The Art of Intercession | Love & Unity 🙏💙

0:00 You pray it and he can answer it. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. God will put the prayer in your heart to pray so that he can answer it. It goes into the hearts of the people, doesn't return void, it produces results. Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister. It was that Mary... who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. Therefore the sisters sent to him, saying, Lord, behold, him who you love is sick. When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it. Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was sick, he stayed two more days in the place where he was. Then after this, he said to the disciples, let us go to Judea again for the sake of time. We're going to jump over into verse 11 because the disciples asked him some questions that are irrelevant to the message.

1:24 Then these things he said, and said after that, he said to them, Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up. Then his disciples said, Lord, if he sleeps, he will get rest well. However, Jesus spoke of his death. but they thought that he was speaking about his rest in the sleep. Then Jesus said to them plainly, Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless, let us go to him. Then Thomas, who was called the twin, said to his fellow disciples, Let us go also, that we may die with him. So when Jesus came, he found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Very impossible situation. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. And many of the Jews had joined the women around Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Mary said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. Jesus said to her, your brother will rise again. Martha

2:55 said to him, I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, yet he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me will not die. Do you believe this? She said to him, please make sure everybody's on mute. She said to him, yes, Lord, I believe you are the Christ, the son of God. who is to come into the world. And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary, her sister, saying, The teacher has come and is calling for you. As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly and came to him. Now Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha met him. Then the Jews who were with her in the house and comforting her when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out and followed her, saying, She is going to the tomb to weep there. Then when Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, And the Jews who came with her, weeping, he groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And

4:28 he said, Where have you laid him? And they said to him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, See how he loved him. And some of them said, Could not this man who opened the eyes of the blind also have kept this man from dying? Then Jesus again. groaning in himself, came to the tomb. It was a cave and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him who is dead, said to him, Lord, by this time there is a stench for he has been dead four days. Jesus said to her, did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God? Then they took away the stone from the place. where the dead man was lying, and Jesus lifted up his eyes, and he said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me, and I know that you hear me always.

5:34 But because of the people who are standing by, I said this, that they may believe that you sent me. Now when he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with grave clothes and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to him, loose him and let him go. Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary and had seen the things that Jesus did believed in him. And then Jesus said, loose him and let him go. And we're going to talk today and teach today on the art. of intercession. Now, before we get into it, I first want to lay a foundation.

6:23 First of all, who is Jesus? Obviously, he is the Christ. He is the son of the living God. Jesus was born of a virgin. There was no spiritual nature about him. The Holy Spirit, Luke 4, 1, he was full of and controlled by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is active in his life. and in his ministry. Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit, but did not operate in all the nine gifts of the Spirit. Tongues and interpretation is only for this dispensation. Tongues just in general.

7:04 But we know from watching the ministry of Jesus that he operated in the word of wisdom, word of knowledge, discerning of spirits, gift of faith. working in miracles. He operated in all the gifts of the Spirit, but we never saw Jesus speaking in tongues or interpreting in tongues because it was not yet for this dispensation. When Jesus arrives at the tomb of Lazarus, the atmosphere we find is charged with confusion. doubt, and unbelief. But Jesus reminds us who he is. He says, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, though they will die. We also know that Jesus knew the voice of the father. He said in John 5 30, by myself, I can do nothing. I judge as I hear he knew the voice of his father. Not only that, remember, we're laying a foundation. Jesus understands the realm of the Spirit. He understands how to pray, and he has confidence in his Father's responding to his prayers. And Jesus also knew that with man, things can be impossible, but with God, all things are possible. With that being said, When we pray prayers according to the will of God, like Jesus did in this chapter that we're going to break down, what is impossible is possible.

8:34 Now, who are we in Christ? Again, we're laying a foundation. Now we're in Christ. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. As God has said, I will dwell in them. I'll walk in them. I'll be their God. They'll be my people. We have the Holy Spirit, the anointing, the unction on the inside of us. We are new creations in Christ Jesus. All things, the old nature has passed away. All things have become new. We are thankfully the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. And we know because we are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, the effectual fervent prayer of the righteous man avails much. We also know that Christ is in us, the hope of glory. So we have him on the inside of us. 1 John 4, 17 says, as he is. So are we in this world and in context?

