Derek Prince - Why Praying For Peace In Jerusalem Is Important?
This is an excerpt from: How To Pray For Israel
Suggestion number six, pray according to Psalm 102, verses 13 and 18. Let's turn to that and read it. Psalm 102, verses 13 and 18. This is a revelation that was given to the psalmist in a mood of deep despair. I mean, he had come to the end of everything. He felt God had lifted him up and then thrown him away. What can be worse than that? The opening verses of the psalm are all a dirge, a mournful dirge. But then, dear brothers and sisters, if you're struggling with depression... Of course, none of you are, except that it's the most common, single psychological problem of Christians... If you should be struggling with depression, do what the psalmist did. Look away from your problems and look to the Lord. Because as long as you focus on your problems you'll have to live with them. And so much counseling is just causing people to focus on their problems. And there is no solution.
But the psalmist said in verse 12: But you, O Lord, shall endure forever, and the remembrance of your name to all generations... And there was a total change of mood at that point. He had a revelation of the end time visitation of God upon the Jewish people and he said: You will arise and have mercy on Zion, for the time to favor her, yes, the set time has come. For your servants take pleasure in her stones and show favor to her dust. That's one of the marks of God's servants, they take pleasure in Jerusalem's stones and show favor to Jerusalem's dust. Do you have that mark? Then it says: So the nations shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth your glory. God's intervention on behalf of Israel is destined to demonstrate His glory to all nations.
Verse 16: For the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory. The old King James said it "when the Lord shall build up Zion, He shall appear in His glory". One of the great indications that we're approaching the end of the age and the Lord is getting ready to appear in His glory is that he is rebuilding Zion. So, every one of us who love the Lord should be happy for that. The psalmist said the time to favor her, the set time has come. The Hebrew word for set time is Moed, which is the word used of all the sacred festivals of Israel... Passover, Pentecost, Yom Kippur, the new year, everything. So, God has a calendar and on His calendar there are certain Moedim entered before Him. You see, that's your business as an intercessor, is to remind the Lord of what's on His calendar. Then you become the Lord's maskir, or more probably maskira.
One of the most effective forms of intercession is to say, "Lord, this is the set time to favor Zion. Please do what you've said". I've asked Ruth up because we have a rather complicated grace that we say at meals four times a day because we eat four times a day. Not because we're greedy but because it's easier to avoid putting on weight if you eat smaller meals more frequently. Now I make no charge for that but advice. So, we are going to say the grace we say before every meal. I can't help smiling because there was a meeting in Britain two or three years ago and I was talking along this line and I said, "Come up, Ruth, and we'll say our grace". Well, Ruth got the giggles and I didn't really know what she was giggling about. She said, "I was thinking about all those people, they'd been a long time without food and if we say grace it will just stimulate their appetite". Anyhow, we said it amidst our giggles. The family grace started in 1938 with my first wife in Jerusalem and it was very simple, like everything my first wife did.
Dear Heavenly Father, bless our food in Jesus' name. But gradually accretions have taken place, namely through me. So we'll give you... We might as well give you the whole thing. It takes a little while, I warn people when we eat with us when we say amen that doesn't mean the end. All right, are we there? Dear Heavenly Father, bless our food in Jesus' name and the hands that prepared it. Show mercy and favor to Israel in this set time. Send revival to the United States, Great Britain and the English-speaking world. Amen. (That's not the end. Then we say:) Quicken our mortal bodies by your Holy Spirit and help us to eat wisely. Then we make a proclamation. Shall we make one now? We'll do 1 Thessalonians 5:23–24: Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify us completely and may our whole spirit, soul and body be preserved blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls us who also will do it.
So that's a little pattern. What I... The reason I did that was to show you it's effective to pray that God will do what He said He will do at the set time. When you identify the set time, then you know how to pray. Another very obvious prayer is Psalm 122, verse 6. Many of you, I know, are familiar with that. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. They shall prosper who love you". Some people consider it part of the prayer, I think it's part of God's reward. When you pray for the peace of Jerusalem and love Jerusalem, you will prosper. You know how it goes in Hebrew, it's kind of a What do you call it? Alliteration. That's it. Thank you. Go to the top of the class! All right, in Hebrew (my Hebrew is limited, but it's so beautiful): Shaalú shalom Yerushalaím. Do you hear all the sh's and the l's? Shaalú shalom Yerushalaím. Do you want to try saying a little Hebrew? Say it with me? Shaalú shalom Yerushalaím. Yerushalaím is Jerusalem.
Now I want to say again when you pray for the peace of Jerusalem you have to pray with an intelligent understanding of God's prophetic purposes. It doesn't just mean that peace will come down upon Jerusalem and everybody will stop fighting everybody else. Not at all. But it means go on praying until God's purposes for the way the peace is to come to Jerusalem shall be worked out. The truth of the matter is Jerusalem will never know peace until the Prince of Peace comes. You say, "Well, why should I pray for Jerusalem. I live in Phoenix or I live in Dallas or I live in Miami or wherever it may be. Even New York". The answer, as I understand it, is God has so arranged things that no other city on earth will know permanent peace until Jerusalem knows peace. So when you pray for the peace of Jerusalem you are also praying toward peace for your particular city.