The Road Hosea 6:5: "Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth."
Exactly a week ago (7 June 2006) the al-Qaeda terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike. Thank God, he’s dead. The interesting thing is that the Holy Ghost was burning me up for at least two days before I heard that al-Zarqawi died (I heard about his death on Thursday). I told Jeremy on Wednesday night that something big was going to happen because I was burning up in the Holy Ghost. The same thing happened just before Saddam Hussein was captured—the Holy Ghost was on me very powerfully the day and night before I heard about his capture.
I don’t know if all intercessors go through what I go through, but I do believe when the Holy Ghost is burning me up like that, a principality or power of darkness is taken out. The anointing breaks the yoke of sin; the anointing breaks the yoke of oppression.
It is nice to know that the United States has such powerful secret weapons in its arsenal: Holy Ghost intercessors; Holy Ghost warriors.
I do believe that the power of the Holy Ghost causes great confusion in the enemy’s camp. About two or so months ago, I was at the shelter in Riverton and there was this guy staying there who just got out of prison. He didn’t like me very much and started to become very loud and obnoxious towards me. All of a sudden, the Holy Ghost came on me very strong, so I went for a walk. I came back to the shelter and that guy’s attitude totally changed—he was confused and convicted of sin. The next morning he was very nice to me and talked to me in a very civilized manner. I later learned that he had spent seven years in prison for aggravated assault, so the guy has some violent demons in him.
I believe the power of the Holy Ghost is getting stronger and stronger in intercessors everywhere. We will see more and more victories over sin and wicked men. The fortresses of Satan will fall and crumble because of the Holy Ghost Fire.
And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of Heaven. And whatever you bind on earth shall occur, having been bound in Heaven. And whatever you may loose on the earth shall be, having been loosed in Heaven.
Matthew 16:16-19 (LITV)
This scripture gives us an insight into the mystery of God’s intercession through His people on behalf of His people.
The “binding” and “loosing” which the church is here expected to do is that which accords with the will of heaven – for otherwise it would not be reflected in heaven, as is here described. And don’t we pray, after all, for God’s will to be done on earth as it is done in heaven, and not the other way around? Therefore the church binds and looses according to God’s will, or it truly binds and looses nothing. For it is no single man except THE LAMB who is worthy to loose the seals that are bound; and the saints pray in accordance with HIS Spirit unto that end.
And by this we know the wicked church of man, along with its shepherds: that they themselves suppose to bind and to loose, but against the commandment of God; and therefore in heaven it is not reflected. For as Peter wrote, the cleverly devised myths of the false shepherds come not by the decree of God as given in His more sure Word of prophecy – which many of us are so fortunate to hold in our hands, and unto which we would do well to take heed (2Pet 1:16-21). Therefore, those unrepentant idol shepherds of men risk being bound in chains under gloomy darkness, as exemplified by their once heavenly predecessors, and having an eternal hell loosed upon them thereafter (Jude 1:6-8).
For this intercessory mandate is not a permitting of men to autonomously decree and declare that even good things occur by the hand of God as they see fit, nor some manner of test to see what the church will do with the keys. Rather, it is a call for the members of Christ to intercede for the things of the kingdom of heaven in accordance with the already decreed and declared will of God.
But what is that decree of God? Who has fully known the mind of the Lord? And let no man say, “I have the mind of Christ.”
For what do the scriptures declare? “WE have the mind of Christ.”
Yet who is this “we”?
Paul made the above statement while explaining how the things of God are truly known only by the Spirit of God; and immediately after describes those who are not spiritual, who are not ready to rightly hear the deeper things of God due to their carnality. Concerning these he remarks:
And, brothers, I was not able to speak to you as to spiritual ones, but as to fleshly ones, as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, and not food, for you were not then able, but neither now are you yet able. For you are yet fleshly. For where among you is jealousy, and strife, and divisions, are you not fleshly and walk according to man? For when one may say, “Truly I am of Paul,” and another, “I of Apollos;” are you not fleshly? What then is Paul? And what Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, and to each as the Lord gave?