9:29 Jesus Christ, the Bible says, ever lives to make intercession. Therefore, Christ in us, the hope of glory, the intercessor, along with the help of the Holy Spirit, is on the inside of us. So the intercessor, Christ, Jesus, is on the inside of us. And why we are doing what we're doing and why we're teaching corporate prayer, why we... Do what we're doing even on this Zoom is for the Holy Spirit through the ministry of Jesus Christ to be loosed and let go. So let's talk about the art of intercession. Kenneth E. Hagin once said, if we are not careful, we will lose the art of intercession to generations to come.

10:17 Now, when Jesus, the disciples came to Jesus, they said to Jesus, Lord. Teach us to pray. I believe in the context of what I'm going to share with you today, Jesus is teaching us what I would like to call the art of intercession. We know that we take the need. to the word of God. We agree with the word of God. We lay one hand on man, one hand on God. We are the intercessors, the go -between, the mediators. And we pray the word of God. And then after we've prayed all we know to pray, we enter in and we pray in the Holy Ghost. And when a person speaks in tongues, he doesn't speak to men. He speaks unto God, how be it in the spirit. He speaks mysteries.

11:05 When we pray in tongues, we're praying out God's plan. God's purposes, God's will, because the spirit and the word, they agree. But I want to introduce you to something called what I call, what Kennedy Hagan calls, the art of intercession, where Jesus demonstrated it to us when he raised Jesus from the dead. So Jesus is an example to us as spirit -filled believers as we see him in John 11 operating in what we call the art of intercession. So Jesus in John 11 is our example. He teaches us to pray and shows us how to access a level of prayer that transcends Praying the Word of God and praying in tongues. We're not throwing out the Word of God. We're not throwing out tongues. We're not saying that. I'm talking about a prayer that transcends praying the Word of God and praying in tongues. There is another level of prayer that as we... yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit who's on the inside of us, as we yield ourselves to Christ the intercessor, we can enter into that will give birth to a miracle, that will give birth to a nation, that will give birth to someone who is not born again. And we hear about this word of God. God said that when Zion, which is the church, travailed, she brought

12:36 forth her children. So this kind of prayer shows us how to access and it transcends praying the word of God in tongues. But it has to be initiated, very important, by the Holy Spirit. When one is available, this type of prayer will intensify when one yields and has time to devote themselves to prayer. Now Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit. Remember, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, Luke 4. He had the Holy Spirit on the inside of him. He was not separated from the Father. He was born of the Spirit. Now, when Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked at the situation before him, he chooses to yield to the Holy Spirit and flow in whatever expression was needed to bring about the deliverance of this person who was held captive in the grips of death. Now let's go back to the verse. Let's look here at verse 33. Now, therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews also who came with her weeping, what did he do? Did he say anything in his native tongue? No, the Bible says he groaned in the spirit. This is the language. the Spirit. This is communicating with the heart of the Father in an expression that the Father understands.

14:11 So Jesus groaned in the Spirit and he was troubled. The Amplified says he was deeply moved in the Spirit and was troubled. He sighed and he was So Jesus groaned in the spirit. He yielded to the spirit of grace and supplication. At this moment, groaning is exactly the expression that was needed to bring forth deliverance. Why? I don't know why. We don't know why. Some things are better caught than taught. We lean not to our own understanding. We hook ourselves up to the inside of us. We pray the scriptures. We pray the word of God. We pray in tongues. But sometimes there is a time and a season and a purpose under heaven where something needs to be born. And therefore there's an inner stirring on the inside of the born again child. of god who's connected with the holy spirit and therefore there are groanings the bible says that cannot be uttered in articulate speech or your regular kind of speech and my friends this is a kind of prayer but it's like i said earlier it's not the kind of prayer that you generate up on your own we're going to get into it there's an anointing when you're in this place of prayer And it is initiated by the Holy Spirit. He searches the

15:44 hearts. He knows what is the mind of the Spirit. He finds someone who is available. And he begins to stir deep down John 7, 38. and proverbs the spirit of man is the candle of the lord searching all the inward parts of the belly he stirs on the inside of the believer the house of prayer and he begins it's like a movement on the inside and you don't have words you it even goes beyond tongues it's more of a an expression of the spirits a groaning in the spirit so this was the the kind of praying that needed to be expressed expressed in order to bring deliverance to lazarus i'm going to go ahead and read it i quoted it but this is a teaching that really needs to be clarified romans 8 26 says likewise the spirit also helps in our weaknesses we do not know what we should pray for as we are but the spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered now he who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of the spirit because now notice this he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of god the will of god was put in there by the translators but we could say the will of god that's fine but also according to god in god in other words god understands the groanings we don't understand it Arthur Wallace

