Before I continue with my little thought for today, I cannot help but share some eye-opening Hebrew word study that will make the importance and intensity of intercession stand out to you in a profound way. Please note that the study below includes some key picture images of the ancient Hebrew letters which I am not able to paste here. If you would like to receive the orginal Word doc. file please email me and request it at caribbean[dot]shulamite[at]yahoo[dot]com.
By: Kathy Nichols
Ancient Hebrew Research Center
Biblical Hebrew E-Magazine
December, 2005, Issue #022
The second word usually translated intercession is the child root “paga”. You will recognise the (peh) which is the picture of a mouth from last months article. The first new picture form in this word is the picture of a foot which means to walk, gather, carry etc. It has the “g” sound. Paga means a chance meeting or encounter, or to place as a meeting. This could be an impingement, which figuratively means to attack with persistent requests. It can be persistently, even to the point of annoyance! When we read this, we are immediately drawn to the parables and sayings of Jesus concerning asking, seeking and knocking. No doubt God loves us to impinge on His wonderful grace to enable those we pray for to fulfill the role they were intended for. An unripe fig becoming ripe! In actual fact the parent root of “paga” the word pag means “Unable to fulfill the role intended for. An unripe fig!” The third picture added to this parent root is the picture of an eye which means experience, to see, to know and understand. In prayer we desire to ask for those who are living unfulfilled lives without the Lord, or lives with affliction and inability, because we have experienced and know what God can do for them. Having received this experience from such a benevolent and kind creator should challenge us to walk as close to Him as we can. This will enable God to touch our hearts in prayer to experience at times how other people feel and also how He Himself feels. This is an immense honour.
Is 53:12 “ while actually bearing the sin of many and interceding for the offenders.”
Is 59:15b,16a “..Adonai saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice; He saw there was no one, and was amazed that that no one interceded. Therefore His own arm brought him salvation…”
Here the words for intercession are “paga”.
So what Isaiah is pointing out is that God desired to bring about justice, but there was no intercessor – no-one willing to impinge on Him and because of the terrible state of the land, and no-one praying, God was appalled and disappointed.
A fascinating use of “paga” is found in Isaiah 53:6 ..the Lord laid (paga) on him the iniquity of us all.” The word is meaning our sins “fell” on Jesus, (so we could become what He intended). If one reads through all the verses using “paga” a good number of them are about “falling on” someone and the person dying, so there is great intensity in this word.
Intercession is a critical task and God seeks for intercessors that He may show His mercy and compassion to those who are headed for destruction or being spiritually attacked. Many more lives than we know have been changed and impacted by the personal intercession of family and friends, church prayer groups and the like. Many times the intercessor may not see the changes prayed for take place but they receive the answer by faith and lay the burden of a matter down.
When praying for the souls of people we are praying for hearts and wills that may resist but this is a difficult area to understand. God has given man free will to make choices between life and death; and He can also turn the hearts of men. Most certainly He is able to orchestrate circumstances to deal with the hindering blindness or pride of a person that may be resisting His mercy.
Needless to say, intercessors soon learn that to pray is all they can really do for they are not able to bring the change they are hopeful about. Some people we pray for are deluded and deceived by their sins, believing they are in right standing with God or that He will overlook their disobedience under their 'special' circumstances. They hear God's call to repentance and believe it is for someone else (see Jer. 2:35).
Other people will not turn to God and do not want to change even when they hear God's call to repentance and His promise of forgiveness. These are usually hardened hearts who have often been rebuked and invited to turn to God. No one can know of the instance in which God will give them over to the sins that they love. Having forfeited and scoffed at the patient mercy of the Lord, these will eventually come to the place where God may say as He did to Jeremiah concerning the people of Israel and Judah, "Do not pray for them because I will not hear"[See Jeremiah 5:1-3;18:11-12; 7:16].
All an intercessor can do in those difficult cases is to:
~ obey the heart cry of the Spirit of God that compels them to pray for another
"And I sought a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord." Ezekiel 22:30-31
~ weep for the unrepentant
"If you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly, overflowing with tears, because the LORD’s flock will be taken captive." Jeremiah 13:17
~ move on in God's plan
"And Samuel went no more to see Saul until the day of his death. Nevertheless Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel. Now the LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons.” 1 Samuel 15:35,16:1
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