Ron Dunn Podcast - What is Intercessory Prayer

Episode Date: September 25, 2024

In this message from the gospel of Luke, Ron shows us the secret weapon that we as believers have through intercessory prayer.

The Gospel of Luke, beginning with the first verse and reading through verse 11. And it came to pass, that as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins. For we also forgive every one that is indebted to us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend? And shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three

loaves. For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity, because of his shameless stubbornness, because of his persistence, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, ask and keep on asking, and it shall be given you. Seek and keep on seeking, and you shall find. Knock and keep on knocking, and it shall be opened unto you. For every one that keeps on asking receives, and he that keeps on seeking finds,

and to him that keeps on knocking it shall be opened. Intercessory prayer is the secret weapon of the church. I like to liken it to an intercontinental ballistic missile that God has placed in my hands. This missile can be fired to any spot on the face of the earth. It will travel at the speed of thought, and it always hits its target. And one of the great things about this missile which God has placed in our hands, it can even be armed with a delayed detonator. And I can pray for something to happen years from now, and it will come to pass.

You know, this is exactly what Jesus did in John 17 when he was praying there, interceding for, he said, And I pray not only for these, but for all those who shall believe on me through their witness, through their word. And 2,000 years ago Jesus was praying for me. And every time a person is born into the kingdom of God, the prayer of Jesus is answered again. Jesus prayed a prayer that had a delayed detonation. And you know, the marvelous thing about this is that I find I can leave my children an inheritance of answered prayer.

I may not be able to leave them much else, but I have already begun the practice of praying for things to happen and praying for God to do things in the life of my children long after I'm dead. And I am confident, just as Jesus prayed in John 17, that long after I'm dead, God will be answering prayers in the life of my children that I prayed while I was still alive. Isn't that a marvelous truth about prayer? What a tremendous potential opportunity is offered to every parent to leave his children an inheritance like that, to wrap his children up in blankets of intercessory prayer.

And years after you have ceased to live, God will remember, the Bible says, the prayers of the saints. And day after day, God will be doing and moving in their lives in answer to prayers you prayed years before. What a tremendous weapon the church has. And you know, the tremendous feature about this secret weapon that God has given to the church, there is absolutely no defense against it. This is one weapon that the devil has never come up with. He has never been able to invent an anti-ballistic missile to deter intercessory prey. There is absolutely no defense that a lost man has against intercessory praying. There is absolutely no defense that a lost man has against intercessory praying.

Now, he has a defense against your preaching. In the first place, he can refuse to come. And some of you have invited lost people to come to church. They don't have to come. And even when they do come, they don't have to listen. They can refuse to listen. They can count the lights in the ceiling, or they can flip through the hymn book, or they't have to listen. They can refuse to listen. They can count the lights in the ceiling, or they can flip through the hymn book, or they can try to stay awake by counting how many

choir members are wearing glasses. And they can refuse to listen. You can give them a track, and you can share with them the four spiritual laws. They can throw it away. They can refuse to pay any attention to it. But there is one thing, there is one method of evangelism, there is one weapon that God has given to the church that the lost person has absolutely no defense against, and that is intercessory prayer. Because he can refuse to come to church, he can stop his ears at your sermon,

he can throw away your tracts, but he cannot stop Jesus from knocking at the door of his heart. What a tremendous weapon it is. Intercessory praying, the ministry of intercession, lies at the very heart of the gospel. The book of Isaiah chapter 53 tells us that when Jesus Christ came, he came for this purpose to make intercession for the transgressors. 2 Corinthians 5.21 says that he was made to be sin for us, whom you know sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Jesus came to do

one thing, and that was to make intercession for me as a lost person. And the present ministry in which Jesus Christ is engaged is a ministry of intercession. Would you like to know what Jesus is doing right now at this very moment? He's praying for you. And you know, that gives me a lot of encouragement. I remember some years ago I was in a revival meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas, and to be very honest with you, it was more like attending a wake. I was in a revival meeting in Little Rock, Arkansas, and to be very honest with you, it was more like attending a wake. I was just sitting up with dead bodies is about all I was doing. By the end of the week I was pretty much discouraged about the situation. I arrived at the church one night a few minutes early, and I noticed there was a Nash Rambler station