17:17 wrote a whole book on it, Prayer in the Spirit. We don't understand it, but God understands it. We don't even totally understand the laws of the realm of the Spirit, but God understands it. But when this kind of prayer begins to rise up within the born -again, baptized -in -the -Holy -Spirit believer, it's important for us to understand that it's okay. that we can yield over to him in this expression. So it says when we pray like this, we're praying according to the will of God or according to God. I like that better. And then we know that all things work together for the good to them that love God and are called according to his purpose. So if we're praying in groanings that cannot be uttered in articulate speech, and the Bible says that we're praying according to the will of God, what is the confidence that we can have? Does God hear us when we pray? When we enter into this kind of praying, does he hear us? Well, Jesus said, Father, I thank you that you hear me and you hear me always when I pray. Okay, so Jesus is our example. But does God hear us when we enter into that kind of praying with the help of the Holy Spirit and as Jesus as the intercessor rising up within us? It says here in John 5, now this is the confidence that we have in him. That if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know he hears us, we know we have

18:51 the petitions that we desire of him. So groaning is a type of prayer in the spirit. Okay? And I'm going to give you some definitions that I came up with just out of my own experience. When you're entering into this kind of prayer, You are more lost in the spirit when that happens. Everyone say lost in the spirit. But, you know, that's why it's important for us to have a devotional time and time with the Lord and have quiet time because we need to shut out the distractions, shut out the noise so we can hook ourselves up to the inside and yield to the spirit of prayer when there's things that need to be prayed for that we may have no natural knowledge of. So you are more lost in the spirit when it happens.

19:45 When you're in this place of prayer, you sense compassion. It's compassion Romans 5 5 we know the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit So when you're entering into this level of prayer, there is the love of God Rising up the compassion of God. It's almost like it's like a balloon and and as you yield to this kind of praying as the Spirit initiates it, the compassion of God is rising up. And it's like a balloon. It just gets bigger and bigger and bigger the more you yield over to Him. And there's empathy for the object of your prayer assignment. This is the place of prayer where there's compassion and empathy. And you see as He sees. You love as He loves. You desire what he desires, and that is that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. This is the place where you enter into identification and intercession. You weep with those who weep.

20:50 You mourn with those who mourn. It's not just mental essence. It's in your spirit. You are connecting with the object of your prayer, and you feel and you sense the heart of God. And when you're in this place of prayer, there is an anointing. There's an anointing. And for me personally, I don't know about any of you, anytime I've ever entered into this level of prayer, there is an anointing. It's just like when we preach, we could be more anointed or less anointed. but no matter what the you know preaching works the word of god works same in prayer the prayer works and opens up the door for god to work when we pray the word prayed in tongues and when we enter into this kind of prayer whether we're anointed or not but let me tell you when you're in this level of intercession you're more conscious of what's going on on the inside of you than you are on what's happening on the outside of you. In other words, that which is within you is more real than anything in this outward world.

21:58 Now, doesn't the Bible say that the kingdom of God is within you? Everything that's happening in this place of prayer is happening on the inside of you, your spirit by the Holy Spirit, and you're connected with the heart of God. Okay, now let's go over to verse 35. So Jesus groaned in the spirit and he was troubled. And he said, wherever you lay to verse 35, Jesus wept. He was weeping in identification for the ones that had lost. Was he weeping in identification for the ones who lost a family member? Or was he weeping in the spirit because of their unbelief? They thought he was weeping for soulless reasons. But I want to introduce this to you. They said, oh, behold, how we love him. But Jesus walked in the spirit.

22:50 And he didn't yield to the dictates of the flesh. Jesus was weeping in the spirit. Jeremiah 9 .1 says, oh, that my head were like waters and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I may weep day and night for the slain daughter of my people. Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet. He saw. The backslidden condition of the people. And what he saw, please mute. What he saw affected his heart. He was weeping for the sins of the people. He was weeping for their backslidden state. They were out of God's will and coming under bondage of the enemy. As you read the book of Jeremiah, you will discover there was hardness of heart and rebellion. To change their condition, there was a call for weeping and mourning. So in other words, what he saw, oh wow, 1233, affected his heart. And so it reminds me of the scripture.

