Deploying Battleground Prayer

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. ~ Ephesians 6: 12

The above Facebook screenshot is a picture worth the proverbial thousand words depicting Israel’s intercessory position in the world right now.

Truly we must make prayer a priority in 2024 as never before!

A definition of intercession in prayer is this:

An intercessor imposes himself/herself between God and man to convince God to temper judgment with mercy.

During the past nearly 90 days I’ve been participating as a panelist on the daily Global Prayer Gathering (GPG) sponsored by the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem (ICEJ).

It’s a lifeline for prayer during this ongoing wicked war against Israel.

God seeks intercessors but seldom finds them!

We have this astonishing verse in Isaiah 59: 16, 

“God saw that there was no man— and he wondered…. he was amazed that there was no one interceding…. there was no intercessor…..” And He protested in disappointment through Ezekiel:

“I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before Me for the land . . . but I found none."

I was particularly blessed when our friend Malcolm Hedding, former director of the ICEJ, taught on the ministry of intercession. I also invited him to share during my ministry’s Watchmen and Women on the Walls New Year Intercessory Prayer Zoom on January 1.

Malcolm focused on men in the Bible such as Abraham, Moses and the prophet Daniel as models for intercession with emphasis upon being the friend of God. He noted that an intercessor is rare and is not listed as a five-fold ministry gift because mainly it is a ministry gift to God Himself . . . through friendship.

What a privilege! What an honor to be an intercessor!

But it is a costly calling.

Here is an excerpt from my favorite book outside of the Bible, “Rees Howells Intercessor” by Norman Grubb:

When the Holy Ghost really lives His life in a chosen vessel there is no limit to the extremes to which He will take him in His passion to warn and save the lost. Isaiah, that aristocrat, had to go "naked and bare-footed" for three years as a warning to Israel. We can hardly credit such a thing! Hosea had to marry a harlot, to show his people that the heavenly Husband was willing to take back His adulterous bride. Jeremiah was not allowed to marry, as a warning to Israel against the terrors and tragedies of captivity. Ezekiel was not allowed to shed one tear for the death of his wife, "the desire of his eyes." And so the list might be continued. Every greatly used instrument of God has been, in his measure, an intercessor: Wesley for backsliding England; Booth for the down-and-outs; Hudson Taylor for China; C. T. Studd for the unevangelized world.

Nevertheless intercessors value the eternal purposes of God and prove that they can be entrusted with his dreams, visions and are faithful, rock solid.

More than ever God is looking for intercessors.

Will we be found faithful?

Rabbi Chaim Eisen also participated in our Watchmen and Women on the Walls New Year Intercessory Prayer Zoom. He prayed a powerful prayer for the LORD to receive glory as a result of this war:

“Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake." (Psalm 115: 1)

In this Zoom screenshot Rabbi Eisen displays a Hamas rocket fragment from an earlier war. [The rabbi's website is ZionBibleStudies.org]

We believe our corporate prayers are very timely and that the Almighty hears the sincere desire of intercessors to make ourselves available to him for Israel and our nations in 2024.

Meanwhile as the war continues, Hamas and many Gazan civilians have demonstrated that they reject basic human values, disqualifying themselves from the brotherhood of humanity. The fanatics of Hamas don’t butcher women and children in the hopes of creating a Palestinian state but primarily due to blatant Jew hatred.

This week on Zoom the rabbi also quoted Zechariah 14: 12, 

“For I will gather all the nations for battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be captured, the houses looted, and the women ravished and half the city taken.” 

Israel is yet in for a rough ride.

My prayer is: Oh God, speed up the fullness of the Gentiles so that all of the remnant of Israel can be saved! Hasten Israel through Jacob’s Trouble so that Israel may be delivered out of it.

The conflict is changing moment by moment and proliferating to a number of fronts, including naval war in the Red Sea. 

So we soldier on in prayer.

Thank you, Lord, for calling us to be your friends and for entrusting us with the care of your people Israel. This is no small matter. Thank you also for calling us to be watchmen for our nations.  

Psalm 37 declares, “Wicked doers shall be rooted out; they that patiently abide the LORD shall inherit the land. Yet a little while, and the ungodly shall be clean gone. But the meek-spirited shall possess the earth. The ungodly gnash upon the godly with his teeth. The Lord shall laugh him to scorn; for he sees his day is coming. The ungodly have drawn out the sword, but their sword shall go through their own heart. . . .”

Psalm 24: “This is the generation of them that seek him, that seek thy face, Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.”

I have a great treasure of my life to share with you today! I’m so happy to discover that my favorite book outside of the Bible is actually available free online as a PDF file at the following link: https://www.thechoicedrivenlife.com/uploads/Rees%20Howells%20Intercessor.pdf

Also available on YouTube is an 8-hour audio book edition!

To support the ongoing ministry of Christine Darg, please visit www.JerusalemChannel.tv/donate/