Testament. We can now approach God on the basis of the blood of Jesus that was shed on the cross of Calvary for the remission of sins. Because of the blood of Jesus, we can approach God boldly without timidity (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Jesus was an intercessor while He was here on earth. He prayed for those who were sick and possessed by demons. He prayed for His disciples. He even prayed for you and me when He interceded for all those who would believe on Him. Jesus continued His ministry of intercession after His death and resurrection when He returned to Heaven. He now serves as our intercessor in Heaven.

Intercessory Prayer - Effective Intercession
In intercessory prayer, we follow the Old Testament priestly function and the New Testament pattern of Jesus - standing before God and between a righteous God and sinful man. In order to be effective standing "between" we must first stand "before" God to develop the intimacy necessary to fulfill this role. Numbers 14 is one of the greatest accounts of intercessory prayer recorded in the Bible. Moses was able to stand between God and sinful man because he had stood "before" Him and had developed intimacy of communication. Numbers 12:8 records that God spoke with Moses as friend to friend and not through visions and dreams as He did with other prophets.

As New Testament believers, we no longer sacrifice animals as in Old Testament times. We stand before the Lord to offer up spiritual sacrifices of praise (Hebrews 13:5) and the sacrifice of our own lives (Romans 12:1). It is on the basis of this intimate relationship with God that we can then stand "between" Him and others, serving as an advocate and intercessor in their behalf.

Peter uses two words to describe this priestly ministry: "Holy" and "royal." Holiness is required to stand before the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). We are able to do this only on the basis of the righteousness of Christ, not our own righteousness. Royalty is descriptive of the kingly authority that is delegated to us as members of the "royal family," so to speak, with legitimate access to the throne room of God.