The Power of Intercessory Prayer.

Welcome everyone to New Culture. If we haven't met yet, my name's Abbie. I'm the pastor here and I'm so honored. You all made it on a rainy Sunday and marathon Sunday, so let's give it up for ourselves. I almost didn't want to come today because it was so crazy to get here. But it's so good that we made it and we are together, and we get to worship and spend time in God's word. I'm so grateful to be here.

One of the things that we've been announcing and preparing for is our big give coming up on December 15th. We're highlighting every single week different areas that we're going to be giving to. If you're new to New Culture, every year at the end of the year we do what we call a big give. We don't just say we're going to take an offering and take it right then and there, because we want to really pray and ask the Lord what he would have us give towards this.

Last year we had over $12,000 come in in one offering, which was absolutely incredible. We were able to give to our missions partners in Ireland, we were able to help purchase a home for Project Rescue where they're rescuing women from sex trafficking in Bangladesh. This year we are giving to our church plant in Ireland, we're going to be giving to a home for Project Rescue in Honduras. We're going to be giving locally to some organizations as well, like the Neighborhood House, who we partner with. And we're going to be giving towards our Care Portal Fund.

Care Portal is one of the local partners that we have, where Kayla over here by the sound, she can wave her hand there. She's our point person there. Many of you have been trained on the response team, but it's where local agencies can submit needs that families have in our community. We get to respond and meet these needs in a really practical way, where we have people in our church that have been trained to go and respond and to provide practically and tangibly for the families in our community that need it most.

So I'm really excited for that to be one of the things that we take an offering for. I just want to give you guys a heads up to be praying about what God would have you give, what he would have you lay down this Christmas season to give back to the people, not only in our community, but around the world. As we continue to say, what does it look like to see the culture of Christ everywhere? And that's a culture where people are safe and they have a home and they feel loved and provided for and cared for.

I'm also excited today because you guys don't have to hear me preach again. You get a special guest that I'm really excited for. One of the things that I love about being in Madison is that we're not the only church and there's so many people that meet and gather every single week that are continuing to pray for God's kingdom to come in this city. We don't have a guest that's very far from us, but we have friends of mine that have continued to become dearer friends. We're going to be hearing from Pastor Nick and Leah. Can you guys join me in welcoming them?

Now I'll invite you guys around the table for a minute. I got connected to Pastor Nick, and then Leah, I don't even know when it was, but it's been a little bit and we've been friends. It was one of those moments where the second we sat down to coffee, it was like instant connection. I could tell that you guys love the Lord, that you're passionate to see his kingdom here in Madison. So we're excited to have you with us. I would love to just have you guys share a little bit about who you are.

We are Nick and Leah, and we have three amazing kids. Our oldest is 17 and 15. And then if you hear some violent screaming in the back, that's our almost five-year-old. Joyful. Joyful, violent. We moved to Madison almost four years ago. We were called down here to another church and have been a part of that for a little while. Now we are planting our own. I have a full-time gig at the university. I'm a communications manager at the school of business. So we are bivocational for sure.

And they are planting a new church in Madison, which is so exciting. We're so excited for you. A few of us went to their launch a couple weeks ago to be there and to pray and support them. I would love for you guys to share a little bit of what in the world possessed you to start a new church. This is no easy task, but why are you guys planting a new church?

We moved down here about four years ago, and we knew as we were called down to the Madison area that we're supposed to do something as a couple. We had ministry, God laid that on our hearts. And the more we lean into that, the more we realize that it's actually a church with a gathering. The answer to the question is because we were asked to, invited to by the Spirit. It wouldn't make any sense not to, because of that burden he's placed on our heart to be in this city, to ask the kingdom to come now, to break through, to reach people who I love the language about far from.

I believe that people have their mind made up that Jesus isn't relevant anymore, and we believe that he is. The gospel truly changes everything about our circumstances and the world around us. So from that perspective, we're trying our best to be in a posture of submission and saying we don't know, but every day he's inviting us to take a step towards people in love with the hope of Jesus. That's why we're doing it.

I love it. That's amazing. I want us to pray for you guys and for your church, and I want you guys to see them so you can know to be praying for them. They're blocks away, starting a new community in our city. They're going to be with us and partnering as we put on our all-night prayer. They're going to be a part of that and helping facilitate and lead with a couple other churches. So we're excited to continue to partner with you.