1 Corinthians 3:1-5 (LITV)
The striving after ministries of good repute and the dependence upon other men of the faith to define our own faith, doctrine and practice on our behalf, are the sure signs of a carnal people. Even the apostle Paul permitted no man to regard his own faithful reputation in their consideration of the very word that he himself preached, saying, “but even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed.” (Gal 1:9)
The discernment of spirits is the province of the Spirit of God alone; and unless each one submits to the tryings, searchings, and purgings of the Spirit, there shall be no “we” that can attain to any measure of knowing the mind of Christ, so as to bind and loose on earth what is to be bound and loosed in heaven. For that mind is the mind of He who searches hearts, “and He who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” (Rom 8:27)
It is HE who fully knows the will of God, and to that end the Spirit is given. It is in the groanings of the Spirit of God that each member of Christ’s body begins to move according to the mind of Christ: even as God in Christ was incarnate in human flesh, always being about the Father. Whatever part of the body is out of harmony with CHRIST THE HEAD by His Spirit alone, is a disharmony in the body of Christ. Nothing brings the members of His body outside of His harmony more than when they subtly join themselves unto another.
This is how the Spirit of God views the condition of those who do so:
…being puffed up by the mind of his flesh without a cause, and not holding fast the Head, from whom all the body having been supplied through the joints and bands, and having been joined together, will grow with the growth of God.
Colossians 2:18-19
The ministrations of the body of Christ on earth are to be born of the very will of God, according to whose will the Spirit of Christ intercedes on our behalf, groaning unutterably within us. No effectual intercession can take place in the body of Christ without the discernment of spirits through Him. When discernment dies in the church, the church can no longer partake in much of the Spirit who intercedes according to the will of God. For they defy His will in their lack of discernment.
The spirit of a thing is known only by the anointing [Gk. christos] of the only-begotten [Gk. monogenes = “one-of-a-kind,” “unique”] Son of God. And antichrist is that which is another anointing; of which there are many. [Gk. anti = “instead of”]
Therefore John writes for us,
Young ones, it is a last hour, and as you heard that the antichrist [Gk. antichristos] is coming, even now many antichrists have risen up, from which you know that it is a last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us. For if they were of us, they would have remained with us; but they left so that it might be revealed that they all are not of us.
1 John 2:18-19 (LITV)
Take note first of the word “us”. This is the same collective “we” of which we already saw that Paul speaks, who, together as the body of Christ, know the mind of Christ according to His work in each member. It is those who depart from the one anointing of the one Good Shepherd who “went out from us”. It is those who take a postion of supposedly greater anointing unto themselves, cautioning no man against esteeming their reputation in the church, who reveal themselves to be “not of us”.
Among these are ones who say of themselves, “touch not the Lord’s anointed,” although Jesus is the Anointed One of God. Also they are raised up above the flock of Christ as “shepherds” and “pastors,” wielding an organizational authority, as though God recognizes anything less than a living body. Jude calls such men “shepherds feeding themselves”.
They deny the correcting and unifying word of the apostle, they silence the warnings and discernments of the prophet, they despise with great jealousy the outward call of the evangelist, and they steal unto themselves the role of all teachers, seldom allowing others to teach. In all this, they profane the calling of the true pastor, which is one who humbly serves in the body by helping to care largely for the earthly needs of its members. Thus, they destroy the fivefold ministry in the church by denying the unique intercessory roles of each, thereby compromising their own, if they are even truly called to it.
John continues,
And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. I did not write to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and because every lie is not of the truth.
1 John 2:20-21 (LITV)
“And you know all things” – This is the beloved apostle’s encouragement to a body of believers who were solid in their discernment and rejection of other anointings. This is the compliment given not to great and clever minds, but to children of God who “by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.” (Heb 5:14) These ones see how the embracing of another anointing is a denial of the Son, and cannot abide the leaven of those who do so.
John continues a little further in his letter,
And the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone teach you. But as His anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is not a lie, and as He taught you, abide in Him.
