The Posture of Obedience Pt 9 " The Posture of Intercession"

What if the prayer that breaks the deadlock in your house — was never for your house? In The Posture of Intercession, Pastor Lindsey Jones takes you to the moment Abraham stepped between Sodom and the judgment of God, and reveals why heaven moves when a believer is willing to stand in the gap for somebody else. Expect a powerful word on intercession as the track that the train of God's will runs on, the difference between praying about a situation and standing in the gap for it, and why God trusts the people who pray for somebody other than themselves. If you have ever wondered why God put that person on your heart at 3 AM — this one is for you

Download now and discover what happens when you stop merely praying… and start living in The Posture of Intercession.

Transcript

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I would like to continue the series of the posture of obedience with this topic this morning or this thought this morning. The posture of intercession. The posture of intercession. I would like to start off this discourse with a quote. With the quote. Intercession is the track that leads God to move in someone else's life. Intercession is the track that leads God to move in someone else's life. Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever noticed that while you're waiting for your promise, something is always waiting to take you back to a place you already left. On your way to your promise, you may have to let some people go. And sometimes that includes family members and also some friends. Sometimes it is or was and will be your family members that will hold you back in the first place. But notice once you separate yourself from them, watch what happens. Your relationship with God grew. You developed a prayer life. Your posture of faith developed. You developed a posture of trust in the Lord. And your posture or your obedience posture is growing to a different level on a daily basis. Ladies and gentlemen, your walk with God now is on a different level. You see God differently. He is no longer just a person you talk to every now and then. You have developed a relationship with him. He talks to you. You talk to him. He leads you. You follow his directions. He whispers to you and you listen. This kind of relationship is categorized by trust, communication, and shaped purpose, not merely on obedience. Abraham didn't simply follow commands. He walked with God. He received counsel from God. He changed, he even engaged in dialogue with God about his plans. Ladies and gentlemen, I need you to hear me today. When you have an intimate relationship with God, he will open up to you about his plans for your life and even about the people that you care about. Ladies and gentlemen, now is not the time to play with God. He is seeking out relationships. He wants to talk to you. He wants to reveal things to you. But before he can, he has to trust you. This is why God deals with our heart posture first. The Bible tells us in Jeremiah 17 and 9: the heart posture or the heart is desperately wicked. Who can know it? See, God searches the heart. He wants to take the stony heart out, the heart that is broken, the heart that has been hardened, the heart that has been wounded, the heart that has been disappointed. And he wants to give you a heart that can feel again, a heart that can love again, a heart that can trust again. Listen to what Ezekiel tells us in chapter number 38, if I'm correct. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. I will take out the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. Ladies and gentlemen, when you are in relationship with God, he changes you from the inside out. This is why God deals with your heart with your faith posture. Because your faith relies on your trust posture, and your trust posture relies on what God has spoken in faith. And your faith is the action you take to show God you trust him. He says, Your faith relies on your trust and what God has already spoken. And faith is the action you take that shows you trust him. And along the way, God gives you and develops your posture of obedience. Because God speaks, you must learn to hear his voice. And when he hears you, or when you hear him, you must respond to him. As we dive into our text, the Lord shows up on the scene with two angels by his side. Notice something here. The Lord didn't announce himself, he didn't say, Don't be afraid, he didn't introduce himself with signs or wonders. He just showed up. Why? Because when you are on a relate, when you are in a relationship with God and God shows up, you recognize him by his presence. Ladies and gentlemen, when God shows up on the scene, you don't even got to know that he's coming. But when he shows up because of his presence that shifts the atmosphere, you'll recognize that it's God. I don't know who I'm talking to, but God has showed up for somebody. God has showed up in your past. God is showing up in your present, and he'll show up in your future. And he told me to tell you, when he shows up, expect change. When he shows up, the atmosphere shifts. When he shows up, the atmosphere changes. When he shows up, his presence is in the room, and you have no choice but to recognize who that is, and it's God himself. Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever been in a church service or in your prayer closet or even sitting in your car and you recognize that the Lord showed up? How do you recognize He showed up? The atmosphere shifts. There's peace in the air, there's joy in the air, and there is stillness that you can't explain. Why? Because the El Shaddai just walked into the room. Tell somebody the El Shaddai just showed up. Tell somebody the El Shaddai is right where you're at. Tell somebody the El Shaddai has come. And wherever the El Shaddai is, there is peace. Wherever the El Shaddai is, there is joy. Wherever the El Shaddai is, the atmosphere must be conducive to who he is. He is the all-sufficient one. He's the Almighty One. Tell him El Shaddai is here. I feel his presence because the El Shaddai just showed up in the room. Notice when he shows up, he asks, Abram, where is your wife? Church, God knows or knew where Sarah was. He wasn't asking for information. He was setting the stage. Because in this moment, God was about to reaffirm his promise not only to Abraham but to Sarah. Sarah hears the promise. The promise that she shall have a son. She hears it from the tent that she was sitting in. And in the moment that she heard it, in the moment of weakness, she begins to laugh. But instead of admitting it, instead of admitting that she laughed, she denied that she did. Ladies and gentlemen, God knows all. And God sees all. So trying to get one over on him will never work. When we make a mistake, and we will, God will confront us about it. This is called conviction. Conviction is not God trying to embarrass you. Conviction is not God trying to give you. Conviction is God giving you a chance to clean up what you've messed up before the issue becomes greater and bigger than it should be. This is not, this is the time to admit I messed up. This is not the time to go back to reverting to I did not do it. This is the time to get back in line. Don't compound the issue. Don't deny what God already knows. I've been there and I repented for my mistake. This is what God wants you to do. Because when we make mistakes and we will, when we mess up and we will, we have an advocate with the Father to say, God, forgive me. And once he forgives you, get back in line. Once he forgives you, move on with it. Because he has wiped the slate clean. Well, we have to do our part and act for forgiveness. God doesn't expose you to humiliate you. God exposes you so he can free you. I'm gonna repeat that again. God does not expose you to humiliate you. God exposes you so he can free you. Once God frees you, it is up to us to walk and live in that freedom. Listen to what John wrote in John 8 and 36. Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you are free indeed. I want you to notice something here in the text. That right after God speaks, and God tells Sarah you did, he shifts. Why does God shift right after he speaks to Sarah and say, but you did lie? He shifts because whenever God speaks a promise, it has to come to pass. Whenever God spoke to her, it was not up for debate, it was not up for conversation. He said, You shall have a child. Whether you believe me or not, it's going to come to pass. So there's no need for another conversation. God shifts his attention. He shifts his attention towards Sodom and Gomorrah. This week, these are two wicked cities where Lot, Abraham's nephew, dwelt in the land after they separated. The Bible tells us these two cities were so wicked that their cries reached heaven. Genesis 18, 20 and 21 says it like this. And the Lord said, Because the outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done all according to the outcry against it, and it has come to me. And if not, I will know it. Ladies and gentlemen, the cries from the city got God's attention, but not in a good way. He was coming down because they were out of control. Their sins were grievous to God, ignorance, indifference to the poor and needy, haughtiness, and other detestable things. Based on that fact alone, God had every right to destroy the city without coming down to see for himself. But because God had a relationship with Abram, and because Lot was his nephew, God decided to show up. Ladies and gentlemen, I must pause here. Because how many times have God showed up in a family member's life because your relationship because of your relationship with God? You prayed for them, God made a way. You fasted on their behalf, and God stepped right in on time. This is not about family. It goes to anyone that is connected to you. Your relationship with God is preserving their life until they can get it together. So whatever you do, don't stop praying. Whatever you do, don't stop believing. Whatever you do, keep praying for their deliverance. God hears you, and because he honors your relationship, he will intervene. The angels begin to approach Sodom and Gomorrah. But watch this. The Lord stood by Abram. So I want you to notice that as the angels depart to go to Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham and the God stands in that one spot. While judgment is moving in one direction, relationships stand still in another. Notice something important here. God did not start the conversation about Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham did. Abraham was the one who looked at God and acts. Will you destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there's fifty righteous in the city. Will you spare it? Watch what Abraham here is doing. He is appealing to God's heart. He's making, he's not making demands. He's not negotiating from a place of pride. He's appealing to God's loving kindness. He's appealing to God's gentleness. He's appealing to God's mercy. He is saying, Lord, how can you destroy the riches and the righteous alike? Ladies and gentlemen, this is what an intimate relationship looks like. Abraham is so close to God that he can have a dialogue with God about God's own plans. That's not religion, that's relationship. Ah, ladies and gentlemen, when you can have a relationship, when you can have a close relationship to God, and he indulg or tells you his plan that he's going to do in somebody else's life. It's not about religion, it's about the relationship that you have. And God wants you to do something. So you can be the intercessor for that person. But God comes down and tells you, I'm about to do something. Now, while Abraham is having this conversation with God, watch what is happening on the other side of the scene. The two angels show up at the gate of Sodom. And Lot was sitting at the