There is an old spiritual that has the following line… ‘Every time I feel the Spirit moving in my heart, I’ll pray,’ This is a nice thought but it is a bit misleading.
If I waited until I felt ‘led’, I fear I’d pray very little.
Jesus’ encouragement that we should ‘always pray and not give up’ (Luke 18:1) is probably the strongest verse in the Bible for consistent praying. Paul said, ‘Pray continually’ (1 Thess. 5:17). Jesus said, ‘Ask and it will be given to you’ (Luke 11:9), the context of which urges us to keep on asking.
Does our prayer change things?
John Wesley said ‘God does nothing but in answer to prayer.’
Read the following….
Psalm 106:23 - Therefore he said that he would destroy them, Had not Moses his chosen stood before him in the breach, To turn away his wrath, lest he should destroy them.
The Children of Israel were a stubborn people...
Several commentators make the following statements about this scene…
1. Moses’ approach to a stubborn people was this…. “All I know is that I am prepared to intercede as though it was entirely up to me. ‘So he said he would destroy them—had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them’ (Ps. 106:23).
2. Consider the figure used to describe this scene from the life of Moses. The phrase “stood in the breach,” is that of warfare, where a soldier might stand in a break made in the wall by enemy soldiers, so as to keep them from entering the city (A perilous place). The figure “stood in the breach” pictures Moses’ action which consisted mainly in speaking to God on behalf of the people i.e. “Moses stood up and argued with God” or “Moses spoke with God and persuaded him.”
3. “He spoke of destroying them (v. 23), and certainly he would have done it if Moses, his chosen, had not stood before him in the breach (v. 23), if he had not seasonably interposed to deal with God as an advocate about the breach or ruin God was about to devote them to and wonderfully prevailed to turn away his wrath. See here the mercy of God, and how easily his anger is turned away, even from a provoking people. See the power of prayer, and the interest which God’s chosen have in heaven.”
God, in his wisdom, has designed that we intercede on behalf of others....even the stiff necks…especially the stiff necks.
He has determined that intercession can be how catastrophe and disaster may be averted!
To what situation does this verse refer? Read with me…
7 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 9 And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: 10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation. 11 And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? 12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever. 14 And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.
Pray for the stiff neck! Your prayers may be protective and may be their salvation!