Moses the Intercessor

Ex. 32-33 Question of the day: What is intercession? What challenges do you have in intercession? Some challenges from the story of Ex. 32-33 This is the time when Moses has been up on the mountain receiving the covenant from Yahweh. Israel has been delivered from 400 years of slavery. Now, they are a few days at the base of the mountain. Israel teaches us some things about ourselves. Moses teaches us some things as well.

The Impatient Life

The Israelites model the impatience we often have in prayer. They have been in slavery 400 years. Theyve been at the base of the mountain for a few days in stark comparison. They got tired of waiting for Moses. They ask Aaron to give them something to worship. When we arent walking in prayer, or if weve let our prayer life drift and stagnate, we get impatient with the process of prayer and waiting. We dont like God taking up our time! Israel also went to their default setting when it came to worship. All they knew were the gods of Egypt. Moses was up on the mountain getting the covenant from Yahweh, but all they knew were the gods of Egypt that had been all around them all the time for hundreds of years. 1 Moses the Intercessor

They defaulted to what they knew. We tend to do that in prayer and life if were not used to the journey of prayer. We have default settings. It may be that we quit. It may be that we complain. It may be that we manipulate. It may be that we try our own ingenuity. When we dont have a pattern of prayer in our lives, we have other default settings. This is where Israel lives right at this moment. Theyre impatient. 400 years of slavery and theyre impatient. They default to what they know. We live impatient lives. The temptation of our walk with God is to live so much in the moment we forget the journey. The challenge of the prayer life is to learn to WALK with God. It is understanding the lifelong journey to which we are invited. While there are times when we can offer up quick prayers to God, there are other times when he calls us to come aside while he instructs us. There are times we enter into more of a school of prayer and we take the extra time to learn. Yahweh is entering into this covenant with Israel and it was taking just a little time to let Moses know what was going to happen in this covenant! But, when you havent spent a lot of time getting to know a god, let alone YAHWEH, you can tend to get impatient. Dont let impatience and short attention spans drive you away from the journey of prayer! Dont let distractions throw you off. Stay at prayer. Stay at the patterns that can help you walk in deeper communication with the Lord.

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Learn healthy patterns of prayer. We can point you to several useful tools, but the key is this: you have to USE those tools! Years ago in Colorado I worked in a flooring company and one of my colleagues had a tough time with organization. He would think of things while he was driving, so he couldnt write them down. One day he came in all excited. He had discovered the digital recorder. Now, he could think of something, grab the digital recorder while he was driving, and make a verbal note. He could say, Order material for the Smith job, or, Call the installer about the Jones job. BAM. Instant solution. One problem. He would then forget to LISTEN to his voice messages and then make the calls himself! The digital recorder didnt make the calls for him! We must learn to USE the tools of prayer. Otherwise, we can get impatient and return to our default settings.

The Boldness of Intercession

When Moses comes down from the mountain, he knows something is up. He had been warned by the Lord that the people had quickly turned. The Lord was so angry he told Moses that he wanted to wipe them out and start over with Moses and his family.

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v. 10 But notice the power of Moses as an intercessor here. The Lord says to Moses, Let me alone so I can do this. Moses has stepped in to intercede for Israel already. He calls out to God and reminds him of his faithfulness. He reminds God of what Egypt would say. He pours his heart out to God on behalf of a very stubborn people. Intercession is an aspect of prayer that is incredibly difficult. It is beyond praying for yourself. It is the process of praying for others. It is one thing to pray for people you like and just want to see God do something in them. Its another thing to pray for people who are in trouble and you would like to see God maybe deal with them a little bit before rescuing them! Intercession isnt worship. While worship can be work, intercession can REALLY be work. It is taking the needs of others to the Lord. It is walking in a way that lifts up others to the Lord, asking for him to hear. Moses does this constantly for Israel. I am convinced that Moses probably spent more time on his face than on his feet because he led Israel. But he is effective. Whatever the explanation for this particular verse anyone can come up with, the fact of the statement is this: Moses interceded and God changed his mind. (32:14) We dont just step into intercession. We can PRAY for others. We PRAY for our missionaries. We PRAY for needs in the church and other requests that come to us.

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It may not mean we are necessarily INTERCEDING for those needs. Saying a prayer on a Sunday morning, or agreeing to a prayer on a Sunday morning, may not make you an intercessor. This is a place where we need to understand the true depth of prayer. This is the place where we understand RELATIONSHIP over the FORM of prayer. Exodus 33 gives us some insight into the life of Moses that lead us to understand the walk of intercession a lot more. Intercession has a lot of possibilities. This isnt something where I think everyone needs to spend hours upon hours lifting up needs to the Lord. I think its an aspect of prayer we all need to understand, so that when there are concentrated times that the Lord needs someone to call out for someone else, or something else, he knows who to call. He needs people to call out for Farella Shaka, a professor at NCU and co-pastor with her husband Richard. She is battling a brain tumor. She needs people calling out to God on her behalf. North Africa is in need of intercession. I know we can be angry. I am angry. I wept when I saw the four caskets taken off the plane at Andrews Air Force Base this week. Four Americans working for peace who were slaughtered by a planned attack. But while the temptation is to carpet bomb the place, the NEED is to intercede. North Africa needs our intercession. This is a place of prayer that calls us out of our comfort zones. There are some clues into the life of Moses that lead us to understand how he stepped into the role of an intercessor for Israel.

