Day 14: Just One at the Gate

The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and have exploited the foreign resident without justice. I searched for a man among them to repair the wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, so that I should not destroy it. But I found no one. So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD
— Ezekiel 22: 29-31
I have seen these people,” the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. “LORD,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’ ” Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
— Exodus 32:9-14

Being the first born child of a family of six, everyone depends on me to take the lead and provide guidance. It is a humbling experience each time my siblings ask my opinion over a matter.  I feel like I am indirectly carrying the burden of my family. I think about how I will be affected by their failures or how my own failures can affect them. I strive to keep the family together. I pray for the purposes of God for their lives. I think about how I will feel if they hurt me. Being an intercessor is very different from a family responsibility to some degree, although in some respects it is related.

“It can never be about you or your feelings. One must come to the place where the heart is totally submitted to the Lord. An intercessor is the connecting gate between God and the people one is interceding for.

Standing before God and pleading the case of someone is one of the greatest privileges in my life. This ministry of intercession comes with so much humility, joy, peace, strength, and determination even in the midst of counter attacks. The grace that God pours is able to stain you throughout, and you find yourself more zealous than ever before to see what God will do in the situation.

Ezekiel 22:30 “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found no one.”

According to Ezekiel 22:30, God’s business never comes to an end. He is still looking for people to recruit, and the pre-qualifications is only being a born again believer who reference God. God is looking for a man/women, child in that family, church, city, community, state, nation to partner with and release his people from burden, his anointing in the church, his mercy for a nation. God is not looking from afar.

 God is looking for partners in the office of intercession within the church who will say yes, and stand at the gate of the church, city, family, nation, etc

 The walls of the church are broken. down, the enemy is encroaching the church like never before. In the days of Moses, he answered the call and worked for the lord.

1.     The first prayer point is to ask God for forgiveness if you have been praying for yourself all the time. Daniel 9:9 “The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him.”

2.     Pray that Believers will answer the call of an intercessor: Isaiah 59:16 “And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.”

3.     Pray that the Love for the father will consume the hearts of any new intercessor and those who are old: John 3:16 “ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

4.     Pray for the grace that comes with this office to fall upon every intercessor: 2 Corinthians 12:9  “9  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

5.     Pray for the grace to descend the season: It is time for worship or wage war against the enemy: 1 Chronicles 12:32 “ from Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do—200 chiefs, with all their relatives under their command.”

6.     Pray that any Vashti blocking spirit blocking the road for an Esther must be removed by the mighty hand of God: Esther 1:12 “But the queen Vashti refused to come at the king's commandment by his chamberlains: therefore was the king very wroth, and his anger burned in him.” Esther 4: 15- 16” 15Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: 16“Go and assemble all the Jews who can be found in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day, and I and my maidens will fast as you do. After that, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish!”

7.     Pray for a devoted spirit for any one called an intercessor: Colossians 3:23 “ Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters”

8.     Pray that God will raise intercessors with a heart of compassion, kindness and humility: Colossians 3:12 “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

9.     Pray that intercessors will be devoted to the word and presence of God: Joshua 1:8  “ Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.”

10.  Pray that God will raise intercessors with the heart of Abraham, Moses, Samuel,  Paul, Simeon etc, righteous and devoted, filled with the Holy Spirit:  Luke 2:25”25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.

11.  Pray that every intercessor will be filled with knowledge, wisdom and understanding of the things of God, which bring revelation, so they will pray according to that revelation: Colossians 1:9 “For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding”

12.  Pray that intercessors will raise up and ask the Lord for the mantle of this great woman of God. So that they can serve God in the place of prayer: Luke 2:37-38 “37and then was a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming forward at that moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the Child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

13.  Pray that God will pour upon his church even in this season the grace of intercession: Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit[a] of grace and supplication. They will look on[b] me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son.”