Are there specific ways that we as a church can be praying for you? What are things that you are praying for right now as you start this journey?

For me, I think just an expansion of trust. Every day is a step. Coming up, showing up, what do you have for us today, Lord? Not thinking about how many people are sitting here, how many people came today. Just knowing that his metrics of what kingdom success looks like do not match what the world says is successful. I would say for just holy appointments. We could have a chance to meet people and share and get to know them, not be this place where there's a building that people are not inclined to walk into, but instead we get to meet them where they are. Just a chance to meet our community, to share the message of what we're doing.

Beyond that, even ways to partner with the city in a tangible way that is universal. It's not Jesus or the church versus the nonprofit world, but it's people that are for the community. So we have a chance to meet those people and get to know them.

Can I invite some of our leadership team? Alyssa, Bradley, Jack, anyone who doesn't have their hands full or doing stuff, can you guys come? Would everyone stretch your hands forward? We would love to just lay hands on you and pray. As we stand around you, we want to say thank you for your yes and to know that you are not alone, but you have another church here that is praying for you and is with you and seeing God's kingdom come.

Would you guys join me to stretch your hands forward and pray?

Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this precious family, for Pastor Leah, for Pastor Nick, and for their yes to you, their yes to obedience. God, I thank you so much for the ways that you have already used them to usher in your kingdom, your presence of grace and mercy and love and kindness and compassion to the neighborhood that they're in.

God, I pray right now that your Holy Spirit would continue to empower them and equip them with everything that they need. God, I pray that they would have so many different divine holy appointments that they look back and say, God, we know that you set that up. Would they continue to have eyes to see where you are leading them, ears to hear you clearly, and hearts that are soft and ready to respond. Even when hard things happen, even when the journey gets tough, would you continue to help them to see your love for the people that they are around and would they share that love and that care and that compassion?

So we thank you, God, again, for their yes, believing that you are going to use them to do incredible things in these neighborhoods and in this city. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

Intercessory prayer

Amen. Well, thank you guys so much for sharing. Now we're super excited to have the word brought to us by Pastor Nick.

Thanks, Abbie. As a couple of logistics, if we're going to be all over the text a little bit this morning, but primarily anchored in Romans chapter eight, if you have a Bible with you, an app, or whatever, you want to go there and mark that place. I'll come back to that in a bit. And before I get started, I just have it in my heart this morning that I want to brag on Abbie a little bit.

She shared a few minutes ago that we met through some friends here in the Madison area. It seems like forever ago in the best of ways. And this church and her leadership of it, I want to tell you that the spirit of God is anointing this place and her leadership. What is happening is something that is special and unique and divine. She is a pioneer in this space of the Christian community in Madison. I think you need to know that if you don't already. She paves the way through a lot of tears and a lot of heartbreak and a lot of opportunity that has been closed by the world, but opened by the Spirit. She is a pioneer, an amazing woman of God, an amazing leader.

We are blessed to call her a friend and somebody that we can lean on. I was talking to somebody earlier. We actually meet at 4:30 on Sundays, which you used to do, but now you don't anymore. So we're occupying that space for you and just saying yes to what the Spirit has for us. Abbie, thank you for what you've done for me.

I want to start off this morning by telling you a story about my friend named Jad. Jad is the national director of a group of missional community-based churches called Trinitas based out of Phoenix. This summer, he came to Madison to visit. He came to find out what is happening on the ground here, to invest in our leadership team a little bit, and just to see what's going on in Madison.

On that trip, he was going to fly into Green Bay, rent a car, go visit some friends in Michigan, and then drive down to Madison to spend a couple days with us. This was going to be at the end of August. The day he was set to arrive was a Monday. He called me and said, Nick, I'm just getting into Madison, but I don't know if I'm going to be able to stay for very long because I got some really terrible news. He said, my ex-wife, Anna, is in the hospital in critical care. She has experienced an overdose. My daughter, the shared daughter that they have, her oldest daughter, Jaden, is with her in the hospital and incredibly distraught.

So he said, I'm just going to be in prayer. I'm going to be in communication with my friends and family back home in Phoenix, but I don't know what's going to happen over my time in Madison. He got here and he was just a joy to spend time with for a couple hours on that Monday evening. But the more and more news that he got back home from Phoenix was that conditions were worsening for his ex-wife in the hospital. The doctors were saying that even if she survived this overdose, she probably wasn't going to have any brain function after this. They were wondering already, even 24 hours later, would she be able to survive the next day?