1 John 1:27 (LITV)
How viscerally do the false shepherds react to this scripture whenever they are opposed with it! How greatly do they minimize its plain teaching! Any man who is uncomfortable with these words is untrustworthy in the ministry of the word, for he does not really trust that God can build HIS own church. It is only the unfiltered anointing of Christ Himself upon His body which produces a true harmony, and a harmony in the truth, unto the good pleasure of God. Only by HIS Lordship alone can the body of Christ “know what is the hope to which HE has called you, what are the riches of HIS glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of HIS power toward us who believe, according to the working of HIS great might…” (Eph 1:18-19)
This brings us back to the theme of our study: intercession. Those who fall under HIS anointing are able, according to the measuring of grace unto each, to discover the substance of His calling upon their lives; so that they, in whatever capacity He has gifted them, may through obedience in the Spirit be found partaking in HIS intercession on behalf of the saints, according to the ministrations of God operating in them.
Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
1 Corinthians 12:4-7 (ESV)
One of the great lies surrounding this matter in our day is that God may give a stone when His children ask for bread. Truly the worst that the children will receive is discipline. The insincere indeed have reason to so fear; but they do not care. The devil has created such a grotesque smokescreen of demonic and false manifestations, that now many of the true children fear what only the bastards should. The adversary has done this because he knows what is coming. The children who fled the fall of man’s church are restoring the altar of the Lord in their own hearts, calling upon the God who answers by fire. Let us lay hold of the immense promise of Christ to His own, an access to heaven of which the dry bones of this blind dead world cannot conceive: “Seek, and you shall find; knock, and the door shall be opened to you.”
It is the operation of the Holy Spirit in the secret places of our hearts, through our seeking of no anointing except the Son of God, then flowing out unto the good of the whole body, which brings us to participate in the sufferings and joys of He who is the Head of all that He calls His own. And this we long for if we seek His face.
The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want.
When themembers of Christ covet and follow after the anointings of men and the visions of people puffed up in their own imaginations, who also knowingly pose foolish and unlearned questions to those who challenge their fables, the jealously of God is kindled; for it is not they who have the right to bind and loose, nor to open and shut, but it is HE. Let them be found repentant, and enter by the only Door of the sheep, lest they be cast out with the hirelings, the thieves, and the robbers of God’s glory.
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, write: “These things says the Holy One, the True One, the One having the key of David, the One opening, and no one shuts; and shuts, and no one opens: I know your works. Behold, I have given a door being opened before you, and no one is able to shut it, for you have a little power and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. Behold, I give out of the synagogue of Satan those saying themselves to be Jews, and they are not, but they lie. Behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they shall know that I loved you.
Revelation 3:7-9 (LITV)
The church fulfills her calling when she at last allows Christ Himself to be her kinsman redeemer.
Little children, guard yourselves from idols. Amen.
1 John 5:21
Praying for President-elect Trump is an opportunity for me to explain a wider concept of intercessory prayer. Have you heard of prophetic intercession? It is a completely different approach to prayer. A friend and brother recently asked for my thoughts on the subject; and it seems worthy of sharing more widely. Contrast prophetic intercession with what I call “pathetic” intercession. Please don’t whine when you talk to God. Prayer is conversation with God; so be adult about it. He has made certain promises which He expects us to remind Him about, and hold Him to them. Pray with a basis for expecting Him to do what we ask because He said He would.
Praying for the new President and “leader of the free world” is a sobering assignment and is not for the faint of heart. The future of our country, Israel and indeed the world is at stake. So, let’s look at a few simple ideas about prophetic prayer.
Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist will bring judgment on themselves.Romans 13:1-2
Prophetic Intercession – a Twelve Step Plan
Pray into what God has already declared He will do.
Prayers are answered if you pray what God wants.
Don’t whine or beg; but agree with God.
Authority is from above; God’s heart, not your heart. (King David Acts 13:22)
Pathetic intercession is about what I want (general, all about me).
Prophetic intercession is targeted (specific, God’s plan). Example: Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: May they prosper who love you.Psalm 122:6 This is a prayer God will answer.
What do you see God doing? Pray into that.
