Day 25

Week 4:  A Challenge

INTERCESSION

Daniel 9:9-15 (NIV) ⁹  The Lord our God is merciful and forgiving, even though we have rebelled against him; ¹⁰  we have not obeyed the LORD our God or kept the laws he gave us through his servants the prophets. ¹¹  All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. "Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you. ¹²  You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. ¹³  Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth. ¹⁴  The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him. ¹⁵

 "Now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of Egypt with a mighty hand and who made for yourself a name that endures to this day, we have sinned, we have done wrong.

 Several times in Israel's ministry, the intercession of one person brought about the nation's deliverance from judgment.

• Two times God was ready to wipe out the entire Jewish nation, but the intercession of Moses stayed His hand (Ex. 32:7-14; Num. 14:10-25).
• God answered Elijah's prayer and sent the rain that was so desperately needed (1 Kings 18), and He heard Jehoshaphat's prayer and gave Israel victory over the large invading army of Moabites and Ammonites (2 Chron. 20).
• King Hezekiah cried out to God when the Assyrian army surrounded Jerusalem, and the Lord sent His angel to slay 185,000 enemy soldiers (Isa. 37; 2 Kings 19).

• James 5:16 (NIV) ¹⁶ Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

God doesn't have to wait for the entire nation to repent and cry out for mercy; He will start to work when He hears the believing prayers of one faithful intercessor.In interceding Daniel assumes the sin of the people.  Instead of them he uses we or I.He described how the people have sinned and asked God for forgiveness.

• They had disobeyed God and walked away from commands.
• They had a semblance of worship to God but it was outward and not an inward transformation.
• They refused to listen to the messages of repentance that God had sent through His prophets.
• They had taken on the ways of the nations around them. (Think about how we have done that and pray specifically for it when we pray)

 Pray on behalf of our church and nation by praying in the first person as an intercessor.