(A Powerful Shifter)
By: Praying Shepherdess
Approximate read time: 3-4 minutes
No, No, No! Don’t put out this fire! Get out the firepan (for holding live coals)!
Intercession, prayer, pleading or making request before Abba (our Heavenly Father), CAN make a BIG difference! It’s one “column of clean smoke” you don’t want to snuff out! Take a look at this:
I looked for a man among them who would make up the hedge and stand in the gap before Me for the land so I would not destroy it, but I found none…Ezekiel 22:30
Check this out:
Aaron intercedes (to go or come between) for a rebellious complaining people, running through the crowd with a fire-pan that has incense burning on it. With that act, a plague, that has already killed 14,700 people is stopped! Numbers 16:46-50 (17:11-15 Hebrew Bible format)
Abraham intercedes for any righteous people who might be living in Sodom. The angels agree. There weren’t ten righteous, but before destroying the city, the angels did bring Lot and part of his family out. Genesis 18:23-33 (19:15-17 Hbf)
Moses intercedes many times for a rebellious complaining people with the effect of God averting the deserved judgment! Numbers 11:1,2, 12:11-15, 14:11-20, 21:7-9, Exodus 32:11-14 (to name a few)
Fast forward:
Time of great tribulation – we see the firepans/censers and incense again. Revelation 5:8, 8:3,4
They are mentioned before the seals are opened, and again before the trumpets are sounded.
The prayers/intercessions of the righteous are caused to ascend with the smoke of the incense to be presented to God. Revelations 8:3,4
Could we possibly make a difference in the outcome of some things?
Are the prayers of the humble remnant a part of why/how there is a shortening of the time of tribulation, and/or some other aspect of the “wrap-up?” (See Matthew 24:22, Mark 13:20) Just a thought.
Think about this:
It was prophesied, as instructed by YHWH, accounted in the book of Jonah, that Ninevah would be destroyed for its wickedness. In response the people in Ninevah turned from their wickedness. YHWH forgave them, and God’s judgment was averted.
When Daniel interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s tree stump dream, Daniel counseled Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 4:24) to turn from his sins and to reach out the poor and needy (signifying his heart truly was aligning with God. See Isaiah 58,🕐 1:27, 5:16, II Samuel 22:21). Daniel let him know that his turning from sin and turning to God’s ways perhaps would avert the judgment that had been revealed to him in the dream.
Think of this:
In light of Ezekial 22:30, is it possible that the prayers of Stephen, requesting, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge,” “moved” God to extend His grace and invitation to Saul, a zealous murderer of the followers of Yeshua, for a life-changing redemption?! It certainly changed his life for the better, and made life easier for others! Acts 7:58,59, 9:1-22
I’m reminding us that sometimes God will avert His judgment because someone is interceding.
The plea of a righteous person is very powerful, working effectively! James/Yaacob 5:16c
(I have heard someone teach, though, that when a “Woe” is pronounced it is a sure thing; the judgment will happen.)
So, on the “other side” of the firepan, God has made mankind with a free-will, freedom of choice. He still honors that installment today.
What we loose on earth is loosed in heaven. What we bind on earth is bound in heaven. That’s why what happened to Ahab happened to him! He continually chose to follow evil (was in agreement with), and the court of heaven finally issued a “warrant for his arrest” (demise, done, dead – No more)! I Kings 16:30-33, 21:25,26, 22:19-22, II Chronicles 18:18-21, Matthew 18:18
As it says in Ezekiel 22:31, 33:20, Zechariah 1:6, Revelations 18:6 (and dozens of other places), God gives back to us according to our own choosing. He is righteous in doing so! Revelations 16:6,7, 19:2…
And yet,
He desires that each of us turn from those things in our lives that don’t line up with His heart, His mind, His will, His ways.
He encourages us to “CHOOSE LIFE!”
And, it seems that He is often open to the opportunities that come when someone chooses to intercede for those who are in danger, or heading in a dangerous direction!
We see these things in Deut 30:15-20, Ezek 22:30, 21:30,32, 18:23,32, 33:11
Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, says Adonai YHWH, and not that he should return from his ways and live?!…
For I have no pleasure in the death of the one who dies, says Adonai YHWH. Therefore, turn yourselves back and live!
The last part of Ezekial 22:30 is the “kicker:”
…I found no one
[to stand in the gap; to come in between the offender and the effect he has coming to him; to intercede; to pray]
therefore I have poured out My indignation upon them.
D i d y o u h e a r t h a t?!
…therefore [because no one was willing to intercede] I have poured out my indignation upon them.
Some sobering things to consider.
Would we be willing to humble ourselves before God and say, with Isaiah,
I am unclean!
And then, as God is graciously cleansing us and inviting us to serve Him in His kingdom, to say,
Here I am, Lord –
USE ME!
If we would stand in the gap, whose life might be changed for the better, and those around him?
What tremendous impact could we have for, and what delight could we bring to our deserving King?!
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Pass it on!
Copyright: Praying Shepherdess
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