wagon sitting out in front of the church and three elderly women sitting in the front seat of that little Nash Rambler. And as I walked into the church, they waved at me and motioned me to come over. And so I went over and I looked in and said hello to the ladies and they said, we called you over because we just wanted you to know that tonight we would be holding you up in prayer. And you know, that did something to me. That's the first person that week had said they were praying for me. And I walked into that service that night more encouraged than I had been all week

simply because I knew that three elderly saints of God were praying for me. And every once in a while I'll get a letter in the mail or somebody will call up on the phone and say, Preacher, I just want you to know I'm praying for you. And that encourages me. And every once in a while I'll get a letter in the mail or somebody will call up on the phone and say, Preacher, I just want you to know I'm praying for you. And that encourages me. But to know that tonight, right now, at this very minute, Jesus is praying for me, I can't tell you what that does for my heart. To know that Jesus right now is praying for me. Hebrews 7.25 says, He is able to save them, all them that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. That's what Jesus Christ is doing right now.

In 1 John 2, in verse 1 and 2, it says, Little children, these things write I unto you, that you sin not. But if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is, present tense, not he was,

but he is the propitiation, the covering for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. John says, I don't want you to sin. And God's ideal is that you not sin. But what if you do sin? Don't worry about it.

Just confess it. That doesn't mean you're lost. You haven what if you do sin? Don't worry about it. Just confess it. That doesn't mean you're lost. You haven't forfeited your eternal life. Why? Because we have an advocate. That's a fancy word for lawyer. That's a go-between. That's someone who intercedes for us. We have an advocate before the Father, in the presence of the Father, face to face with the Father, and he is Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is praying for us. And every time I sin against God the Father, Jesus Christ is standing before the bar of heaven as my heavenly lawyer, and he's interceding for me. And you know a tremendous thing about that intercessor, about that lawyer? Most lawyers, in order to get their client off free, plead their innocence.

But my heavenly lawyer pleads my guilt. He says, Father, everything the devil has said about this young man and everything you know about him is true. He is guilty, but I want you to forgive him. Because 2,000 years ago when I shed my blood on the cross, I shed my blood for him. And he's trusted me. And by the Prince of Calvary, by the agony of Gethsemane, I want you to forgive his sin and let my blood continue to cover him from all unrighteousness. That's my heavenly lawyer. He's interceding for me right now, and it gives me such a thrill when the devil comes up to accuse me, just to refer him to my lawyer. Just see

my lawyer, he handles all my problems for me. That is the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus says, As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you. It seems to me from the teaching of the Word of God that this ministry of intercession lies at the very heart of the gospel and the very heart of Christianity. Jesus said that we are a kingdom of priests. In Revelation chapter 1, it says that Jesus loosed us from our sins with his own blood. In verse 6, he hath made us a kingdom of priests. 1 Peter chapter 2 and verse, and again in verse 9, Peter says that we are a royal priesthood.

Now what is the priesthood of the believers? That's a good Baptist doctrine that most Baptists don't have any idea about. It is one of the fundamental doctrines of the Word of God, the priesthood of the believer. Now, most of the time we have explained the priesthood of the believer simply as my God-given ability to go in the very presence of God myself. I do not need anyone to go between for me. I don't have to go to a man. I don't have to go to a preacher. I don't have to have a priest. I don't have to go to a man. I don't have to go to a preacher. I don't have to have a priest. I don't have to have Mary to intercede for me. The priesthood of the believer means that I have immediate access into the presence of God. Now that's true, but that's

just half of it. Do you know what a priest was in the Old Testament? A priest didn't go into the presence of God simply for himself, but when he went into the presence of God, he took the whole nation with him. A miracle. One man had the ability to take a whole nation with him into the very presence of God. And the Bible says you are a kingdom of priests. That simply doesn't mean that you have the right to go into the presence of God, but it means you have the right and the obligation to take others with you into that presence.

The Latin word translated priest really means a bridge, and I think that's a very picturesque word of what a Christian priest is. He is a bridge between that lost man or that needy Christian and the resources of an almighty God. He is the bridge. And the priesthood of the believer simply means that I am supposed to go to God

on the behalf of other people. And that's what intercessory praying is. Intercessory praying involves three people. It involves myself, who does the praying. It involves God, to whom I am praying. And it involves a third party God to whom I am praying, and it involves a third party for whom I am praying. A lost person, a saved person, a needy person, a church, a nation, a city, a government. The ministry of intercession.