As the doctors continued to deliver news, we did what the only thing we knew what to do was to be in prayer for Anna. To stand in the gap between heaven and earth, interceding on behalf of her and saying, Lord, would you do a miraculous work in this woman's life? Would you be with Jad and her daughter who is grieving right now and doesn't know what to do?

As the news worsened, Jad who was going to stay for a couple days and then go with us on a trip to Michigan to see some leaders in our denomination decided that it was not right to stay. He needed to go home to be at his ex-wife's side and to support his young daughter. So he booked the next flight out to Phoenix and he left the next morning.

As he got back to Phoenix, he shared on a text string with the leaders of our network, people who are in prayer with him regularly, and all the people that are on the ground with their family and friends in the Phoenix area. He said, guys, I'm just inviting you to stand in the gap for this family and to pray for them, to pray for us, to pray for my ex-wife, to pray for Jaden, that we don't know the outcome. By all the measurements of medicine could tell us, it looked like it was going to be a really tragic outcome.

The toxicology report came back. It looks like she actually had ingested some antifreeze, which was incredible. Like how would that happen to someone who, yes, had troubles, but would never aim to harm herself in any way?

The next morning as we prayed, as people all over the world and over the country prayed for Anna in the hospital, the decision was made that because of the state of her life, they were going to take her off of life support the next morning. So as we prayed for Anna and Jaden and Jad and their family, we were held in prayer because it's all we could do in that moment was to pray for her. The hours went by on that Tuesday morning when the life support was going to be taken away from her.

To be honest with you, in my flesh, in my body, I was preparing a message of support and grief, of having lost somebody far too soon. But later that afternoon, we got a really amazing text.

Anna opened her eyes. Just for a moment. And then later, Anna squeezed her daughter's hand for the first time. And then later still, she opened her eyes and began to converse with her daughter at her bedside. The doctors were absolutely stunned, saying, we didn't expect this person to live another day. If she was going to live through this, removing a life support, it was certain that she wouldn't possibly have any brain function or cognitive ability.

And yet, over the next three or four days, this woman who was given 12 hours to live was told that her brain shows no disability in its function, and she was up walking around her hotel room. And I think in that moment, of course, as we're praising God, we're also reminded of something important. It is that when we are in our earnestness praying for God's kingdom to come and to break through in a situation, that actually matters. All we were doing in that moment was through text and our individual spaces all across the world was praying that Anna would be healed, that Jaden would receive comfort. In that moment, God showed up and did that miraculous work.

The gift of intercessory prayer

So this morning, New Culture, I just want to share with you that what I just talked about, the story of standing in the gap between heaven and earth on behalf of this family was intercessory prayer. Simply put, intercessory prayer is praying for others or on behalf of a situation outside of yourself.

According to Pete Gregg, who is the founder of the 24-7 prayer movement, intercessory prayer is to intervene or mediate between two parties as an equal friend to both. As I shared, this equal friend to both is the equal friend to heaven and the equal friend to earth. It's standing in the gap on behalf of God's people and petitioning with him that he would come. It's pleading with God on behalf of his people saying, God, would you understand our situation and would you come in power?

As you've been through this prayer series as a church, you've been praying through the Lord's prayer, and intercessory prayer is simply the line that says, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Intercessory prayer is looking at the world around us and recognizing when things are not right, when there's things that are broken, and when there's pain, and when there's disease, and when there's hospital stays, and when there's brokenness in relationships, and knowing that they're wrong.

As we think about intercessory prayer, we don't have to look very far to understand that there are needs that we need to be praying for. Just this last week, a lot of people are in a place of hurting because of the outcome of the election and various elections that happen across the country. There are people in an epidemic of loneliness who don't have anybody supporting them. There are people who don't know when their next meal is going to come. There are people, and if they do, they're only able to have one meal a day. There is a sense of poverty that is an epidemic in our city for so many. There is racism and misogyny and homophobia and the endless wars in Gaza, Israel, and in the Ukraine.

And even beyond this idea of like this greater thing that's going on in the world around us, there's also this micro level of our individual relationships. There are people probably in your life that you can think of right now that there is brokenness in the relationship between you and they. Or maybe two friends that you are friends with both and they're not speaking with each other anymore. Maybe you've lost or are losing loved ones way too early. Maybe there's someone in your life who is struggling with disease or cancer or an outlook that doesn't look positive for their health. And beyond that, maybe you're just experiencing heartache in your life.

