In my last entry I drew a distinction between Intimacy Praying and Intercessory Praying. A great picture of Intercessory Praying is found in Ezekiel 37:1-11.
Ezekiel the prophet is given a vision from God. In the vision he is placed in a valley of dry bones. God asks Ezekiel the question, 'Can these bones live?'
Verse 11 tells us that the dry bones represent the whole house of Israel--which was in the midst of captivity in a foreign land. They were saying to one another, 'it's over, our hope is cut off, our restoration is impossible and will never happen (my paraphrase)'.
So God asks Ezekiel, 'Can these bones live? or Can you imagine Ezekiel, what I could do if I got involved in this situation? Do you think I can do a miracle and make these bones live?'
Ezekiel's answer: 'O Lord, you alone know!' Don't you love his honesty!?! He doesn't say yes, because it seems to far fetched to his natural mind. But he doesn't say no, leaving room for the power of God to do things far beyond his imagination.
Then God tells Ezekiel: 'Prophesy to the bones and tell them to live'. Wow! Here he is standing in a valley of death, with dry (dead a long time) bones all around him, and God asks him to make some prayer declarations to these skeletons. God said to Ezekiel, "Speak to your impossibilities and declare over them the Word of the Lord." This is the idea behind Intercessory Praying. It is a declaration of God's Will as expressed through His Word over your life situations.
Now, it is important to note that declarations must be linked to a promise from God. They only have power through agreement with God. So it is not our word alone that releases provision. We can't just proclaim our wishes and desires into the air. God doesn't back everything we declare. It is not our will that gets enforced, but rather the will of God.
Actually, if you make declarations that are not based on God's promises, you may often feel very disappointed. But if you declare what God has already promised, your agreement releases the will of heaven and brings it into the earth.
Remember in the Lord's Prayer, Jesus taught us to declare: 'Your Kingdom come, Your Will be done on earth as it is in heaven.' Thus the essence of Intercessory Praying. Jesus said, 'declare the will of God to be brought from heaven to the earth.'
2 Cor 1:20 tells us, 'For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.'
Do we have to question whether God will say 'yes' to the fulfillment of his promises in our lives? Absolutely not! Jesus is already his expression of 'yes'. Jesus' finished work on the cross is an expression of 'yes' to every promise from God.
But in order for the promise (the will of heaven) to be released on our behalf, we must say 'Amen' (which means I agree or so be it...may it be done in my life).
So Ezekiel got a promise from God...These dry bones will live! He said, 'Amen' to that promise and make a declaration to his valley of impossibility. And when his confession was combined with God's promise there was an explosion of power released in his life. The valley of dry bones was transformed into a mighty army ready for battle.
What promise from God are you declaring this week? Here's a suggestion: start with declaring a psalm over your family. Get out a Bible and declare Psalm 112 over your life and your children. Read it aloud as a confession of agreement with God. As you do that you have begun the practice of Intercessory Praying.
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