“INTERCESSORY WORSHIP”
Worship that is intercessory in nature should be the norm in the life of every true believer!
What is Intercessory Worship? (1)
Intercessory Worship refers to – CONCENTRATED, PASSIONATE, ”WORSHIP-SATURATED PRAYER” that rises with the fragrance of incense before God’s throne.
Worship must be our way of life. When linked with intercession to the extent that such intercession is a part of and flows directly from the worship, it becomes what is referred to as INTERCESSORY WORSHIP.
THE HARP AND BOWL SYMBOLISM (1)
Revelation 5:8-10 – Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; For You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.”
HARP – WORSHIP / BOWL – PRAYER
Worship/Praise is Prayer / Prayer is Worship/Praise
Prayer and Intercession should be a pivotal part of life in Christ as God’s people arise in the power of the Holy Spirit, these days!
It can be expressed in four basic forms:
1. Petition
2. Worship
3. Intercession
PETITION / SUPPLICATION
1 Timothy 2:1 – First of all, then, I urge that 1) supplications, 2) prayers, 3) intercessions, and 4) thanksgivings be made for all people,
Prayer of SUPPLICATION is the kind of prayer that can be used in critical situations where there seems to be no other way. When our requests line up with God’s will, (which is simply His Word) – then He hears us, and He answers.
Supplication” means “petition”. Write the prayer out. Make a formal, written request – make it in the form of a legal petition. Every time you make a statement, write a corresponding reference that backs it up within the petition. This helps come to agreement with what we are actually asking, and the Scriptures help build faith to not only ask but receive…
Habakkuk 2:2 – And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.”
When there is difficulty discerning the will of God in a matter, when our faith seems low, when we lack inner assurance, or need others to pray in one accord with us about a situation that seems impossible – use the PRAYER OF SUPPLICATION!
“Supplication” has 3 definitions –
1) a petition
2) an entreaty
3) a humble request.
In “supplications” you deal with the known will of God, which is written in His Word.
If your petition is in agreement with His Word, you can be sure that it is part of His will for you.
Isaiah 43:26 Put me in remembrance; let us argue together; set forth your case, that you may be proved right.
His Word is His will
All the blessings of God are legally ours.
If you don’t know what rightfully belongs to you according to the Word of God, you can never experience all God has provided for you. Your petition establishes in you and those petitioning with you, the known will of God. This is the legal side of the petition. Once it is established in you, you are in line to experience the will of God in your life. This is the vital side – the practical living side. The legal side needs to be established in order to help us experience the vital side. Your faith is the evidence, and proof. (Hebrews11:1).
In a supplication you deal with the known will of God, which is His Word, and appeal to the Supreme Court of Heaven. When you use His Word in His court, you win. When you know that, you are bold. It is not hit and miss. There is a way to pray in absolute confidence so that there are no questions nor doubts that you have the answer!
WE have an Advocate – JESUS.
I John 2:1 – …if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
When you pray, believe that the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 1:20 – For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
It IS wise as a general rule not to include specific deadline dates in your petition.
Our times are in HIS HANDS. Our Creator, Alpha and Omega, who knows the end from the beginning surely knows how to time things best. We can safely trust His good timing! We can declare trustingly with the Psalmist that timing issues belong to the Lord.
Psalm 31:15 – My times are in Your hands...
When we limit the Lord, it is a grief to Him – it does not please HIm.
Psalm 78:15 – …How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert!41 Yes, again and again they tempted God,
and limited the Holy One of Israel.
We need to trust the Lord to answer in His good timing and way, and not lean to our own understanding, and timing.
Proverbs 3:5,6 – Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He shall direct your paths.
In Mark 11:23,24 the emphasis is on believing, not in us demanding the timing…
Mark 11:24 – “Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
When you pray your petition, it is good to pray it as a present possession – as if you already possess it.
Hebrews 11:1 – (Scripture declares that faith is in the “now”) — “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.“
Pray the Petition through
John 5:14,15 – “…. If we ask any thing according to His will, He hears us: and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the PETITIONS that we desired of Him.
WORSHIP
Worshipping the creative genius of God is a form of prayer – that consciousness of who He is and worshipping Him for what He has done.
INTERCESSION
- The act of interceding.
2. Prayer, petition, or entreaty in favor of another.
3. “seeking the presence and hearing of God on behalf of others.”
Intercessory prayer is not only a privilege but a command to “continue steadfastly in prayer”
Colossians 4:2 – ...continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving…
Prayer is an essential part of a Christian’s walk with God. This is how we communicate with him, and one of the ways he communicates with us. When the veil was torn, we were given intimate and immediate access to God. He also assigns us the responsibility of praying for other people.
Let’s consider Jesus’s example in intercession…
Jesus is always INTERCEDING for us
(As we follow HIs example, INTERCESSORY WORSHIP is also part of our ministry.)
Romans 8:34 – 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.