23:50 found in jeremiah 9 17 where the bible says let's call for the weeping women that we may weep and mourn between the porch and the altar i believe god is raising up this kind of prayer once again in the body of christ very quickly i'm going to share with you what happens um on tuesday night i was lead i was teaching and leading guided prayer for one of our members, Evans Pierre, and his wife, Christine. And I was ministering their subject, their prayer focuses, the rising generations. And as I came to the end of the message, that anointing came upon me and rose up inside. And I just found myself. Everyone say, find myself. You just find yourself in this place of prayer. I found myself weeping and groaning and crying. And the heart of God was, you know, the rising generations and how we need to stand in the gap for the rising generations. And in that place of prayer, I had not been in that place of prayer in so long. And I long for that.

24:51 Because when we enter into that kind of prayer for us as intercessors, It softens our heart. It does something for us as well. So it was quite... It was quite an encounter. We had an encounter of the spirit of prayer rising up and dropping on the hearts of all the parents that are on that call. And it brought us into a level of seeing as God sees, sensing his heart for the rising generations. It's one thing to have it at head knowledge. It's another thing when you sense and you feel his heart. So there is the same cry in the spirit today. And we're not going to get into it. So weeping is for both men and women. In the world, weeping is a sign of weakness.

25:37 Weeping in the Holy Spirit is precious and powerful. Weeping is an expression of his heart, his emotions, and his nature. This weeping in prayer, like I said, also softens the heart of the intercessor. These moments connected with eternity are like treasures to be stored up in our book of memories, listen, as intimate times with God. I love that. So let's go back to our story, verse 38. It says here, then Jesus, again, groaning in himself, came to the tomb. Now this type of prayer. um at times you will find you will groan again in the spirit because birthing takes time So here we find Jesus groaning again in the spirit. It depends on the prayer assignment, right? Some people, you know, it takes longer to get them in through the prayer of intercession and through this type of prayer, get them into where a position where you can break off the strongholds and the things that have them bound. Okay, so let's go over. into verse 41 let's see what happened jesus again groaning and he says take away the stone okay and then he said didn't i tell you if you'd believe you'd see the glory of god then they took away the stone where the dead man was laying and jesus lifted up his eyes and i this is it this is it he said father i thank you that you

27:12 have heard me and i know that you always hear me But because of the people who are standing by said this, that they may believe that you'd send me. Did Jesus pray anything in his known language? No. What did he do? What kind of praying did Jesus teach us in John 11? He groaned in the spirit and he was troubled. And then the Bible says Jesus wept. And what were the results? The results were, and he... The results were he that was dead came forth. So he groaned in spirit. He was troubled. And he said, Lazarus, come forth. And he who died came out. But obviously, we know the story. He was still bound with grave clothes. And Jesus said to him, loose him and let him go. Ephesians 2, 5 and 6 says, even when we were dead. In trespasses and sins. He has quickened us together with Christ. By grace you have been saved through faith. And has raised us up. This kind of praying. Will bring people out of the grips of hell. Out of the grips of spiritual death. It goes into the realm of the spirit. And it breaks off strongholds. We don't understand everything. I know I don't. But I know this kind of praying works. When Zion travails.

28:42 she brings forth her children okay and then he says lose them and let them go there's some people kennethie hagan once said that will never be set free never be released unless someone prays for them someone stands in the gap for them someone prays for them i think that the spirit of god the spirit of grace and supplication in the days to come, and I prophesy this, is going to once again rise up within the believers, and the Holy Ghost is going to once again not only restore tongues to the church, but this kind of praying where the compassion of God rises up, and we begin to see as God sees, and the distractions that have kept us from entering into greater levels of prayer are going to be dispersed because the Holy Spirit And the anointing of God is going to help us break through our soulish nature and bring us into this kind of praying so that we can break off the strongholds that are in this world today. Thank you so much for tuning in to today's podcast. It has been such a joy sharing this time with you. For more inspiration and resources on today's topic, please visit our website at margiefloran .org.