So to pray an intercessory prayer is to go to God on behalf of these people and for these situations. I would love to share with you what intercessory prayer is, how and why we would pray intercessory prayers, and ultimately how to stand in this gap well, this gap between healed and hurting, between whole and broken, and between heaven and earth.

Before I go any further, I think it's important to ask myself, when we pray, Lord, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, I think it's important to understand what is the kingdom. Like, what are we asking for when we're asking the kingdom to come?

According to theologian Karl Barth, when we intercede, we are set at God's side and lifted up to him and therefore to the place where decisions are being made in the affairs of his government. What are the decisions and affairs of God's government?

The language for the initial biblical authors, when we talk about the kingdom, they lived in a world where there were kings and kingdoms. This world was hierarchical, meaning that there was the king and the queen, there was the royal class, there was the ruling class, there was the working class, and there was the lower class or the paupers.

In God's world, there was this idea that you couldn't access the king. Though you were part of his kingdom, you couldn't possibly access the king. In our modern perspective, I encourage you to look at the kingdom as something where God's kingdom reigns and not the earthly kingdom reigns. In the earthly kingdoms, we don't have access to power. We don't have access to affect the affairs of the government of the kingdom.

But in God's kingdom, that's totally flipped on its head.

When it comes to God's kingdom, when it comes to earth, we have access to the king directly. He invites us to petition to him with our intercessory prayers. He invites us to speak with him and to be in relationship with him. He knows that when we see brokenness, that he wants the same thing in resolution. This God, this king, looks at our situation and says, I know. I'm with you, and I want the same outcome, and I invite you to come to me with that petition.

We have this language in the New Testament of this future, this kingdom coming when Jesus comes to return and usher in the kingdom. In John's revelation, it says that in this world, when Christ comes to reign on the throne forever, there's going to be no more hurting and no more tears and no more heartache and no more pain. We're going to live with God in our physical bodies forever and ever in his kingdom, in the city, in the garden, in the center of the city forever.

But as we know the world we live in, we are there, not there yet.

What is going on is we are standing in the gap. If you've ever been to London, you know that when the train comes by, it says, mind the gap. What that means is there's a gap between the platform and the train. To mind the gap is to watch the gap, to make sure you don't fall into the gap.

As we look at the gap between heaven and earth, to pray intercessory prayers is to stand in that gap. As an equal friend to earth and those that we love and care about in our city, in our world, as an equal friend to God who wants to see his kingdom come now and reconcile those situations.

How to pray intercessory prayers

How do you pray intercessory prayers? I think there's a simplicity about it. You can just pray what you see. You can look around the world and say, God, this thing is broken. I'm praying that your kingdom would come into this space.

I think a danger, and although Jesus instructs us to pray this way, is when we say, your kingdom come, your will be done, oftentimes when I pray for other people, I often say, Lord, if it's your will, would you do this thing? My encouragement to you, although of course God's will is perfect and pleasing, my encouragement to you is through this moment in this season where we look around our world and in our relationships and see brokenness, my encouragement is that you would pray boldly. Look at something wrong and say, God, I know that you don't want this thing to be the way it is. I'm like storming into your throne room and saying, would you come now and reconcile this situation? Not like if it's your will, God, but in fact, go do it because God's will is his kingdom to come.

So as we pray bold prayers, I think God's heart is pleased because it's us recognizing what's wrong with the world that we live in and asking him to come into it.

It says in Mark chapter 11, verse 24. Therefore, this is Jesus talking. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Mark 11:24

In 1 John chapter 5, the author writes, This is the confidence we have in approaching God, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of him.

1 John 5:14-15

God's promises for intercessory prayer

Maybe you're listening to me talk right now and you're thinking, I've prayed prayers like that before. I prayed prayers like that this morning. I have someone in my family or in my life that's been hurting or broken or struggling with a disease for a very long time, and I pray for them regularly, and all I hear is crickets.

Our daughter, Clara, who you can hear right now coming out of the New Culture Kids classroom, is somebody who has ever since she's understood and been able to communicate with us, she's loved stories. So every single night, one of us, and we generally take turns when we do this, is we read her a couple books and then we tell her a story.

That's it. And so as a pastor and a Christian leader, I've told her all of the major stories of the Bible that are appropriate for her to hear at her four-year-old age. About a month ago I started to recycle the stories from the Bible. So what I've done, instead of saying, Moses, I'm saying, Danny. Can you get what I'm saying here?