gate and he notices them right away. Church, isn't this something? Even though Lot was living in a wicked city, he never forgot about God. He did not allow the culture of Sodom and Gomorrah to make him forget where he came from. He didn't allow the wickedness around him to dull his discernment of holiness above him. Recognize the presence of God when it showed up. Proverbs 22 and 6 says it like this: train up a child in the way he should go, and when he gets old, he will not depart from it. For those parents that are sitting in the room and the parents that are listening, don't stop praying for your child. Because even though they may go and do what they want to do for some time, even though they may go and do what they want to do for this moment, as long as you keep praying for them, as long as you brought them up in the right way, as long as you showed them who God was, leave them in God's hands. Because what happens is when the time is right, when they decide that they want to give their life back to God, or when God decides to show up in their life, they will recognize the presence of God. They won't forget where they came from. They won't forget who they were taught by. So if you have children out there, train them up in the way of the Lord. Yes, they may stray, but God won't let them go but so far. God still has a hold on them. God still has a remnant inside of them. And when God shows up to them, they'll recognize his presence. Teach them the presence of God early. Teach them who God is early. Show them scripture about who God is early. Get it in their spirit early, and they won't depart from it when they get older. Because it'll be stirred up in them who God is. They recognize I serve a good God. That recognize God has a hold on me. I may have messed up. I may have acted up, but God showed up and I repented for what I did. And it's all because you show who God is. And they recognize the presence of God. Lot was there when God gave the instructions to Abraham to leave his house. Lot was there when God spoke a promise over his family. Lot knew it was nothing but the grace of God on Abraham's life that when he got carried away, Abraham came and got him. So even in the middle of Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot still knew what the presence of God looked like when it walked into the room. Ladies and gentlemen, this should be an encouraging word to all of us. And for those who know you. Why? Because when your heart posture is right, when your faith posture is right, when your obedience posture is right, God is with you. And because God is with you, everyone who comes in contacts will feel something different. They sense something different. Why? Because if God is with you, you take Jesus wherever you go. So when you walk into a room, God's presence is in the room. I don't know who I'm preaching to, but God said, wherever you go, God is with you. So don't ever think that you're left alone. Don't ever think that you are left by yourself. God says, I am with you to the end of the earth. So on one day, so on that one day, when God's presence shows up in the room and you're not there, they will look around and say, wait a minute. I felt this presence before. This is the presence I felt when Lindsay was in the room. This was the same presence I felt when Rhonda was in the room. This is the same presence I felt when Lady Sue was in the room. This is the same presence I felt when Ashley was in the room. See, see, see, you you leave the presence of God every room you enter. And that presence stays there long after you have gone. So don't let nobody tell you difference. That places are still blessed after you have moved on. Look at the neighbor and tell, wherever I go, I'm leaving a blessing behind. Wherever I go, I'm leaving God's presence behind. Why? Because they'll know that someone that knew God was standing in the room. They will never be the same because God was with you there. They'll never be the same because your presence of God was left in the room after you walked out. Ah, if you remember in the old days when we were at church, we would leave service on a Friday night and will come back on a Sunday morning, and the presence of God was so thick in the room. Why? Because the presence of God dwelled in that place. That whoever who walked in the room on that Sunday morning, if they was not there that Friday night, felt the presence of God immediately when they walked through the door. Why? Because the presence of God was left there. This is what happens when the believer enters the room. This is what happens when the believer consecrates the room. This is what happens when you walk into a room and you leave. The presence of the Lord is still there. Why? Because you left them there. I don't know who I'm talking to. It might be I'm just talking to myself, but God says, every room that you enter, leave me there. Whoa. And when they walk into the room, they'll know that I'm in the room. And they'll remember that Lindy was here. They'll remember Ashley was here. They'll remember Sue was there. They'll remember Rhonda was here. And they left the presence of the Lord there. When Lot was entertaining, or while Lot was entertaining the angels at the gate? Abram was on the other side interceding, not on behalf of the city, but on behalf of his nephew Lot. Abraham said, Would you destroy the city if you found fifty righteous? God said, I will not destroy the city. The dialogue kept going on from fifty to forty-five, from forty-five to thirty, to thirty to twenty, all the way down to ten. Church or ladies and gentlemen, while Abraham kept pressing. Why did Abraham keep pressing? Because that's what relationship does. Relationship does not quit when it gets one answer. Relationship keep pressing in. Relationship stands in the gap until that gap is covered. It was at this point that Abraham had interceded all the way down to ten. Then God departed and went his way. Now