What do you hear God saying? Pray into that.
What has God already said and done? Base your request accordingly.
Requires scriptural foundation.
Requires hearing the Holy Spirit
Requires seeing by the Holy Spirit (Elisha and his servant 2 Kings 6): eyes to “see”.
And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation,for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.2 Peter 1:19-21
. Yeshua was NOT praying a habitual, rote, vainly repetitious, charismatic, self oriented, christian prayer as He hung there on the cross. i.e. Now Father, I thank you in the name of Jesus that you deliver me and bless me and prosper me. I thank you Father that I am healthy, that I am wealthy and I am wise. I thank you Father that my ministry prospers. I thank you that I pretty much get everything that I say…I need…I want…I think…my understanding about this is…I know that you will want to…bless my endeavors Lord…you know that I am doing all of these things, all of this busy work, for you Lord, in your name Lord…that’s why I don’t have much time left over for….Lord? are you there Lord?…
. NO! NOT SO! HE WAS LAYING DOWN HIS LIFE!
. what does that mean? for us? to lay down your life?
. this is what that means: “nevertheless, not my will, but thy will…”
. after you have laid down your life, the prayer will sound different.
“Holy men of soberer and quieter times than ours knew well the power of silence. David said, I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue. There is a tip here for God’s modern prophets. The heart seldom gets hot while the mouth is open. A closed mouth before God and a silent heart are indispensable for the reception of certain kinds of truth. No man is qualified to speak who has not first listened. It might well be a wonderful revelation to some Christians if they were to get completely quiet for a short time, long enough, let us say, to get acquainted with their own souls, and to listen in the silence for the deep voice of the Eternal God. The experience, if repeated often enough, would do more to cure our ulcers than all the pills that ever rolled across a desk.”
Ephesians 6:12 “For our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age.”
Matthew 11:28-30“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
One of the main differences I am noticing between the kingdom of God and religion or even the church age is the simplicity in which God does things. In the church age everything is laborious, time consuming, and honestly can feel very heavy. It is as though in the church age there is a lot of being busy doing nothing. But, in the kingdom on the other hand, which is actually a place, not just a nice phrase to quote, things are highly effective, cost effective and empowering. There is a sense of moving forward, of taking ground, of actually, genuinely advancing with the Lord Himself. Jesus spoke the people in His day and invited them to a kingdom lifestyle which included a yoke (work)but it was easy and a burden but it was light.
An area that is found both in the kingdom and the church age is that of intercession. Intercessors and intercession are an integral part of the kingdom life, but the way in which intercession is viewed in the kingdom is more like a sniper, rather than a laborious, time consuming activity that gets no recognition, but does what many feel like is most of the work. When the Lord spoke to me that intercessors are snipers in the kingdom, I was eager to discover who a sniper is and what they actually do. This is what I learned.
A sniper is a qualified specialist who operates alone, in a pair or with a sniper team for the sake of maintaining close visual contact with the enemy; engaging in targets from concealed positions; and engaging in distances exceeding the detection and capabilities of enemy personnel. This alone made me shout, INTERCESSORS ARE SNIPERS IN THE KINGDOM, for this is what they do and I am so honored to know some of them. But as I kept studying, I learned even more than just solidified what the Lord spoke to me.
A sniper’s job description is to deliver discriminatory, highly accurate rifle fire against enemy targets, they are marksmen (a person who is skilled in shooting at a mark). Snipers are force multipliers (an attribute which makes a given force more effective than that same force would be without it). This factor dramatically increases the effectiveness of a group. When I read this I shouted, snipers in the kingdom, multiply the body of Christ’s effectiveness because of their precision in with which they hit the enemy target with their prayers. Snipers ensure battlefield survival for the rest of the Lord’s army.
Qualities that a sniper must have include being patient, disciplined and are able to work alone. Snipers are sharp shooters. If this was not enough, the final discovery I made about snipers is the economic effectiveness they bring to the team. Snipers use 1.3 rounds of bullets (prayer time) while other military officers (members of the body of Christ) use 50,000 bullets (prayer time). Do you see how the sniper is able to do more with less? Moving from church or religion to kingdom, increases your effectiveness in prayer from being a soldier to a sniper.