I think the best way that it is illustrated is found in Exodus 17 when Moses and Joshua and all the people of Israel meet Amalek in the valley of Rephidim. And a very unusual thing happens. In verse 9, Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out and fight with Amalek. And tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. You know, Joshua must have been a loyal follower, because I have often thought that if it had been me, if I had been Joshua, and Moses had come to me and said, all right, Joshua, here's the plan. I'm going up on the mountain with the rod of God, and you go down in the valley and meet Amalek and all of his armies. I have a feeling I would have said, Moses,

I've got a better plan. You let me go up on the mount with the rod of God and you go down into the valley. Oh no, but Joshua, he knew what it meant to follow orders. And we read on, it says, so Joshua did as Moses had said to him and fought with Amalek, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat thereon. And Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady under the going down of the sun, and Joshua discomforted, that's English understatement, he practically slaughtered them, Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

Now there's intercession. Joshua is down in the valley meeting the enemy head on in a face-to-face confrontation. Moses is up yonder on the valley, on the hill, lifting up the rod of God. And they discover something. When they lift high the rod of God, Joshua prevails and there is victory. When they lower the rod of God, Amalek prevails. Now who's doing the fighting? What is the source of that victory?

That is the principle of intercession illustrated. What Moses was doing was interceding for Joshua as he was fighting the battle in the valley. And the victory that day came not from Joshua's strength and not from Israel's armies, but it came from the intercession of Moses. And I'm convinced the reason so many of our Christians going out into the valleys today and meeting the Amaleks of this world and are being defeated is because many of us are not standing on the hill of intercession holding up the rod of God. And you'll find this church and every church winning victory after victory.

You'll find Christian homes knowing victory. You'll find Christian individuals knowing victory in all kinds of places when people begin to practice the ministry of intercession. Every time I read that story, I said, Boy, if I could get hold of a rod of God like that, I'd have it made. Well, I have one just like that. You know what the Christian's rod is? The name of Jesus. Because that rod of God simply was God's authority placed in a human hand. That's all it was. It was God's authority delegated to a human

hand. I have a rod of God, you have a rod of God, and that is the name of Jesus. And the authority of heaven and earth resides in that name, and he's placed that name in my hand. And when I stand before the needs of a lost world, and in the name of Jesus go to the Father, God hears. If you shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. Samuel said, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you. That's intercession. Did you know it's a sin to fail to intercede? If you're not praying for others, did you know you're sinning against God? Intercession is Moses going to the Father and praying that he'll forgive the people in spite of their idolatry. Abraham interceding for Sodom and Gomorrah.

If you'll read in Ephesians and Philippians and Colossians, the prison prayers of Paul, they were all prayers of intercession, praying for others. 1 Timothy 2, verse 2, Paul says, First of all, I would that prayers and supplications and intercessions be made for all men. Ephesians 6, verse 18, He commands us to pray for all the saints and me in particular. Colossians 4, verse 2,

He says to pray for him as a preacher. All the way through the New Testament, you can't get away from it. The ministry of intercession lies at the very heart of our gospel. And the saddest thing about the 20th century church is we just aren't interceding. We do not understand the first rules of intercession. And many of us, most of us who name the name of Christ today have never really entered into that ministry of intercession. What does it mean to intercede? What kind of praying must I do if it is to be intercessory prayer? I think in this parable that Jesus gave us in Luke chapter 11, you have a perfect picture of the ministry of intercession.

And so I want us to look at this parable, verses 5 through 8, and pick out the characteristics of intercessory praying. I want to say three very simple things about this ministry of intercession. Number one, Jesus is revealing to us in this parable that intercessory praying must be daring praying. It must be bold praying. It must be audacious praying. Everything about this parable breathes boldness, audacity, and daring. Here is a man who at midnight goes to see a friend, bangs on the door. And by the way, that wasn't Fort Worth, Texas or Dallas, Texas. That wasn't the hot spot of the earth back then. They rolled up the sidewalks at dark thirty, and everybody went to bed with the chickens,

and they didn't stay up until midnight watching the late movie or Johnny Carson on television. This man had been in bed and asleep for a long time. And he woke him up. He said, I can't get up. My children are in bed with me. Now, many times in the homes they had one bed, and the father would pack all the children around him in the bed. Now, have any of you, in an effort to ever get your little baby,

your little boy, your little girl to sleep, gone to bed with them? You don't breathe. You don't move. You're not about to wake them up. Now, what would you think of some fellow if at midnight, after you had been in bed and asleep for hours, there came a banging on the door. You said, I can't get up. My children are in bed.