Okay. So I'm telling this story about the Exodus and the crossing of the Red Sea. But this time I told the story in a way that was a modern take on it. I told the story of our family went on vacation and we showed up to this city. When we got to the city, it was really clear in that moment that we had to leave. Like something was happening and all the people were telling us, you have to leave now. Everyone's leaving this town and we're going to escape.

So we grabbed all our stuff and started to run away from the city with all the people. Eventually, towards the end of this story, we got to this body of water. It was a raging river. We were clearly trapped. I said in this story, I said, Clara, I think someone in the story is telling you to take the first step into the river. She was looking at me like this, like what I said, yeah, you have to step into the water.

So in the story Clara steps into the water. Guess what? Just like the story of the Exodus, the river stopped. It's amazing. As we all stepped in with her, this highway across the river was dug. All the people that were running got to cross this river. We crossed the other side. Of course, as it says in that story, in the Bible, the river closed up and the waters rushed through and the people who were chasing us didn't get to get to us. We got to be on the other side of the water.

I was worried for a moment that she understood that I was telling her a story and changing the names, but she didn't. But she did ask a really profound question in that moment. She said, Daddy, why doesn't God do stuff like that anymore?

I said, what's the right answer here? I said, well, babe, I think he does do miracles. What kind of miracle would you want him to do? And thankfully in that moment, she set me up well because she didn't ask for the world. She asked for all the apples in the world. She loves apples. She loves Honeycrisp apples, I should say.

So in that moment, she said, Daddy, I would want God to give me all the apples in the world. I said, that's interesting, baby. That's a really beautiful prayer. I said, well, let me ask you this. What if as you were praying for all the apples in the world, what if somebody else was also praying for all the apples in the world? She kind of lost the plot for a second.

I said, okay, let's say there was one apple. She said, I would pray for that one apple. I said, so what if somebody else was praying for the same one apple? She said, what if God split the apple in half?

I said, that would be really just of God, wouldn't it? She's like, that would be so cool.

I said, well, let me ask you this, babe. What if you and that other friend were praying for that one apple, but what if there was a kid who was in your class at school who didn't know how to pray for an apple. But this kid went home every single night after school and didn't have anything to eat. Wouldn't it be really kind and just of God to give your friend that one apple?

She said, yeah, that would be really great.

I said, babe, you understand in this moment that what God did was his will. He did the thing that ultimately was the best for the situation, but understand that what you prayed for, you didn't receive.

And so in that moment, I was realizing through my story to our four-year-old daughter that sometimes when we pray for an apple and God gives us half, that ultimately his will is coming to fruition in our lives.

I like to say that one of the primary purposes of prayer is relationship with the Lord. So in my marriage with Leah, I do often, I don't often actually, I don't ask her for enough. I'm really bad at asking for things. But if I did, if that's all I did was ask for things, of course, our relationship wouldn't be that strong, right? So I know when it's things that I need and that I see wrong, I know to ask for them.

But ultimately, in those moments, I understand that if all I did was ask for things, that our relationship wouldn't be that strong. I have to pay attention to how does Leah respond when I ask for things? What does she like? What are her preferences? What are the things that she sees wrong in her life? How can I come alongside of her and align to her heart when I ask for things from her?

I think the same is true about our relationship with the Lord. The more that we're in prayer with him and learning to pray, we're learning throughout that language, throughout the communication and the relationship, as we are learning to understand what is God's heart and how does he prefer to respond and reconcile the world around us.

So now we're going to be in Romans 8 for the rest of our time. I think it provides us with a really good instruction of how to look to the Lord in prayer and to how to align ourselves with him when we pray. Starting in Romans 8, chapter 8, verse 5, it says, those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires. But those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.

Romans 8:5

As we align ourselves with God's heart, we start to understand that though he welcomes all of us, he desires and wants us to ask him for things in our own life and petition. But also to look at the world around us and say, Lord, what is out of order? He wants us and invites us to ask him for those things too.

But ultimately, as we pray and we align ourselves with his spirit in relationship, we learn to pray prayers that are in line with his spirit and what his spirit is doing in our world. That sounds all great, but I wonder how we can understand what it is like to pray in the spirit. And ultimately, what are the things that God's will is and what does it look like when it comes true in our own life? When do we ask for a whole apple and get half and know that ultimately that was the best thing for us and was God's will?

