New York, New York
Seeing Intercession As God Sees
Part 1
By the leading of the Holy Spirit, Prophetess Vera Paul and I recently travelled on mission to New York City. Part of the prayer that constantly echoed in my spirit before, during, and after the mission to New York City was “Father, help me to see as you see! Jesus, help me to see as you see! Holy Spirit, help me to see as you see!” As strange as it sounds, the more that God teaches me about prayer, is the LESS that He leads me to “pray”, IF one measures prayer by the number of words that one prays! Yet, THIS is a very limited and INACURATE way of defining, measuring, and most importantly UNDERSTANDING prayer. We must not only SEE the Godhead, ourselves, and our assignment as God SEES, but we must SEE (perceive and understand) prayer and intercession as God SEES, as well. Then we will SEE that Strategic Intercession and Warfare is SO MUCH MORE than the words that we say when we pray.
Just after Proph. Paul and I boarded the airplane on our flight to New York City; I had a conversation with God that TOTALLY BLEW ME AWAY... AND BLEW AWAY THE WAY THAT I HAVE PRAYED FOR YEARS! As I watched the passengers board the plane, a group of young people passed by... I instinctively prayed, "LORD SAVE THEM." Immediately, God replied so sweetly and tenderly, "Christine, I am in the business of saving people. You DO NOT need to ask me to save people. PRAY THAT THE HINDERANCES BE REMOVED THAT ARE KEEPING THEM FROM BEING SAVED!"
The lesson that God taught me through this experience was both simple and profound. Although, praying for the lost is essential, we must FIRST seek God’s face to KNOW HOW to pray STRATEGICALLY and EFFECTIVELY! God showed me how often we pray in ignorance, without the higher level of knowledge, understanding, and strategy that comes ONLY through SEEKING GOD'S FACE and MATURITY. Although God is pleased with our act of conversing with Him, we must MATURE in prayer in order to make an IMPACT. God is pleased with our prayer, just as parents are pleased when their toddler son or daughter speaks to them in their gibberish language. God is pleased, because He LOVES us, and even the most elementary form of prayer builds our RELATIONSHIP with Him. God hears and answers His children when they pray. As our loving Father, He meets us on our level, and rejoices in each stage of our spiritual development. Yet, there comes a time when we must move past the mere practice of praying into the wisdom and maturity of praying according to the revealed heart, mind, and Spirit of the Godhead. This is the fruit of the mature stages of intercessory development. This is the evidence of strategic intercession and warfare.
1 Corinthians 13:11-12 – “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (KJV)
If we look closely at this Scripture, we find four stages of development.
1. The childhood stage of SPEAKING and UNDERSTANDING,
2. The MANHOOD stage of PUTTING AWAY CHILDISH THINGS (such as childish
SPEAKING and UNDERSTANDING),
3. SEEING through a glass, darkly (SEEING a reflection, and KNOWING in part,
but not AS clearly AS),
4. SEEING face to face and KNOWING even as God knows us.
As we move towards the final stage of intercessory development, there ought to be evidence of growth, maturity, and development of our VISION, or ability to SEE as God SEES. The PICTURE of TRUTH and REALITY ought to become increasingly clearer day by day, as we DEVELOP into the intercessors that God has called and ordained us to be in Christ Jesus.
God is saying that SEEING, HEARING, and DOING are just as much a part of PRAYER as SPEAKING or uttering WORDS. Therefore, strategic intercession and warfare requires a GREATER PORTION of LISTENING in order to HEAR the Voice of God, and WAITING to SEE what God is showing us. This truth reminds me of what I often teach my elementary students. “God created us with two ears and one mouth for a reason.” Likewise, He created us with two eyes for a reason. This natural distinction reveals a SPIRITUAL TRUTH that we ought to spend at least twice the amount of time SEEING and HEARING with our God given Spiritual eyes and ears than we spend uttering words in prayer! Without spiritual HEARING, DISCERNMENT, and SIGHT, we are behaving as mere infants speaking to God in our gibberish language. We are ineffectively talking loud and saying nothing!
Numbers 13:1-3 – AND THE Lord said to Moses, Send men to explore and scout out [for yourselves] the land of Canaan, which I give to the Israelites. From each tribe of their fathers you shall send a man, every one a leader or head among them. So Moses by the command of the Lord sent scouts from the Wilderness of Paran, all of them men who were heads of the Israelites.” (AMP)
Likewise, if we examine further, God gave us two arms and hands to perform acts or works of service. He also gave us two legs and feet to GO where He would quicken us to GO, in order to SEE, HEAR, DO, and SPEAK just as HE WOULD SEE, HEAR, DO and SPEAK. Why? Because we are His Ambassadors and Representatives in the Earth! In other words, the call of the INTERCESSOR takes on a completely new meaning far beyond the words that we say when we pray!
As a result, God revealed to me that His purpose for our mission to New York City was to “scout the land,” by HEARING, SEEING, and DOING as He led us. First, God led us to the center of Times Square. The following day, He led us on a bus tour throughout Times Square and Manhattan. The two primary places that God spoke and revealed His VISION to me were Times Square and Ground Zero. These were also the primary places, where He led us to WALK, SEE, and HEAR as He SAW and HEARD these strategic intercessory sites. Yet, the very first lesson in intercession was the importance of SEEING INTERCESSION as God SEES… as SO MUCH MORE than the words that we say when we pray!
© 2011 Christine Lombard, All rights reserved, use only with permission
Part 2 (Discussing “The City That Never Sleeps”) will be released
by the leading of the Holy Spirit.
No comments:
Post a Comment