INTERCESSORY PRAYER, FOR THE GOOD OF OTHERS
Numbers 14:13-25
Earlier in
the day, the whole camp, 2 million strong, decided to stone Moses, Celeb
Joshua and
Aaron. The angry mob decided to select a
new leader and return to Egypt. This irrational mob
Denounced
the God that freed them from slavery.
Moses went
into intercessory prayer, not for himself but the angry mob. God had announced
a
Death
sentence on the entire mob. But Moses
prayed for their lives
What does
the Word say?
Pray for
those who despitefully use you. Love you enemies
When you
face the enemy, go to God in prayer. Bless them with compassion and love.
We must be
careful that we don’t incite revenge in our minds. The battle is not yours, its
The Lord.
This
intercessory prayer of Moses teaches us the Lord’s prayer. This is the Lord’s
prayer in action
Matthew
6:9-14
"'Our
Father in heaven, PLEAD THE
HONOR OF GOD
hallowed be
your name,
10 your
kingdom come,
your will be
done
on earth as
it is in heaven.
11 Give us
today our daily bread.
12 Forgive
us our debts,
PLEAD THE MERCY OF GOD
as we also
have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead
us not into temptation,
but deliver
us from the evil one.' PLEAD
THE PROMISE OF GOD
INTERCESSARY
PRAYER, A DISCUSSION WITH GOD
PLEAD THE
HONOR OF GOD
God ought to
be honored first in our prayers.
Don’t let your
situation distract you from going into the hollowed place of God’s
Presence. God
knows your situation before you open your mouth. Honor God first.
V:13 Moses
said to the Lord, "Then the Egyptians will hear about it! By your power,
you brought these people up from among them. 14 And they will tell the
inhabitants of this land about it. They have already heard that you, O Lord,
are with these people and that you, O Lord, have been seen face to face, that
your cloud stays over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by
day and a pillar of fire by night.
A. Moses stepped back from himself and thought
about want the enemy would say if God killed all the
Israelites in the desert at once.
1. Moses pleaded the Honor of God.
2. This national unbelief angered God
who came into the camp in a cloud
And spoke to Moses. He
ended with this statement of judgment;
Numbers 14:12
I will strike them down
with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and
stronger than they."
3. It is good to come to the Lord and
intercede for unbelievers.
4. It’s a good thing to state your
beliefs before the Lord for those you love.
5. Moses was in the middle of his
unbelieving nation, believed that
If God killed the whole
nation at once, the enemy would believe that
He was not capable of
controlling His people.
B. Those who oppose God, are looking for
something to challenge His power and authority.
1. It is our job to lift up Jesus and
trust Him to handle the enemy.
2. Jesus is more than the enemy before
you.
PLEAD THE
GOODNESS OF GOD
V:15 If you
put these people to death all at one time, the nations who have heard this
report about you will say, 16 'The Lord was not able to bring these people into
the land he promised them on oath; so he slaughtered them in the desert.'
A. This national unbelief angered God who
came into the camp in a cloud
And spoke to Moses. He
ended with this statement of judgment;
Numbers 14:12
I will strike them down
with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and
stronger than they."
B. Moses reasoned that Egyptians had
spread the word to the inhabitant in the
Promised land about the
power of God freeing the Israelites from slavery.
1. God has His arm of protection around
us 24/7
2. He protected the Israelites from the
sun with a cloud by day and a cloud of
Fire by night.
3. According to the text, the cloud by
day and night was visible to the enemy.
4. You ought to live your life with the
assurance that God is standing
Guard over you.
5. It should not be the enemy spreading
the word about the goodness of the
Of the Lord.
6. It should be the believers
proclaiming the Word through praise and worship.
7. No one can tell your testimony about
what God has done for you like you.
MOSES
PLEADED THE PROMISES OF GOD
We should
emphasize and focus on the promises God made to us.
Numbers 14:12
“ I will strike them down
with a plague and destroy them, but I will make
you into a nation greater and stronger than they."
1. It is easy to allow the negatives of
your situation to cast doubt on God’s promises.
2. God promised Moses that he would be
made into a strong nation.
3. God’s plan does not change because of
our disobedience or unbelief.
4. Unbelievers are not included in God’s
plan, but they are used to drive us to
Trust God.
5. God reaffirmed His promise made to
Abraham 430 years earlier.
PLEAD THE
MERCY OF GOD
Intercessory
prayer, asks for forgiveness of the sins of others
Numbers
14:17-19
"Now may the Lord's strength be
displayed, just as you have declared: 18 'The Lord is slow to anger, abounding
in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. Yet he does not leave the guilty
unpunished; he punishes the children for the sin of the fathers to the third
and fourth generation.' 19 In accordance with your great love, forgive the sin
of these people, just as you have pardoned them from the time they left Egypt
until now."
NIV
1. STRENGTHENING MERCY
V:17 "Now may the Lord's
strength be displayed, just as you have declared.
In the midst of trials, our faith
needs to be strengthened.
We must remember that all things
are designed by God to work in our favor.
2. TOLERANCE MERCY
V:18. The Lord is slow to anger.
Just as the Lord is tolerant with
us, we must be tolerant of others.
2. COMFORTING MERCY
Abounding in love
a. God’s love leads us into desert
situations to grow our faith in Him in the midst of
Troubling situation.
b. God took us to the situation, He is with us in the
situation. He will bring us out of
The situation
3. PARDONING MERCY
And forgiving sin and rebellion.
a. All sin and fall short of the glory
of God
b. From time to time we all rebel against
God in our thoughts and actions.
c. God is just and forgives when we ask.
4. CHASTISING MERCY
Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children
for the sin of the fathers to the
third and fourth generation.
a. The wages of unrepentant sin is
death.
b. It is the mercy of God to allow us to
learn from the consequences of disobedience.
5. LONG SUFFERING MERCY
V:9 In accordance with your great
love, forgive the sin of these people, just as you have pardoned
them from the time they left Egypt until now."
a. It is good for us to remind ourselves
of the goodness and mercy of God in prayer.
b. When we meditate on what God has
done, it builds our confidence in Him.
c. God’s mercy covers the ones He loves
until we become obedient.
6. FORGIVING MERCY
V:20 The Lord replied, "I have forgiven them, as you
asked.
1. Prayer works.
2. We never know whose prayers God uses
to forgive our ignorance.
3. We may be protected in danger because
someone is praying for us
7. LEARNING MERCY
a. We learn when we suffer the consequences
of Rejecting God’s Rule
V:21 Nevertheless, as surely as I
live and as surely as the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth,
not one of the men who saw my glory and the miraculous signs I
performed in Egypt and the
desert but who disobeyed me and
tested me ten times — 23 not one of them
will ever see the land I promised
on oath to their forefathers. No one who has treated
me with contempt will ever see it.
b. God put His word in print, preserved
it, and made it known to us so we will know
That His love includes
punishment.
EXPECT
THE VICTORY OF GOD
V:24 But
because my servant Caleb has a different spirit and follows me wholeheartedly,
I will bring him into the land he went to, and his descendants will inherit it.
A. There are always two types of spirit
roaming around.
1. There’s the Holy Spirit
2. There is the evil spirit of Satan
3. There those who are obedient to the
Lord, and will not change.
B. Caleb and Joshua trusted the Lord to bring
victory over the inhabitants of the
Promised land.
1. There is nothing too hard for God.
2. God didn’t bring us this far to allow
us to fail.
3. God intends for our work to be made
complete in Him.
Ephesians 2:10
For we are God's workmanship, created in
Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
THE BATTLE IS NOT YOURS,
IT’S THE LORDS
Rev. M. Mitchell
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