You'll disrupt the whole family. He just keeps on banging. I don't care. I need some bread. I've got a friend of mine. In his journey that's come to me, I have nothing to set before him. Now, I submit to you that is audacious, bold, daring praying. And you know, as I study the intercessory prayers in the Old Testament in particular,

I notice that they were men who were bold. And I'm afraid that a great many of us come to God in prayer like a beggar coming to a back door. Now, I'll confess to you, that's the way I used to pray. I used to come half-hearted, half-apologetic, as though I had no claim on God. And then God began to show me I don't come to him as a beggar to a back door asking for a handout. I come as a son, and he's my father, and I have rights. I have family rights. John 14, 14 that we talked about last night, the Greek word translated ask could very well be translated demand. Whatsoever you shall demand in my name, that will I do,

that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall demand anything in my name, I will do it. And suddenly my prayer life changed when I realized I was an heir of God and a joiner with Jesus Christ. That means I share equally in all that Jesus is and all that Jesus has. And that everything that the Father has is mine by birth. And I come to him as a son. I have rights and I stand upon those rights.

I come with boldness. I come with daring. That's the way you ought to come in prayer. And if the ministry of intercession is to be successful in your life, you must pray this way. Now, you've got to be daring in the size of your request. Notice he came and he asked for how many loaves of bread? Three. Did you know that in Israel one loaf of bread was a day's supply? He was coming at midnight asking for three loaves of bread. Now, I can tell you something about yourself tonight.

Some of you are afraid to pray specifically for certain things because it seems too much to ask. It just seems too hard too much to ask. It just seems too hard for God to do. I love that little poem that says, Thou art coming to a king, large petitions with thee bring, for his grace and power are such you can never ask too much.

And God is honored when we bring to him large petitions. Now I've read a great many books on prayer. And I've heard a lot of sermons on prayer. And a lot of people say that it is a low and vulgar idea of prayer, this idea of going to God to get something. That the whole purpose and premise and profit of prayer is the spiritual good that it does you. It helps you to grow. It makes you feel better. The communion you have with God, this is

what you need to look for in prayer. And you're being very childish and very selfish if you go to God simply looking for Him to give you things. Now, doesn't that sound lofty? Doesn't that sound pious? The only thing is, it's not scriptural. Now, I challenge you tonight to check out every prayer promise, and every prayer promise that the Bible gives us, it tells us to expect to get something from God.

Now, I may be wrong. Maybe I've overlooked something, and if I have, you come after the service and tell me about it because I want to know about it. Maybe I've overlooked it, but I cannot think of one single prayer promise where God tells me to pray on the basis and for the reason it will make me feel better. Every encouragement that God gives us to pray is based on this. You come and God is going to give you something really big. Jeremiah 33, 3, Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. Ask and keep on asking, it shall be given. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be given. Seek, and ye shall find.

Knock, and it shall be opened unto him. What things? Every prayer promise in the Word of God, Jesus is telling us if you pray, you'll get something, and you'll get something big. You've got to be daring in the size of your prayer. Are some of you afraid to pray for a lost friend tonight because he just is such a hardened sinner?

Are some of you afraid tonight to pray for a financial need because it just seems so large, so big? Then you are blaspheming the Word of God. You need to be daring in the size. You need to be daring in the stubbornness of that request. He just kept on knocking at that door, banging on that door. And that eighth verse says,

I tell you, though he is his friend, he will not rise and give him. Friendship doesn't count in intercessory praying. Now, I think perhaps friendship would count in some kind of praying. But friends' intercessory praying is different from any other kind of praying. And not because he is his friend, but because of his persistence.