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He Took the Time

Real shocker, right? But this is VITAL. Moses would go to the Tent of Meeting and spend the time in the presence of God. He was allowed entrance and then the Lord would speak with Moses face to face like a friend. You dont get that on the first visit. You dont get that by going in and checking your watch every three minutes. You get to that place when you go into the presence of the Lord and you SIT. You may not know the words to say. You may not have a clue as to what may happen next. But you stay. Psalms help us to pray. When you dont know what else to say, pull out your Bible and start praying the Psalms. Then, and this will shock you, when you reach other times when you dont know what to say, dont say a thing. Moses took the time. He determined to spend that time with God. He had to leave to go fix things in Israel, but its noted that JOSHUA stayed longer. We need that hunger. We need that determination. One of the finest books on prayer that has helped millions of people get started in prayer is a little book called, The Hour That Changes the World. Dick Eastman is the author and an incredible prayer warrior. The book grew out of his desire to pray. Thats it. He was meditating on the thought that Jesus challenged his disciples, Could you not tarry one hour? 6 Moses the Intercessor

He wanted to PRAY. He wanted to learn to stretch himself for an hour of prayer. That was then. The man is a constant walking prayer now. But we all have that challenge of HOW to spend time with God. Dick Eastman decided to figure out some helps so he could at least get to that target of one hour. Thats all that book is: how to tarry for one hour. It will get you far beyond an hour. The key is this: spend time with God.

He Asked
What is the nature of the Kingdom? The nature of the Kingdom is to ASK! v. 13 Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your ways so that I may know you and find favor in your sight. What does Moses want? Ps. 103:7 gives us some help.

He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel. 1
Israel knew WHAT God did. Moses was able to know WHY God did it. The difference? Moses ASKED. This is a difficult request. It sounds noble. It IS noble. Yet, it has a cost attached to it. The cost is this: God WILL let you know. Then, youre responsible.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. 1989 (Ps 103:7). Nashville:
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It isnt a path many Christians like to take. Were comfortable at the base of the mountain, waiting for someone like Moses tell us what God said. But Moses was different. And this is where we NEED to be! We need to ASK! The need of the Kingdom of God, the need of the hour, is intercession. It is for the people of God to take up the needs we face and bring them to God. There is the need to stand in the gap for others. To come to that point we need to KNOW GOD. To know him we ask. Moses asks this of God and God grants it. Moses would know the WHY of Gods actions while Israel would only get to see the action itself.

The Knowledge of the Holy

But Moses didnt stop there. He asked to know the ways of God, then he was even bolder: show me your glory. Moses needed to know God would really come with Israel. He is bold. Lets get past this cloud that leads us. Let me see past this cloud! God grants Moses a partial answer, but in his answer, he gives Moses something more! Moses wants to see the face of God. He doesn't want the veil of the cloud or the fire. THAT is glory for Moses. He wants to know that God WILL dwell with his people. God grants the request only in part. Instead of speaking of glory, God speaks of goodness. Goodness is more abstract. It carries the matter beyond any simple tangible manifestation. It is a statement of what kind of God this is. The more genuine sign is not a direct view of God but a specific indication of the "good" character of the one who has given the divine name of Yahweh to Israel. 8 Moses the Intercessor

A direct view of God won't say much about his CHARACTER. God could be a monster. Moses needs to KNOW who God is. It is more important to KNOW what kind of God this is than to see that God. All of God's goodness would pass before Moses and the name Yahweh would be proclaimed to him. Glory is redefined for Moses. Glory includes the proclamation of the very nature of God. Moses asked boldly. God answered wisely. Moses wanted something beyond what was humanly sustainable, but that didnt keep God from giving Moses something powerful! Moses was able to attain the knowledge of God. He had the very character of God revealed to him more fully. THIS is the spirit of the intercessor. When we come to the task of intercession, we dont do it with a long face. We dont do it with sadness and let the world know how brave we are, or how fortunate they are that were actually praying for them! The spirit of the intercessor comes from a heart that knows God. It is a heart that has ASKED to know God has WAITED on God and has had God grace them with some incredible depth of knowledge into his character. This is the need of the hour. We dont need one more person praying foolishly over some situation. We need intercessors who will have the heart of God, know his character, and then know HOW to pray for a situation. We need to enter into a call for intercession. It is a call that will build in us over time. It will build as we take the time to know God, learn his ways, and then we can carry these needs before him and know his heart to pray. 9 Moses the Intercessor

Lets stretch ourselves a bit this morning. I have listed several serious needs we have that we can carry in prayer. We are going to pray for these right now, but I am going to ask that you do something just a little extra today. As we pray, ask the Spirit to give you ONE of these requests as a prayer burden. Write that need down. Then, over this week, take that request before the Lord at least once a day every day. ASK for his heart on the matter. LISTEN to how he may direct. But just carry that need before the Lord once a day, every day, this week. Here on some requests: Farella Shaka Amy Barnard Joanne Oftedahl Paul Widen, pastor of Oak Hill Baptist LIFE Groups getting started North Africa and the Middle East We may have more in our own body. Lets take these needs before the Lord and just simply ASK him for HIS power and HIS Kingdom to come.

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