Finally, soldiers hit man-sized targets 10% of the time at a 300 meter distance, while a sniper hits the same target 90% of the time at a 600 meter difference. Snipers in the kingdom are intercessors and they are extremely accurate, they know who their enemy is, they are patient enough to wait in hiding until they can get a good shot at him and take him out immediately. They save the kingdom time and money because of their skills and they force multiply the advancing of the kingdom, so the bride is accelerated in her gathering of others to meet their King. Snipers in the kingdom don’t spend long hours in prayer, for they are trained in hearing the voice of God, recognize the enemy and position themselves to take him out with minimal prayers. We will not win this battle without the snipers in the kingdom.
Last night I had a dream where I was with this Christian family. We talked about the persecution of Christians in the United States. Then I said that the Lord will raise up men—supermen—who will protect Christians (through intercession) from the devil and evil men (or words to that effect); this will be done in the power of the Holy Ghost. I told them that it is already happening. I gave them this scripture: Romans 8: 19: “For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” I then told them about the Japan Earthquake.
I Samuel 3: 15: “And Samuel lay until the morning, and opened the doors of the house of the LORD. And Samuel feared to shew Eli the vision.”
Daniel 11: 32: “And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”
Jude 14-15: “And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.”
Revelation 2: 18: “These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire . . .”
Revelation 2: 26-27: “And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.”
[The painting of the lion above was by Belinda Thorne of the Grace and Truthblog]
Genesis 49: 8-12: “Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.”
This quote is from my book The First Time I Rode a Freight Train & other hitchhiking stories, page 51:
“‘The monastic way is very different. Obedience, fasting and prayer are laughed at, yet only through them lies the way to real, true freedom. I cut off my superfluous and unnecessary desires, I subdue my proud and wanton will and chastise it with obedience, and with God’s help I attain freedom of spirit and with it spiritual joy.'”
[excerpt from The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky; Book VI, “The Russian Monk”]
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“We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there’s nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all.
“Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results. We don’t want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of ‘good time’ is seldom in sync with ours.”
― Oswald Chambers
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“Be not forgetful of prayer. Every time you pray, if your prayer is sincere, there will be new feeling and new meaning in it, which will give you fresh courage, and you will understand that prayer is an education.”
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Brothers Karamazov
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“It is possible to know all about doctrine and still not know Jesus. A person’s soul is in grave danger when the knowledge of doctrine surpasses Jesus, avoiding intimate touch with Him.”
Last night I had a dream where I was with some friends driving down this highway. We then saw this hitchhiker on the side of the road. He was dressed in green camo—he looked like he was in the Special Forces. We picked him up and drove him to this military training camp.
The next scene: I was sitting at this table wearing green camo; I was at that same military training camp. It looked like we were in a jungle setting—like Vietnam. I was there training the Special Forces soldiers. There was more to the dream, but it is gone from me now.
This dream is confirmation on the work that I do for the Lord: intercession/spiritual warfare.
II Timothy 2: 4: “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”
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A few years ago, I was at a friend’s place and he had a copy of Sun Tzu’s classic The Art of War. I read half of the book and then the Lord told me to stop reading it. The Lord showed me that the man who obeys the Lord defeats Sun Tzu every time.
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“Life without war is impossible either in nature or in grace. The basis of physical, mental, moral, and spiritual life is antagonism. This is the open fact of life.”
Judges 14: 5-6: “Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath, and came to the vineyards of Timnath: and, behold, a young lion roared against him. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.”
I Samuel 25: 7: “And now I have heard that thou hast shearers: now thy shepherds which were with us, we hurt them not, neither was there ought missing unto them, all the while they were in Carmel.”
I Samuel 25: 15-16: “But the men were very good unto us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we any thing, as long as we were conversant with them, when we were in the fields. They were a wall unto us both by night and day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep.”