That word means being shamelessly stubborn. Being stubborn and persistent to the point of having no shame about it. You ever pray that way? It is the attitude that gets hold of God and says, I'm going to hang on until you bless me. Now, why do we have to be stubborn and persistent in our praying? Because the enemy always opposes the answer. We don't have time to go into it tonight. We went into it this morning. Daniel chapter 10, you read that chapter, you'll discover that the enemy always opposes the answer to your praying. Therefore you must be stubborn. I think the good illustration of being persistent

in prayer is when Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord that night. The sun began to come up, and the angel of the Lord said, Let me go, let me go. Now, there's something phony there. I've never seen yet a man that was stronger than an angel. And every time I read that story, I just have to say to myself, there's something really not right about that incident. If that angel wanted to get loose, he could have gotten loose. Don't you believe that? Do you believe that Jacob was stronger than an angel? I don't believe he is. I believe that fight was fixed.

I believe that angel was saying, Jacob, let me go. And under his breath, I believe he was saying, but I hope you don't because if you hang on a little bit longer, I'm going to bless you. Stubborn pray. Persistent in praying. God wants us to come to him with this attitude. Father, I'm coming in the name of Jesus. I have this burden on my heart. I want to see revival in my home. I want my sons to be right with you.

I want this person to be saved. And I am not leaving your presence until you give me the answer. Daring in its stubbornness, but most of all, it must be daring in its sacrifice. To me, the most significant part of this parable is the man identified himself with the other man's need. Now, this fellow wasn't hungry. You know why they didn't have any bread? Because they had eaten it all.

They had exhausted the day's supply. He was full. He was satisfied. He wasn't hungry. And yet a friend of his drops by on his way to another place. He hasn't had anything to eat. And most of us would have said, well, now you're the one that's hungry. You go out knocking on doors.

You go out making the neighbors mad at you. You go out begging bread. You're the one that's hungry. Notice what he did. This man sacrificed his own feelings, his own leisure, his own comfort. He identified himself with his friend's problem. The man who was full went begging bread, and that's what intercessory praying is. It's the man who knows Jesus, Lord and Savior in his life, goes before God as though he did not know him. It's John Knox praying, God give me Scotland or I'll die. It's David Brainerd

praying in snow up to his waist, using up his life, burning up his life before the age of 30. It's praying hide, praying all day and all night that God would give him souls in India, acting as though his own salvation depended upon it. This man identified himself with this friend's need. Now right here is where so many people drop out of intercessory praying. And I want you to listen very carefully as I share with you the most important thing

about this matter of intercession. The essence of intercession is identification. If I am to intercede, that means I identify myself with this person's need. Just as this man identified himself, you would have thought he was the one who was starving. Now, the principle is very clear. We've already mentioned Isaiah 53, 12. Jesus identified Himself. That verse says He was numbered with the transgressors. What did Jesus do? Why was Jesus baptized of John and Jordan? When John saw Jesus coming

and Jesus said, John, I want you to baptize me, John said, no, Lord. No, I need to be baptized by you. Why did John react that way? Because when a person came to be baptized by John, they were confessing

they were sinful. And Jesus, it was obvious to John, had no sin to confess. Therefore, he said, no, I need no sin to confess, therefore he said, No, I need to be baptized of you. Jesus said, No, I want you to baptize me. What was the significance of the baptism of Jesus? Jesus was identifying himself with sinners.

That's intercession. Listen to one of the most marvelous prayers prayed by a man named Moses. Exodus 32, verse 31, And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, O this people have sinned, a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin, and if not, now notice this, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. What was Moses doing? Boy, he was interceding.

You know why? He was identifying himself with his people. He was saying, God, I want you to forgive these people of their sin, but if you cannot forgive them, I want you to forgive these people of their sin, but if you cannot forgive them, I want you to blot me out with them. I want you to take my name out of the book that you have written." I just cannot understand compassion and intercession like that, but that is exactly what intercession is.

Paul says the same thing, and I have to pretty well take him seriously because if I understand the Bible, he is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. So what he writes is true. Romans 9.1, I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual, in my heart, for I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to the flesh." That is intercession. Identify.

You know what the law of spiritual harvest is? Jesus said in John 12, if a grain of wheat, a grain of corn, fall into the ground and die, it bringeth forth much fruit. If it abideth alone, if it doesn't die, it abideth alone. If it doesn't die, it abideth alone. I want to ask you tonight, Christian,

are you abiding alone as far as your spiritual harvest is concerned? You have no harvest of lost souls to present to the Father. You're the seed, but you're abiding alone. Nothing in my hand I bring. Must I go and empty-handed meet my Savior's soul? Are you abiding alone? If you are, it's because you haven't died. If it doesn't die, it abideth alone. But if it dies, it bringeth forth much fruit. Right there is the law of spiritual harvest.