back to the city gates. The angels now got an up-close and personal look at what the wickedness and Sodom was really about. As soon as Lot took the angels into his home, word spread around the city, we have visitors. Ladies and gentlemen, they did not come to Lot's house to hear what the angels had to say. They did not come to Lot's house for a prayer meeting. They did not come to seek, or they were not coming to seek the presence of the Lord. They were coming because they wanted to commit sexual acts with those men. I want you to let that sink in. You had a full city engaging in one house that wanted the men that was inside that came to visit Lot. They wanted the men so they can commit sexual acts with those men. It even got to the point that Lot said, I'll give you my daughters, but leave these two men alone. This is the wickedness that God has to judge back then, and don't think for one moment that He will not judge it today. Just because something, just because something is happening all around you does not mean that God will not deal with it. In God's timing, all immorality, all sexual discretions, all sin will be dealt with. God will address it all. No matter what the sin is, God will address it all. So don't think that what you're doing is getting by. Don't think that what you're doing can't is is under out of control. Don't think what you're doing, God is gonna let you sneak by. No, no, no. You do not repent of your sins. If you do not tell him, I'm sorry for what I've done, turn from your wicked ways. God is going to deal with you, and you will not like the outcome. It was so bad that the men in the city tried to break Lot's door down to the point where the angels stepped outside of the door, put their hand up, and blinded everyone in the city. Ladies and gentlemen, don't allow your sins to take over your life to the point that you God gives you over to a reprobate mind. A reprobate mind is a mind that does anything and everything it wants, without fear of consequences, and with no regard for God. The angels then warned Lot and his family, you have until morning. Destruction is coming. Tell everyone in your family what is about to happen. Lot hears or heard the warning that God and the angels have given him. He went and told his family. He pleaded with them all night long, but they did not heed his warning, they actually laughed at him. Ladies and gentlemen, I know this may seem hard. I know this may seem harsh. But keep praying for your loved ones. Keep telling them about Jesus. And ultimately, it's their decision what they want to do. All you gotta do is keep praying for them and keep interceding for them that they will come to their right senses and they will come back to who Christ is. And it will ask for forgiveness. But till then, keep praying, don't stop believing, and keep on interceding for everyone. Daybreak comes, and the angel urges Lot, hurry, take your wife and your two daughters and leave. But Lot still hesitated. God was about to rain destruction on the city. But here Lot is taking his time. It got to the point that the angels had to physically grab them by the hand and move them out of the city. And the Bible says it was only because the mercies of God. Ah, I'm gonna take it a step further. It also has to do with the relationship that God had with Abraham. Ladies and gentlemen, your relationship is preserving someone's life. Your relationship is preserving someone's life until God can get a hold of them. So don't stop interceding for them. You are the only thing that's keeping the hand of the enemy off of them. You are the only thing that's keeping God from running judgment down on them. So keep praying for your family. Keep praying for your loved ones. Ladies and gentlemen, I must stop here. Have you ever been slow to react to what God says? See, God operates in timing. And when he says something, you have to move. Because what God is opening, once God is opening up a window of opportunity, the opportunity is there, you have to walk through it. And you don't want to miss it. When God tells you to move, don't wander about it. Don't linger in your feelings. Don't hesitate. Because if you do, it may cause you to miss out on the very promise that God is trying to deliver in unto you. I love what God does next. He grabs, or the angels grabs Lot and his family, and he sets them outside the city, and he gives them clear instructions. Keep moving forward. Whatever you do, don't look back. Oftentimes, it is hard to break the cycle of what you have been in and used to for so long. It has become familiar to you. It has become common. And because it has become your way of life, you don't even realize how much of a hold it has on you. But hear me today. God wants to break that grip that the culture has on you. He wants to bring you out. So what he's going to do is he's going to have to destroy that familiar place. Why is he going to destroy that familiar place? Because he destroys that place. Because he breaks it, or he knows that if he doesn't destroy that place, it has a potential to come back. He destroys or breaks that place that had that hold over you. Old relationships broken. Old habits broken. Old tendencies broken. Old cycles broken. Never to return again. See, when something is broken, when something is destroyed, it can never come back again to come up again. So this is what God is telling us. He's breaking old relationships, he's breaking old habits, he's destroying old tendencies, he's destroying old cycles, so they can't come back and pull you back into what you're used to. Not when God has promised you something better, not when God has promised you something greater. Philippians 3, 13 and 14 says it like this. