Easter Workshop 1981
PRINCIPLES FOR EFFECTIVE INTERCESSION (Joy Dawson)
1) Make sure that your heart is clean before God, by having given the Holy Spirit time to convict, could there be any un-confessed sin. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.” (Ps. 66:180 also Psalm 139: 23-24)
2) Acknowledge that you cannot really pray without the direction and energy of the Holy Spirit. “The Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, for we know not how to pray as we ought.” Romans 8:26
3) Die to your own imaginations, desires, and burdens, for what you feel you should pray.
“Lean not unto your own understanding.” Proverbs 3: 5-6
“He who trusts in his own mind is a fool.” Proverbs 28:26
“My thoughts are not your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8
4) Ask God to utterly control you by His Spirit
“Be (ye being) filled with Holy Spirit.” Ephesians 5:18
Then thank Him for doing so
“Without faith, it is impossible to please Him” – Hebrews 11: 6
5) Praise Him now in faith for the remarkable prayer experience you are going to have. He is a remarkable God, and will do something consistent with His character.
6) Deal aggressively with the enemy. Come against him in the all –powerful name of Jesus Christ, and with the “sword of the Spirit”- the word of God.
“Submit yourselves therefore to the Lord; resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4: 7
“The Lord rebuke you, Satan.” Zechariah 3:2
7) Wait in silent expectancy. Then in obedience, and faith, utter what God brings to your mind, believing. “My sheep hear My voice…and they follow Me.” John 10: 27. Be sure not to move on to the next subject until you have given God sufficient time to discharge all He wants to say to you regarding this particular burden: especially when praying in a group.
Always have your Bible with you should God want to give you direction or confirmation from it. “Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Ps, 119:105
9) When God ceases to bring things to your mind for prayer, finish by praising and thanking Him for what He has done. Remind yourself that ‘…from Him, and through Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever.’ Romans 11:36
10) Ask for the fear of the Lord to speak out what He gives you, then be afraid to keep silent.
A WARNING
God knows the great weakness of the human heart towards pride, and if we speak of what God has revealed and done in intercession, it may lead to our committing this against God.
God shares His secrets and burdens with those who are able to keep them. There may come a time when He will definitely prompt us to share, but unless this happens, we should remain silent!
“And they kept silence, and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.” Luke 9:36
“But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19)
(Joy Dawson)
A TESTIMONY –Andy Raine
When I was with Youth With A Mission, in summer of ’79, the teaching we had from Joy Dawson opened my eyes to understand things in a new way and has made so many things possible since that time. I had by then already learned – especially in Cross Section days – how very important it was to take authority over the enemy, to bind him, and silence his voice, before meetings, or whenever I needed to seek God. Thus I had been able to eliminate the voice of Satan from giving me wrong direction or guidance – but still had a problem at times in being sure when my own mind was telling me a thing, and when it was God. In fact, my most regular proof that it had been the voice of God telling me something was that it told me to do something I would never have thought of myself! The crucial distinction is between the inspiration of God, and our own good ideas.
The new revelation that came with this teaching was very simple, but oh so practical: that just as we can take authority over our own ideas, preconceptions, and prejudices, putting down all our own imaginations, bringing all our thoughts into the captivity of the Holy Spirit, and knowing that, in the time that follows, if things come to our minds it will be because He wants them to, for a purpose, can wait in silent expectancy saying, “speak, Lord, for Thy servant heareth.”
The key scripture for this is in 1 Corinthians 10:4-5
(“…..For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds)
Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ…”)
If we fully grasp the limitations of this we will be freed forever from shopping-list prayers we “ought to pray” and can pray according to needs when reminded by God. Also we need never have the problem of “stray thoughts again in prayer times.”
God knows our needs, and wants us to hear from Him that we might know Him better, and more effectively join in prayer for one another.
“HOW TO” FOR AN INTERCSSION GROUP
Preparation Be relaxed. Not too large a group- say up to 6 or 7 people, and not in a noisy spot if it can be helped. One is recognized as the leader. Everyone should have access to a Bible- If you are sitting in a circle you should place a Bible or two on the centre where they can be reached. Someone, the leader or another person, should act as “scribe” and write down the subjects God has you pray for, and any specifics that arise, scripture references etc. It may be helpful at first to use the Principles of Intercession sheet until the members of the group are comfortable with what are the basic steps involved. The leader could go through these one step at a time, reading them out loud for everyone. You can begin by waiting in silence at least for a few minutes, so that individuals can deal with any unconfessed sin that the Holy Spirit may convict them of. Then the leader should explain that this is not to be a usual time of prayer, when we can chatter away to God, but a time when we expect Him to show us what He would have us pray for. One sentence in the Holy Ghost is of more value than 6 hours off the “top of our head.”
“Prayer is either a prodigious force, or a disgraceful farce.” But seeking God need not be a time of great strain and unnatural tension, no relaxation and refreshment. It is not an endurance test. The leader may at first ask individuals in the group to pray out loud the basic steps, one at a time, on behalf of the whole group. It is important for each to participate silently, even if someone else is praying that step out loud. Each person needs to have a clean heart. Each person needs to be depending on the Holy Spirit’s leading. Each person needs to put down their own imaginations and pre-conceived ideas. It is good, too, for all to aggress when someone else silences the voice of the enemy. When these preparatory steps are completed (in whatever order) you all wait in silence for a while for God to speak to you individually first of all as to what He would have you pray about. When you are clear – that either you have received nothing or have received a clear impression – look up and wait for the others. Don’t be frightened to take your time. When everyone is ready the leader will ask each person in turn to say what impressions, if any, he has received. The “scribe” will then write these down, and then read the list back to everybody.
There may be 2 or 3 subjects on the list- for example, Hong Kong, next Saturdays’ outreach, and Brother Andrew. So all the group quietly take these topics back to God and ask to be shown clearly which they should pray for. (There should be no abstentions this time!) It may be that there will be time to pray eventually for more than one. They decide that they are to pray for Hong Kong. (Sometimes you find that, when different intercession groups report back together, another group will have prayed for the very things on your list that you never came back to!)
So then you wait on God for further details, and proceed as before to share what you receive and only move into praying out when you have received all that God wants first to release to you on that topic. It would be silly, for instance, to waste time telling God all you knew about Hong Kong!
Let the Spirit direct your prayers. Feel free to reach for a Bible if God directs you to look up a scripture reference that has popped into your mind, or to find a passage He has reminded you of. Write down anything you receive in specifics. Do everything in an orderly way.
PRAISE GOD!