And Paul said the same thing in 2 Corinthians 4. Listen to what he says, verses 10 through 12. Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body, for we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake. Now notice, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." Look at verse 12, the capstone, verse 12, So then death worketh in us, but life in you. Don't miss that. That's the law of spiritual harvest.

Paul says death is working in us so that the life of Jesus might be manifested in you. So then, death all the time is working in me, but life in you. Every time somebody is saved, it is because somebody somewhere has died. Has died to themselves, has died to their ambition, has died to their luxuries, has died to their leisure time, has died to their fleshy interests. When Zion travails, she brings forth a child. And when some boy or girl, some man or woman walks down this aisle on Sunday morning and confesses faith in Christ, somebody died for that. It may be a mother somewhere, a grandmother, a grandfather somewhere.

Years ago somebody died. Death worketh in us, so life worketh in you. The law of spiritual harvest, and you hear it and you listen to it tonight, the law of spiritual harvest is God says there will be no life until there is death. And until this church and my church and other churches are willing to die, there will be no life. God never changes His rules. He never does.

They are fixed and they are firm. And until you and I are willing tonight to take upon ourselves voluntary deaths to my own amusements, my own ambitions, my own plans, unless I am willing to die to what I want and what I am, God cannot give me spiritual harvest. But I tell you what, if I am willing tonight to take upon me voluntary death and die to financial advantage, die to worldly pleasures, die to something that means a great deal to me, just die to myself and my own fleshly interest, I have the right to claim and receive the harvest of the Spirit of God. I believe that with all my soul.

I remember the first time God showed me this. I was in a revival meeting and things weren't going too good. I was in my motel room one night and I was reading these scriptures. I had some other books that were helping me along this line. I had never really seen it as I saw it that night. And God just seemed to say to me, All right, if you want a spiritual harvest, then you must be willing to die. Are you willing to die to anything for the sake of these people?

Are you willing to really take the position tonight of intercession?" Do you know what I said? I said, Yes, Lord, very easily, very glibly, sure, Lord. I got on my knees and I said, Lord, Father, I'm willing tonight to take death to anything that you see fit in my life that I might claim and receive spiritual harvest this week." Do you know what the Father did? As he often does, he takes me at my word, and immediately he said, Here is the thing

that I want you to die to, give up to. And the minute God showed that to me, I got up off my knees and walked around the room. Then I got back on my face and said, Father, forgive me for praying so glibly and insincerely. I wasn't willing. I just thought I was. It sounded good. I went through a struggle about an hour and a half in that room. Finally I came to the place where I said, All right, Lord, I'm willing right now.

I'd die to this thing. I'm willing to give it up. I'd die to it right now. It was something that meant a great deal to me, something I desperately needed, by the way. I said, Lord, I'm willing to give it up. I'd die to it right now. And immediately, the Spirit of God came and filled and flooded that room,

and there was peace. And I claimed, and brethren, we received spiritual harvest. You know, God was trying to teach this to me when I was 19 years old. I was preaching a revival meeting in the First Baptist Church of Bowlegs, Oklahoma. Now, folks, I've been to some classy places. And one night a young wife walked down that aisle. And it was obvious that she had been crying much that day. Her eyes were swollen and red.

She said, For years I have been praying for my father, and nothing has happened. He's never been saved, he's never been touched. His heart is still as hard as it ever was. She said, Today I was washing dishes and I was praying, Lord, save my father. Lord, whatever it takes, save my father. It seemed as if the Lord said to me, Would you be willing to die physically for the salvation of your father? Whatever it takes, would you be willing to give your life? And you know what that young wife was doing that night?

She was walking down this aisle telling this preacher, she said, I want you to know tonight, I've told God if it takes my life to see my dad saved, if my funeral would break his heart, I told God today I'd be willing to die. And you know what?

Before the week was done, her father was saved. Why? Nobody told her that was intercession, but that's what intercession was. And I long for God to show me this more and more. Because to me it is still a mystery about which I know very little. But I know that there is that area of Christian ministry, the ministry of intercession, where I voluntarily take the position of intercession. I identify myself with that person for whom I am praying.