I think the place we can start when we pray intercessory prayers, praying for others or on behalf of another situation, is to pray the promises that God already gave us in the scriptures. God doesn't promise us that in this life he says, actually, in this life, you will have trouble. Ultimately, we're living in the gap between what has already come, Jesus to offer us salvation in life, and the kingdom where we're going to live with him forever.

But he does, in the scriptures, offer us promises that we can stand on, on this side of eternity.

First of all, he promises his presence and his guidance with us.

My presence will go with you.

Exodus 33

God's presence is always with you.

Do not fear, for I am with you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 41:10

He promises his love and faithfulness. It says each morning we wake up and God's mercy and his love is new for us and available to us. The scriptures tell us in Lamentations 3 that the Lord's great love means we are not consumed, and his compassions never fail.

In Romans 8, the Apostle Paul says:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39

We cannot be separated from Jesus. He promises us his salvation and his forgiveness. In one of the most well-known verses in the scriptures, in John 3:16:

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

John 3:16

And it says in 1 John 1:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9

We have his salvation and his forgiveness. We have promises of his peace. Philippians 4 says:

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

It says in John 14 that Jesus promises his peace to be left with his people when he ascended to be at the right hand.

He promised us provision.

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

And the 23rd Psalm says:

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

Psalm 23:1

He promises us his strength and his help. Isaiah 40 tells us he gives strength to the weary and increases the power to the weak. Psalm 46 says God is our refuge and our strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

He promises us eternal life.

I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.

John 10:28

It says in 1 Corinthians 2:

No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no human mind has conceived the things God has prepared for those who love him.

1 Corinthians 2:9

He promises victory and overcoming challenges.

In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Romans 8:37

It says in 1 John 5:

For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

1 John 5:4

And he promises ultimately that when we look at the world and it is all upside down and wrong and backwards, and there's pain and hurting and division and fear and tears and brokenness, he promises that he is going to return to usher in his kingdom and to restore all these things ultimately for his glory.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

Revelation 21:4

And it says in John 14 that Jesus says, there are many rooms in my father's house. When he left us, he is going to prepare those rooms for us to live with him for eternity.

You see this promise of now of how to live in the now is intention with the kingdom that hasn't already come. As God's people, when we're in relationship with him, we're ultimately living in the tension of what some leading scholars say, the now and the not yet.

You see, we have all those promises and we have assurance in our salvation in Jesus, in a relationship with him, but ultimately the kingdom hasn't come yet. So we are gap minders in the tension between what has happened now for us and what has not happened yet.

The groaning and the coming

It says in Romans 8 verses 22 and 23:

We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, that is, the redemption of our bodies.

Romans 8:22-23

You see, we as God's people on earth are actually early in this world. This language is really interesting. It's agrarian culture, first century Judaism, ancient Near East. They wrote a lot about this agrarian idea of harvests and first fruits and things that are maybe foreign to our ears now, but ultimately meant a lot to the readers at the time.

But what the apostle Paul is saying here is that in addition to the first fruits being Jesus, he is the firstborn amongst the dead. He's the first who's been risen in his kingdom and ascended to heaven. But we are also the first fruits, meaning that we're like fruit that's come early to the harvest.

We are living in this tension of the world that does not yet recognize us in so many ways, but we are on behalf of the kingdom through our relationship with Jesus in our lives. We are the ones that recognize when things are out of order and we are the people that are calling on them to be made right again.

So what is our responsibility then in intercessory prayer? I mean, it's true that we have all those assurances and those promises from the scriptures, but ultimately what responsibility do we have to live in this world now as the first fruits of the spirit?

There's a really popular verse about prayer that comes from the book of 2 Chronicles that is so often hijacked by Christians in the United States and asking for God's kingdom to come into our land only. But it's important that when I work through this passage, what the author is saying is that when we do these things, God's kingdom come into our land, meaning all the land that people who follow Jesus occupy in this world.

The context of 2 Chronicles 7:14 is that King Solomon just built and dedicated the temple to the Lord. And what God says as a matter of warning, but also a matter of promise, are these words.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.

2 Chronicles 7:14

I think there are four items that the author of this text has given us as a way of structuring the way that we look at the world as first fruits and also pray for the kingdom to come now.

