World Changing Intercession B The Moses Model

                        

   World Changing Intercession B The Moses Model

In Exodus 32-34, at a crisis in both Redemption and world history, God led Moses through a master intercession which restored Israel as God's people. In this prayer, with the exception of going through the forms of repentance, those prayed for, had no effect on the change. The alteration in relationship between God and His people was solely the product of a transaction between God and the intercessor.

The prayer contains three stages and seven distinct phases. The first three phases, involving three distinct prayer principles, took place on Mt. Sinai between God and Moses. The next phase took place in the camp of Israel, between Moses and Israel in confrontation with their sin. The final three phases again took place between God and Moses. The final phase taking place on Mt. Sinai.

Each phase of the intercession deals with a prayer law or principle:

Phase I:          Establishing the Relationship  (Ex. 32:7-11, Note the pronouns.) All prayer is a function of the relationship between  God and us. In intercessory prayer (praying for someone else who for the moment cannot/ will not pray for themselves) the relationship between the person prayed for and God is crucial. If those prayed for have not established relationship with God, the intercession must focus on establishing that relationship. If they are in relationship with God, this shapes to focus and power of the intercessory prayer. So, the first thing to clarify is the relationship between God and the person/group prayed for. 

Phase 2:          The God-Perspective  (Ex. 32:12)  All prayer focuses on the problem/need from God's perspective, not man's. Powerful intercessory prayer is always God-centered,  concerned with God’s honor, reputation, will, plan. The maturing intercessor will seek to look at every intercessory situation from God’s viewpoint.

Phase 3:          The Integrity of God's Word B (Ex. 32:13-14) All prayer depends on the integrity of God's Word. Intercessory power springs from our confidence in God’s Word and our willing dependence upon its integrity. Behind God’s Word is God, His Character, His Faithfulness. God backs His Word. This confidence must permeate all prayer, especially intercessory prayer.  

Phase 4:          Confrontation with Sin  (Ex. 32:19-28) At some stage in every prayer sin must be directly confronted and actively dealt with. This confrontation may be uncomfortable and sometimes painful; but the confrontation must be made. Sin, undealt with, blocks both relationship and prayer answers.

Phase 5:          Resting in the Atonement  (Ex. 32:29-34) Sin can only be effectively dealt with through applying the atonement. Moses offered himself as an atonement, sensing but not clearly understanding its meaning. God’s Son offered the perfect atonement on the Cross. That Atonement is the one on which our intercessory prayers must be built. In praying for others we must claim and stand on the finished sacrifice of Jesus in behalf of those we intercede for.  

Phase 6:          The Presence Imperative  (Ex. 33:1-17) No solution, even the divine solution, is valid unless accompanied by God's personal presence as it is experienced. When we intercede for a person or group, we must keep in mind that only God’s personal presence in the person or situation will bring a change. God does not operate long distance. He always enters personally into each crisis and need with His solution. Until He does we labor and pray in vain. One of the primary purposes of any intercessory prayer is to open the situation for God’s personal presence and intervention in the life situation. With Moses, we must say, Lord, if You are not in our midst, we cannot go. (v.16)

Phase 7:          The Appeal to Grace (Submission)  (Ex. 33:17-34:10) All restoration of man rests totally on Grace and the character of God behind that grace. Moses experienced this on the mountain when God passed by the protective cleft in the rocks and Moses beheld some of His glory. At that time God proclaimed His own character in which His grace and mercy were repeatedly emphasized. The complete reconciliation of fallen Israel to God did not take place until (one man) Moses as intercessor rested his final plea for Israel on God’s unchanging character of love and mercy. Our intercessory prayers are effective only in proportion to the degree that we submit, or better yet abandon ourselves and those for whom we pray to utter dependence on God’s grace. (you see God just if you are in the rock – in Jesus)

Strangely enough, in one form or another, all the Bible intercessors followed the same model as Moses did. We can only conclude they knew something we have lost understanding of over the centuries. Few of us are in the position of these men whose prayers changed the course of world history. Yet each of us is placed in contact with intercessory needs that cry for change that only God can bring. In this smaller sphere of prayer opportunities it is our privilege to use the same intercessory prayer patterns as did Moses and the other prayer master in Scripture. When we do, earnestly and diligently learning the skills these men of God modeled, we can certainly look for remarkable, and often miraculous answers to our own intercessory prayers.

                                                 Keep Interceding