I Samuel 25: 23-26: “And when Abigail saw David, she hasted, and lighted off the @#!*% , and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground. And fell at his feet, and said, Upon me, my lord, upon me let this iniquity be: and let thine handmaid, I pray thee, speak in thine audience, and hear the words of thine handmaid. Let not my lord, I pray thee, regard this man of Belial, even Nabal: for as his name is, so is he; Nabal is his name, and folly is with him: but I thine handmaid saw not the young men of my lord, whom thou didst send. Now therefore, my lord, as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, seeing the LORD hath withholden thee from coming to shed blood, and from avenging thyself with thine own hand, now let thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal.”
I Samuel 25: 28: “I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thine handmaid: for the LORD will certainly make my Lord a sure house; because my lord fighteth the battles of the LORD, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days.”
II Kings 1: 9-10: “Then the king sent unto him a captain of fifty with his fifty. And he went up to him: and, behold, he sat on the top of an hill. And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down. And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.”
Job 42: 10: “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends.”
New Testament Intercession
Romans 8: 18-19: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory [glorification, rapture, Holy Fire] which shall be REVEALED IN US. For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.”
Romans 8: 26-27: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but THE SPIRIT ITSELF MAKETH INTERCESSION FOR US with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
Matthew 3: 11-12: “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: HE SHALL BAPTIZE YOU WITH THE HOLY GHOST, AND WITH FIRE: Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but HE WILL BURN UP THE CHAFF WITH UNQUENCHABLE FIRE.”
John 17: 9-11: “I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.”
John 17: 15-16: “I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.”
John 17: 20-22: “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.”
Ephesians 6: 18: “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints.”
II Thessalonians 1: 7-10: “And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.”
II Thessalonians 2: 8: “And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.”
Hebrews 7: 25: “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.”
James 5: 16: “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”
Revelation 1: 14-16: “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.”
Revelation 19: 12-15: “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”
Revelation 19: 21: “And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”
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“I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe.”
–Mary Queen of Scots
“A man with God is the majority.”
–Last words of John Knox
“With the jawbone of an @#!*% , heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an @#!*% have I slain a thousand men.”
–Samson at Ramath-lehi
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“Identification is the key to intercession, and whenever we stop being identified with God, it is by sympathy, not sin.”
“Vicarious intercession* means that we deliberately substitute God’s interests in others for our natural sympathy with them.”
[*Vicarious: “Performed or suffered by one person as a substitute or to the benefit or advantage of another: SUBSTITUTIONARY: .” —Webster’s Third New International Dictionary]
“Am I fulfilling the ministry of the interior? There is no snare or any danger of infatuation or pride in intercession, it is a hidden ministry that brings forth fruit whereby the Father is glorified . . .The disciple who abides in Jesus is the will of God, and his apparently free choices are God’s fore-ordained decrees. Mysterious? Logically contradictory and absurd? Yes, but a glorious truth to a saint.”
“The circumstances of a saint’s life are ordained of God. In the life of a saint there is no such thing as chance. God by His providence brings you into circumstances that you cannot understand at all, but the Spirit of God understands. God is bringing you into places and among people and into conditions in order that the intercession of the Spirit in you may take a particular line. Never put your hand in front of the circumstances and say–I am going to be my own providence here, I must watch this, and guard that. All your circumstances are in the hand of God, therefore never think it strange concerning the circumstances you are in. Your part in intercessory prayer is not to enter into the agony of intercession, but to utilize the common-sense circumstances God puts you in, and the common-sense people He puts you amongst by His providence, to bring them before God’s throne and give the Spirit in you a chance to intercede for them. In this way God is going to sweep the whole world with His saints.
“Am I making the Holy Spirit’s work difficult by being indefinite, or by trying to do His work for Him? I must do the human side of intercession, and the human side is the circumstances I am in and the people I am in contact with. I have to keep my conscious life as a shrine of the Holy Ghost, then as I bring the different ones before God, the Holy Spirit makes intercession for them.
“Your intercessions can never be mine, and my intercessions can never be yours, but the Holy Ghost makes intercession in our particular lives, without which intercession someone will be impoverished.”
The Road 