INTERCESSORS REQUIRED

MEMORY VERSE: and I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it: but I found none, Ezekiel 22:30 

BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Num 17-18, Ps 55, Isa 7, Jas 1 

Who are intercessors? Intercessors are individuals who stand in the gap to pray to God on behalf of friends, families, colleagues, churches, pastors, countries, leaders’ e.t.c. Intercessory prayers have been practiced by all of God’s saints throughout the scriptures. God loves people who are preeminent in their anxious desires for the good of others and fervent in prayer to that end. When you take an inventory of people who God used mightily, you will find out that they were all intercessors. Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Solomon, Peter, Paul to mention a few. One of the criteria God looks at when promoting a fellow spiritually is his attitude to intercession for brethren. One of the reasons why Moses was able to see God and live was because of his exploits in intercession for the children of Israel. At a point while interceding for the children of Israel, he told God ‘If you will not forgive the sins of the children of Israel, please blot me out your book, Exodus 32:32. ’ God did not blot his name out of His book because He knew that Moses was not trying to be rude but he was just passionate about the children of Israelite. 

Intercessory prayers open the doors of restoration for intercessors. Job 42:10 says and the Lord turned the captivity of job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave job twice as much as he had before. The long awaited restoration and breakthrough of Job did not come until he enrolled as intercessors and began to pray for his friends. The reason why many are yet to get their restoration is because they are selfish or don't intercede. They only think of their needs alone and not the needs of others. Another reason why you need to intercede is because of the laws of returns. The law of returns is also known as the law of giving and receiving. It basically states that what you give, you receive. When you intercede for people, God blesses those you are interceding for and you get double blessings too. A wise believer will spend more time interceding than praying for himself. 
Whether you believe it or not, one of the reasons why the world is where it is today – recession in almost all the countries, lack of jobs , wars and rumors of wars is because of the increase in the number of complainers and reduction in the numbers of intercessors . The body of Christ lacks power and fire because people instead of interceding are busy chasing after money and wealth. Crimes is rising by the day not really as a result of lack of job opportunities but because people have refused to stand in gap for their friends and family. Complaining and blaming the government rarely solves any problem, it is prayers that changes things. Ezekiel 22:30 says and I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it: but I found none. If we do not take responsibilities and begin to intercede for our families, friends and nations things will get worse. This is why we need to go back to intercessory prayers for families and our nations. God requires serious and dedicated children who would intercede for the nations, leaders, pastors, family and friends daily so that He can bring about change. 

ACTION POINT: Set time out from time to time to intercede for our countries and people in power that the Lord will put His fear in their hearts.