I can barely even begin to grasp the significance of what is covered in Lesson One of Live a Praying Life. The truths taught here grabbed my attention a year or two ago when I went through this study on my own, and now, as I am going through it again with a group of friends, I am still blown away by the truths taught here.
Today our homework led us to look at two different instances ... one recorded in Exodus 32, and the other in Ezekiel 22. In both of these instances, God's people had greatly sinned, and in both, they had earned God's judgment because of their sin. In both of the cases, God desired to show mercy. And in one of the incidents, God withheld His punishment, but in the other, He did not.
What caused the different outcomes? In the Exodus account, Moses was used of God to intercede for the people. In Ezekiel, God looked for someone to intercede, but He "found no one".
Author Jennifer Kennedy Dean says, "What God wants to do on the earth, He will do through intercessors. Prayer releases the will of God, bringing His will out of the spiritual realm and causing it to take effect in the material realm. Prayer opens the way for God to do what He longs to do. When God wants to change the course events will take on their own, He calls out an intercessor."
I am pondering on this today. It is difficult to even wrap my finite human mind around this, but I am wanting to learn. I want to understand and respond to God's truth.
Lord, help me to walk so closely with You that Your desires become imprinted on my heart ... please use me to intercede for those whom You desire to show mercy and love, rescuing them from the natural consequences of sin.
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