The first one, it says, humble yourself. This is the difference between praying in the flesh and praying in the spirit. We have natural inclinations as people. We feel things. I get really hungry sometimes and I need a snack, right? So in my flesh I get hungry, right? But the difference as we learn through the text of Romans 8 is that we can pray in the flesh or pray in the spirit.

The more that we pray to God and in relationship with him, what happens is we start to pray in the spirit. To humble ourselves in our prayer means that we look at the world knowing that sometimes what we're praying for is our flesh. It's like praying for the apple when really God is saying the spirit prayer would be to give the apple to the kid at school who needs it instead.

To humble ourselves is to say, God, I don't know the answers, but I'm going to keep seeking you earnestly on behalf of the situation knowing that I don't know all the answers but you do. The more I align with you, the more I begin to pray in your spirit.

The second, this is an easy one. It says to pray. It says in the scriptures to pray in every circumstance, in all circumstances. As you're continuing in relationship with this world and people in it, why not be a people of prayer? Recognize the situation that in almost every situation you're going to walk into, something's going to be out of order, out of the kingdom order.

Think about the kingdom of God, where the king is accessible and doing all the things in all the times. In most every situation we come into, there's going to be a disorder. So in those circumstances, my encouragement is to be praying and to pray boldly, not in a way of like I said earlier, of like, God, if it's your will. But no, say, God, I see this right now and I'm boldly coming to you as your child asking for your will to be done here, for your reconciliation to happen in this situation.

Number three, it says to seek his face. So often we go about our life and look around the world and we're busy and doing a million things and thinking about our own stuff. We're praying through those situations, which I think is good. But ultimately I think the more we can turn to God and say, where are you? Where is your face? Where can I be in relationship with you and look in the eyes and understand this is what you are doing now and this is what your will looks like. And ultimately in relationship, this is what you desire from me and from this situation.

So the more that we seek his face, the more that we are in relationship with him. And then it says to turn from your wicked ways. I'm not sure if this language resonates with you, but there's this idea of God's people consecrating themselves to him.

I wear Psalm 24 on my wrist every day. It says in that passage, who can ascend the hill of the Lord, who can stand in his mighty place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart. When we think about our world, oftentimes we sit back and we live in this brokenness and we're doing stuff that we know God has asked us not to do. All these things are a mess in our own life. We're asking God to come and rectify the situation.

I think an invitation through this passage that was given to King Solomon was, how can we turn from wickedness and turn to righteousness? How can we be consecrated and living in a place of clean hands and a pure heart, knowing that God desires to work in and through those people, his people that consecrate themselves to him?

Theologian Walter Wink exclaims in his book, Engaging the Powers, that history belongs to the intercessors who believe the future into being. I think that's our role in intercession.

But what I find really reassuring is that it is not all up to us to be the intercessors, that we have a role of praying in relationship with the Lord, but we don't have all the burden on us. God actually by His self, by Jesus, and by the Holy Spirit actually play a really active role in interceding in our world. I find great assurance in that.

You see, we have assurance that because Jesus' work on the cross and his ascension into heaven, we actually have assurance that all these things will come to pass in the future. We can look back and in Romans 5, it says we have been justified through faith and have peace with God. We know we are aligned and in relationship with the king when we choose to be in relationship with the king. Looking forward, Colossians 3 promises that when Christ appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

This is the future, the not yet kingdom that hasn't happened. But we know that through it all, ultimately at the end of the age, we are going to be raised in a physical body and live in a place with Jesus forever.

And actually, Jesus is interceding now. As he went to be with the Father and prepare the rooms for us, Jesus actually lives forever, the firstborn among the dead, the first fruit of the Spirit. Hebrews 7 tells us he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them. We have assurance that Jesus right now in this moment is sitting with the Father, interceding for each of us individually in every situation that we deal with by name, specifically in detail, in a way that knows you and knows a situation better than you ever could yourself.

In his book, Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools, Pastor and author Tyler Staten writes this:

"Intercession is the present action of Jesus that pulls at this story from both ends. The salvation work accomplished in the past and the glory that awaits us in the future. Intercession, stated as simply as possible, brings forth the image of Jesus praying for us. Individually, by name. And as he does, he wedges us tightly between forgiveness and glory. Enabling a deep inner rest, sheltered by security, hope, and delight."

I want to end our time before we go into a time of prayer with this assurance.

