Bill Johnson - How to Pray in a Way That Stands in the Gap
Prayers of convenience get answers of convenience. Token prayers get token answers, and costly prayers—those that are literally put on the line—are the ones that actually shape the course of history. Turn, if you would, to Numbers Chapter 16. I’ve got several verses; we’ll just see what we have time for because I’m not going to do a full teaching. I do want us to get back into worship and prayer. There’s a situation in Number 16 that I love reading about. It has all these bizarre stories. Here’s a plague that is just killing, I don’t remember how many now—thousands of people, if I recall correctly. The plague is described in verse 46: Moses said to Aaron, «Take a censer, put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, take it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.» Then Aaron took it as Moses commanded, ran into the midst of the assembly, and already the plague had begun among the people, so he put in the incense and made atonement for the people. Here’s a phrase: he stood between the dead and the living, and so the plague was stopped.
What does the incense represent biblically? Prayer. He stood between the living and the dead. If ever there was a time for the people of God to rise to their potential, their call, and their place in prayer, it’s right now—to stand between the living and the dead. There are times when the measure of sin, etc., that exists in a given situation requires judgment. Still, the Lord looks for mercy and seeks those who will intercede and pray. That’s really our role. So many would look at this and say, «Well, God sent the plague, just let it go. It’s supposed to discipline everybody and put them in their place,» and that’s not the heart of the Lord. There are times when circumstances demand a response, but He’s looking for someone who will simply pray. This harp and bold concept, once again, that IHOP does so well, is a mixture of intercession and worship, and it’s what’s been going on here for months now. I love the picture here of taking incense—or let’s put it this way, the cry of your heart—and running into the middle of a battle.
Prayers of convenience get answers of convenience. Token prayers get token answers, and costly prayers—those that are literally put on the line—are the ones that actually shape the course of history. We see this with Hannah. Hannah was wanting a son and she prayed and prayed and prayed, but nothing happened. She finally comes before the Lord and is beside herself in the way she is praying. Eli the priest comes to her and says, «You know you shouldn’t come to the temple drunk,» and she said, «I’m not drunk, I’m just grieved in heart.» She is praying outside of her norm. Sometimes it takes prayers outside of our norm. We can develop a religious muscle where we have a norm, and then there are prayers outside of that norm. When you pray outside of yourself, you put your reputation, your thoughts, and your self-esteem—all of who you are—on the line. There is a summons before the Lord to see something change, and it’s not an everyday prayer. To be honest, it’s not an everyday prayer because it’s too exhausting.
Jesus talked about those of you who, when you fast, put oil on your face. Do all this—make sure your countenance doesn’t reflect the burden of battle during prayer time. Many of us were turned off at an early age to intercession because everyone we knew who was an intercessor was depressed; they were some of the sourest-looking people on the planet. We didn’t want to be like them. The Lord is calling us into a place of intense prayer. Fasting is not an act we do to gain brownie points; it doesn’t increase our favor. Fasting is because we are hungrier for something we can’t see than for what we can see. Fasting is simply one of the ways we refine focus, and refined focus is where there’s a display of the authority God has given to us. Refined focus is that laser beam of effective service in prayer.
What happens in prayer so often is prayers of convenience. I must be careful here because some of the most powerful prayers in the Bible were one-sentence prayers. If you read the book of Nehemiah, you’ll see them; but they weren’t prayers of convenience—they cost him. They followed pretty radical obedience and pursuit of the will of God. And yet, he prayed these one-sentence prayers. We sometimes think in terms of long hours of religious activity in prayer, which has its place, but the Lord is actually reminding us that there are times we pray and pray, and then we pray again, and something happens. There are times we keep ourselves busy in the activity of prayer, and then an insight arrives, or a word comes to mind. Sometimes somebody walks over to you, and there’s a partnership and agreement in prayer. Sometimes the breakthrough is waiting for a moment, and we position ourselves with absolute embracing of our assignment—to pray until we see breakthrough.
There comes a kind of moment upon the people of God where we pray, but we continuously position ourselves, saying, «God, show me what else needs to be done.» Sometimes the breakthrough comes at the end of a simple decree; sometimes it’s an act of obedience. Quite honestly, sometimes I’ve seen situations where we pray and pray, and finally we just leave it and say, «It’s done. Let’s walk away.» I refuse to wrestle in this one anymore because there’s a sense of confidence from the presence of God that it’s a done deal. Sometimes in our activities, your greatest activity—sometimes the position of rest—is your strongest position. Sometimes it requires violence, but let me redefine that because this will be reposted, I’m sure, but not my explanation—just the violence part. Violence in the Kingdom is faith, and it’s faith that is followed by activity. Faith is violent. When the Bible says in Matthew 11, «The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force,» that violence is the activity sponsored by faith. Faith is violent because it requires action, and you can’t take biblical action and have nothing happen. You can be busy and have nothing happen, you know—you can be busy with Christian activities and have nothing occur. But this response to the Spirit of God, where we make that decree, where we give that gift, where we march from the building…