And I come to the place of sacrifice. I am willing to die to myself, whatever God lays upon that heart, in order to claim and receive spiritual harvest. Folks, that's bold praying. But once you do that, you have the right to boldly demand God to give the harvest, because he keeps his word. Now, just briefly, point number two. Intercessory praying must be definite praying. Don't have time to say anything about that except this. Praying must always be definite, must always be specific. Most of us don't have our prayers answered because we pray vaguely, generally. You know why? Most of the time your

vague praying is not answered is because it is an indication of faithlessness. You see, it doesn't take any faith for me to pray vaguely. If our church has an evangelistic campaign, I can say, Lord, save the lost. And if anybody that week is saved, I can say God answered my prayer. But I am afraid to say, Lord, I want you to do something in the life of so-and-so and name him by name. That takes more faith, because then I'll know whether or not God answers my prayer. Praying ought to be definite, specific. You spell it out exactly what you want God to do.

Now, the third point and the last one, very briefly, is intercessory praying must be desperate praying. There must be about it the sense of urgency. And this entire parable breathes a sense of urgency. This man had to have it now, and he wouldn't take no for an answer. The ministry of intercession comes upon people who are desperate, urgent, Lord, it must happen. I must have this soul. I must see this deliverance. God, I must have it.

I'm desperate. And when you get to the point of desperation, that's when God can move in. And I find in those closing verses of that parable three reasons why we ought to be desperate. Number one, because of our inescapable responsibility. Look at what he says, for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me. Now it was the custom in those days, if a fellow came to your door, you had to take care of him. You were obliged to take care of him. My inescapable responsibility. This fellow has come to me. He hasn't come to the preacher. Now, there are a great many Christians who are trying to shift their responsibility.

And there are some parents who are not providing the right spiritual atmosphere for their children in their home, and they're shifting the responsibility to the church. I want you to know that child has come to you, not to this church, not to this pastor. He's come to know that child has come to you, not to this church, not to this pastor. He's come to you,

and he is your responsibility. And we're all the time running to the preacher and the pastor and saying, Would you go visit so-and-so? God has laid him on my heart. I'll be honest with you. I want to be honest with you. I guess I've made some people honest with you. I guess I've made some people unhappy with me.

They've come and they've said to that preacher, I just have a burden for so and so. God's laid this person on my heart, would you go witness to them? I say, no. And they look at me as though I'm calloused and indifferent. I say, God hasn't laid that person on my heart. I don't have a burden for that person. God hasn't burdened that person. That's not my responsibility, it's your responsibility. Why do you think God put that burden on your heart in the first place? Because he wanted you to do the job. My inescapable responsibility. I have children.

They are my inescapable responsibility. They're people I work with. They're people I live next door to. They are my inescapable responsibility. That ought to make me desperate in prayer. Not only that, but also my inadequate resources. Notice what he says, and I have nothing to set before him. Man, if that's not a picture, most of us, I don't know what is.

Lord, I have nothing to set before them. Lord, I'm desperate. I don't know what to do about my teenage boy. He's my responsibility, but I'm inadequate. I have nothing to set before him. I see he's drifting into the world, and I've done everything I know to do. Lord, I'm desperate. And Lord, I live next door to this person who is lost, and I'm just helpless. I don't know what to do. My inadequate resources. The last reason is because of his inevitable reward. He will rise and give him, in verse 8, as many as he needeth. Now, friends, if that won't make you pray, I don't think anything

will. To know that I can come to God in a desperate situation, and lay before God my inescapable responsibility, and confess to God my inadequate resources, and be assured of his inevitable reward." He'll give me everything I need. Mother, I want you to know tonight, if you will take the place of intercession for your children, God will give you all the wisdom you need. God will give you all the patience you need. He'll give you all you need to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Husband, I want you to know tonight, if you are worried about being the right kind of father and the right kind of spiritual leader in your home, if you go to God in intercessory

prayer, praying for those that God has brought to you who are your responsibility. He'll give you as many as you need. Oh, God. God just is that kind of God. I mean, why should I go away from the Lord empty-handed? He has it all. And He wants to share it with me if I'm willing tonight

to take the place of intercession. Are you willing? You willing tonight to say, Lord, I want you to pour out upon me the spirit of intercession. I'm willing tonight to let you love somebody through my heart. I am willing tonight for you to bring someone on their journey of life to me. I will accept them as my inescapable responsibility. And I will identify myself with their needs. And I'll be stubborn and persistent in prayer until the answer comes.