This is like one of my favorite things that the scriptures tell us about the Spirit and about God's will for our life. The Holy Spirit is constantly interceding for you in this world. Maybe you're in a situation that is incredibly broken. Relationships are estranged. You look at the seemingly never-ending wars in the Middle East and in Ukraine. The people that are hurting and broken in this country right now, living in poverty and misogyny and racism and redlining and all the things that are broken about our country.

Sometimes I feel like I don't even know what to pray. I don't have words to properly address this situation in a way that's articulate.

Romans 8 says this, verses 26 to 28:

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who have loved him, who have been called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:26-28

This text says that the spirit is interceding for us in wordless groans. In all situations in prayer, when we don't know what to pray or when we don't know what to pray for the will of God into that, the spirit is interceding on our behalf through wordless groans.

So when your prayers start to look like moaning and grieving and tears and just guttural yells coming from the deepest part of your heart, like you look at the situation and think this is so wrong, God, this is so broken, would you come, know that that groan, that grief that lives inside of you, is the Holy Spirit praying for that situation on your behalf.

But I love this part. It says though the spirit prays in wordless groans, the spirit does actually pray one word in the scriptures as Jesus is ready to come in and usher his kingdom in. In the book of Revelation, he stands there offering his last promises of coming to fulfill his kingdom. In Revelation 22, the Spirit and the bride say, Come. The bride of Christ is his church, that's us. So when we pray intercessory prayers, we're saying, come Lord Jesus, come. And in that same moment, the Holy Spirit is with us, working in our spaces in the situation, ultimately saying, come Lord Jesus.

See, when we pray in the spirit, we have the spirit. And when we don't know what to pray in the spirit, the spirit is praying ultimately for the reconciliation of all things, for the will of God and the glory of his people. Come Lord Jesus.

So take heart. The spirit is praying for you. Come Jesus and come now.

Closing time of prayer

As we end our time today, I want to do something that might be a little bit different for you, and maybe you're really comfortable doing this, but I'm going to invite you in just a moment to close your eyes. I'm going to ask you to have the spirit bring to mind the first situation, the first place that you see brokenness in the world, in your life, in relationships or whatever.

I'm just going to offer a prayer. We're going to ask the Spirit to come and to do a mighty and powerful work in and through that situation. If you're comfortable, this is an invitation, this is not an obligation, but you're invited in this moment just to close your eyes. If it feels comfortable and natural to you, I invite you just to hold your hands open as a way of receiving, just like a posture of openness that the Spirit would come and that you want the Spirit to come, that you want reconciliation and God's will and kingdom to break through in the situation.

So now in this moment in the quiet, I invite you to ask the Spirit to bring to your mind something that's broken. Maybe a situation, maybe a relationship. Maybe it's something outside of yourself. Maybe it's general brokenness in this world. Maybe it's wars and poverty. Maybe it's just a burden of all of that.

Jesus, we know that you have come and you have offered my friends your relationship and your salvation. You've offered them assurance that you are coming again to usher in the kingdom and that we're going to live with you and reign with you forever in the city, the new Jerusalem.

But Lord, we are a people that are living in this world, and it's just as your heart is grieved, our heart is grieved right now in this moment, Lord. So by your spirit, you know each and every situation that this people are thinking about right now in their mind's eye. You know this situation and every single other situation that is grieving them and they see broken in this world.

Lord, we join the prayer of Revelation 22 when it says, Come, Lord Jesus. As your bride of Christ, we are saying, Come, Jesus, into this particular situation. Jesus, bring healing. Jesus, bring life. Jesus, bring reconciliation. Jesus, bring your kingdom. And more than that, bring the king.

King Jesus, we ask you to come into this space right now. I know that you are already here, but I ask you to come and join us in prayer and say, come Jesus, come into the situation. By your spirit and by your power, I ask for a mighty breakthrough in every situation that is being imagined in this moment by me. Jesus, thank you for the promises that you have given us. We stand on those, but we also say, Come, Lord Jesus, come in power.

Boldly we approach your throne as your people, saying, come, Jesus. Jesus, we love you. We thank you for the gift of relationship. We thank you for the assurance of eternity. But ultimately, Jesus, we thank you that you are with us now and that you desire reconciliation in these situations.

So we love you, Jesus. We pray to you, Jesus. Jesus, you are matchless. You are the name above all names. You are power and you are glory. You are beauty and you are grace. You are alpha and omega. You are the lion and the lamb. We trust you and we know that by your spirit you are coming now.

We pray all of these things in your holy and powerful name, Jesus. Amen.