Hebrews 7:25 – 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.
Isaiah 53:12 – He bore the sin of many, and made INTERCESSION for the transgressors.
Luke 23:34 – Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
Intercession for the church
John 17:9 – “I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours.
THE HOLY SPIRIT INTERCEDES FOR US
Romans 8:26,27 – Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
EXAMPLES AND ILLUSTRATIONS
PAUL’S REQUESTS FOR PRAYER, AND PRAYER LIFE
Ephesians 6:19 – And pray for me, too. Ask God to give me the right words so I can boldly explain God’s mysterious plan that the Good News is for Jews and Gentiles alike.
1 TIMOTHY 2:1 – I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them.
Special note: Everybody needs INTERCESSION, even believers!
I Thessalonians 1:2 – We always thank God for all of you and continually mention you in our prayers.
Ephesians 1:11-16 – …I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, 16 do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers …
PAUL AND SILAS PRAYED WHEN IN PRISON
Acts 16:25 – …at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them.
Elijah’s prayer – God was glorified
I Kings 18:36-39 – …And it came to pass, at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near and said, “Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. 37 Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again.” 38 Then the fire of the Lord fell… when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces; and they said, “The Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!”
James 5:17-18 – Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.
Solomon’s prayer – glory filled the temple
2 Chronicles 7:1 – When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
Moses’s intercession
VICTORY OVER THE AMALEKITES
Exodus 17:10-13 – …Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 And so it was, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands became heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
INTERCESSION FOR THE ISRAELITES
Ps 106:23 – He said that He would destroy them, Had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach (interceded), to turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them.
HEZEKIAH’S PRAYER
2 Chronicles 30:18-20 – …Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord provide atonement for everyone 19 who prepares his heart to seek God, the Lord God of his fathers…20 And the Lord listened to Hezekiah and healed the people.
JOB’S PRAYER
Job 42:10 – The Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends.
Cornelius’s PRAYER
Acta 10:1-2, 31 … Cornelius, a centurion.. 2 a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always... he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!”
and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God…
DANIEL’S PRAYERS
Daniel 6:10-11 – when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom Then these men went as a group and found Daniel praying and asking God for help…
Daniel 9:19-23 – O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God, for Your city and Your people are called by Your name.”20 Now while I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God, 21 yes, while I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, reached me about the time of the evening offering… 22 And he informed me, and talked with me… 23 “At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are greatly beloved…”
A NEGATIVE EXAMPLE
Intercessory worship to a false god – Worship of the golden calf
Exodus 32:8,35 – …they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt... And the Lord plagued the people, because they made the calf,
PRAYER HELPS KEEP US IN THE RIGHT WAY
2 Samuel 6
Special note: Bringing back the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem, the 1st time they did it in the wrong way (death of Uzzah / judgment) – the 2nd time after they prayed and sought the Lord about it, they did it in the right way (with rejoicing and blessing).
STEPS TO ANSWERED PRAYER (2)
1. BE SPECIFIC AND STAND ON GOD’S PROMISES
Pray according to the Word.
Use the Sword of the Spirit Against the Devil.
Fight the good fight of faith. (1 Tim. 6:12)
2. YOU MUST ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU WANT
(Matthew 6:32; John 16:24; Matthew 7:7-8; Mark 11:23, 24)
3. BE POSITIVE IN YOUR THINKING
Resist doubt.
Reject anything that contradicts the Word.
(James 4:7 …resist the devil, and he will flee...)
Recognize that the devil is like a roaring lion… (1 Peter 5:8..)
4. GUARD YOUR MIND
Cast down every imagination that exalts itself against the knowledge of God... (2 Corinthians 10:5..
Whatever things TRUE, HONEST, JUST, PURE. LOVELY, GOOD REPORT,..ANY PRAISE….think on these things. (Philippians 4:8)
5. MEDITATE ON GOD’S PROMISES
Proverbs 4:20-22 – My son. ATTEND TO MY WORDS; ..let them not depart.. Keep them in the midst of your heart…
Abide in Him… (John 15:7)
6. CONTINUALLY THANK GOD FOR THE ANSWER
Philippians 4:6 – …with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God..
7. MAKE EVERY PRAYER A STATEMENT OF FAITH
Use the faith you have in order for your faith to be effectual– (Romans 12:3)
Romans 12:3 – …God has dealt to each one a measure of faith…
Ephesians 3:7 – I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.
I Thessalonians 2:13 – …the word of God, which effectually works also in you that believe.
Philemon 1:6 – That the communication of your faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you
in Christ Jesus…
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- Special acknowledgement and thanks to Dick Eastman and his books “Intercessory Worship” & “Heights of Delight” for some of these insights about intercessory worship.
- Special acknowledgement and thanks to Kenneth Hagin for these “steps to answered prayer”…
- Special thanks and acknowledgement to Evelyn Asuncion for assistance in helping prepare this message and for sharing it at our online service.