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended. But one thing I do know: forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to the things which are ahead, I press. Ah, here we go. I press towards the goal for the prize and the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. See, God is saying, I have to break stuff in your life. I have to destroy stuff in your life. Because if I destroy it, you can't go back to it. If I destroy it, there's no possibility that you're going to go back to it. Why? Because it's destroyed. So I'll destroy it. So you have no choice but to walk forward in me. You have no choice but to move forward because there's nothing back there worth going to. I destroyed it all. The angel said, move forward, don't look back. Ah, ladies and gentlemen, a lot of times while we're walking with Christ, and we're walking, and this journey gets heavy. This journey gets burdened down sometimes. This journey seems like we can't make it. And sometimes our mind said, I was better off back then. I was better off when I had this. I was better off when I had that. I was better off doing this 15 years ago. God said, No, no, no, no, no, no, no. You are not better off. Those things didn't lead you down the path of prosperity. Those things didn't lead you down the path of my favor. Those things did not lead you in my presence. They kept you away from me. So I took them out of your life for a reason. Now I want you to press forward. I want you to keep walking. I want you to keep moving. Don't worry about the things in your past. They can't help you no more. I'm standing here with a promise waiting for you. Time for you to grab hold of my promise. Keep walking towards me. Ah, ladies and gentlemen, leave the past in the past. Leave the past behind you. Wow! They was on their way out or on their way to leave the city area. Lot's wife did one thing the Lord told her not to do. She looked back. And the Bible says, in that moment she became a pillar of salt. Ladies and gentlemen, please hear me today. Don't allow the culture to keep you trapped from the presence of God. Don't allow nostalgia of the old life to cost you your new life. Don't allow disobedience to kill you. When God and the obedience posture is right in front of you. As I bring this message to a close, I want to get personal for a moment. My parents, I remember my parents well. They were godly parents. They taught all of us, all of my siblings, my two brothers and my two sisters the ways of God. But as I got older, I slipped and I went my own way. Yet through every season, through every bad decision, through every wrong turn, my parents never stopped interceding for me. One night, I was on my way to a spot to handle some personal business. And the spot just so happened to be in a rival gang's neighborhood. Now most of the time, I'm carrying a gun for my protection. But this one night, this night in particular, I wasn't. And neither were the two guys that I had with me. As we entered the neighborhood, we were approached. Words were exchanged. And let me tell you this: they were not friendly words by the stretch of any imagination. The next thing you know, or the next thing I saw, was a gun pointed at my head. Not a word was spoken. And all I heard was a trigger pullback. But nothing happened. The gun jammed. Ladies and gentlemen, my life was spared that night. And not just mine. But the two brothers that were standing with me were spared too. And I know. And I know down in my soul it was because someone back at my house was on their knees interceding on my behalf. Later that evening, I went home. I left that lifestyle behind. I walked away from the streets. I walked away from the gang. Away from the version of me that I thought was running my own life. Because this is true. I wasn't running anything. Prayer was running interference for me. Look at your neighbor and tell them in the room, somebody's prayers kept you here. Someone's prayers kept you here. You might be sitting here today. And you don't know why you're still alive. You don't know why that accident didn't take you out. You don't know why that diagnosis didn't end your life. You don't know why that relationship didn't destroy you. What I've come to tell someone, it was the intercession of a praying mother, a praying father, a praying grandmother, a praying friend, a praying pastor, a praying church. So don't give up on interceding for your family. Don't give up on interceding for your friends. Don't give up interceding for your coworkers. Don't give up interceding for that prodigal son or daughter who has not come home yet. Because your prayers can and will be answered. Not because of how loud you pray, not because of how long you pray. Because of your relationship with God. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, I want to say thank you. Thank you for this moment, God. Thank you for speaking to our hearts and our minds. Now, God, as we heard what you said today, allow us to be intercessors, gap fillers for our loved ones, gap fillers for our coworkers, gap fillers for those that we know that don't know you. God, let us be intercessors until you are able to touch their life. Thank you for us having a relationship with you, God. That we could be intercessors for somebody else to have a relationship with you. God, I ask right now that on this week you put someone in our spirit to pray for, someone in our spirit that don't know you, God. But before the but before the week is out, because of our relationship with you, you will have contact with them to show them and tell them that you love them. God, I thank you for what you're doing, how you're strengthening us and letting us see, God, that our heart posture, our faith posture, and because of the obedience that we have to you, you're fixing our obedience posture. That when you tell us to pray for someone, God, that you're telling us to stand in the gap for them. So, God, in the middle of the night, when someone is laying on our heart, you put them there so we can pray for them. Do it right now in the name of Jesus. And God, when we pray, we know you will hear us and answer. And we thank you. In Jesus' name we pray.