My journey into the prophetic realm, part 6

Having moved to Batesville, AR, we were invited to meet with an independent church near the edge of town called the Christian Golden Rule Church, pastored by Forrest (“Red”) Thomas. Within a few months I was asked to do the teaching on Sunday night services.

A year passed, in which I worked as a typesetter and got to know the people at work and at the church. On January 23, 1984 (one year after our arrival in Batesville), I was contemplating the horrendous year prior to this new life. “What was that all about?” I asked. “Ezekiel 4:5,” He replied immediately.

I looked up the verse, and read it:

⁵ For I have assigned you a number of days corresponding to the years of their iniquity, three hundred and ninety days; thus you shall bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

I threw up my hands. “I have no idea what this means. What does this have to do with it?”

“Count the days,” He said.

So I counted back 390 days from the day of our arrival, January 23, 1983. I counted back to December 30, 1981, the day that we had left Las Cruces as we began our wilderness journey. Only then did I realize that this had been a time of intercession, much like when God had told Ezekiel to lie on his left side for 390 days, bearing the iniquity of the house of Israel.

Not only this, but I remembered that shortly after my 390 days had been completed, God sent me on a 30-day reconciliation trip within a 40-day period, dating from the invitation letter. (February 28 to April 9, 1983). Ezekiel was required to lie on his right side for 40 days, bearing the iniquity of the house of Judah (Ezekiel 4:6).

Interpreting this in my own context, it was not hard to see that my “house of Judah” represented church leadership, while the “house of Israel” represented the church (congregation). But what exactly was intercession? How did it differ from prayer and spiritual warfare?

Intercession

My thoughts went back to 1972, when I began training for an overseas bookstore ministry in Port Moresby. Norman Grubb’s book, Rees Howells, Intercessor was required reading. The author lived across the street. Though he was often traveling on speaking tours, I was able to meet him, his wife, and his daughter.

The book itself made little sense to me at the time. He wrote about how a Welsh coal miner named Rees Howells was an intercessor who had to “walk out” his intercession over a period of time. He could not simply pray for a few minutes and then declare victory. He had to identify with those who were in need of intercession.

Like Jesus, who became a man in order to be our great Intercessor (Hebrews 7:25). Identification meant that the people also saw Him as a sinner (blasphemer), because they projected their own iniquity upon Him. Then they killed Him for it. Then God raised Him from the dead, and He ascended to the place of spiritual authority at the right hand of the Father, “bringing many sons to glory” (Hebrews 2:10).

In other words, He received authority over the very people who had crucified Him, so that (by law) He had the power to decide their future. Just as Adam’s authority affected the lives of all who were under his authority, so also the authority of “the Last Adam” affected the lives of all who were under His authority. Through intercession, Jesus received authority. He took away men’s authority to decide their own eternal destiny, thus becoming their Salvation.

When I first read about Rees Howells in 1972, I could not yet comprehend these things. Only when I experienced intercession for myself could I understand. So when God revealed to me that I had been an intercessor, following the pattern of Ezekiel, it was a major revelation.

In fact, it was revolutionary. I suddenly began to understand the good purpose of that horrendous year. Knowing that purpose made it easier to overcome the bitterness of false accusation and the loss of friends. Jesus died on the cross at Passover, in which the people were commanded to eat unleavened bread with “bitter herbs” (Exodus 12:8). While crucifixion was painful, the false accusation of His friends was bitter.

I then understood that intercession is not complete until the intercessor has overcome this bitterness through forgiveness. Forgiveness is not complete until the intercessor can let go of it and can come into a position of rest. In my case, I doubt that I could have achieved this apart from understanding the good purpose of crucifixion. Until I understood intercession and saw its great purpose, I could move on with my life, but the wounds would not heal.

As I contemplated this, it all began to make sense. God had moved me to Las Cruces (“The Crosses”) to be crucified. Even though He held me responsible for attempting to be in a calling (pastor) that was not mine, He was still responsible for my destiny. The law of authority gave Him this right over all sinners when He ascended to the right hand of the Father.

This realization gave me a new perspective of God’s very nature, something that I had not been taught in the church. I also received comfort in knowing that in the midst of darkness and despair, God was always with me and that He would not let me be lost. In an age where most people think that all good things come from God and that all bad things come from the devil, I learned by experience that all things work together for good (Romans 8:28).

Straw into Gold

This is inherent in the sovereignty of God. Jesus’ own crucifixion was the greatest evil ever committed, and yet it became the greatest good. God knows how to turn straw into gold.

It would still take another thirteen months for me to turn bitterness into love, but when I learned about the principles of intercession in 1984, I was able to come to a neutral position. God gives us time to complete our journey into love, because this is how the intercessor benefits from the troubles that he experiences. His labor is always rewarded at the end of the day.

Intercessors are not perfect, nor are they required to be perfect to qualify as an intercessor. In fact, God uses the time of intercession to mature them spiritually, primarily by increasing their ability to love. It is easy to love the lovable. It is easy to love friends. But the love of God is extended to one’s enemies (Romans 5:10). Such love does not come naturally.

Those who do not understand the principles of intercession might scoff at my own time of intercession on the grounds that I brought it upon myself. There is some truth to that assertion. I may add that I had become a pastor when I was called to be a teacher. It took me close to a year to learn how to die. Even then, if God had not forced me to die, I would have continued to fight it—“by faith,” of course! My flesh never willingly submitted to death, for it did not agree with the will of God.

Intercession always involves the death of the flesh in some way. It is the only path to resurrection life.

Prophecy

We all prophesy from time to time. It does not take a prophet to prophesy. Most prophecy is inadvertent, as we see in the example of Caiaphas (John 11:49, 50, 51). When the pastor accused me of joining with his enemies against him, he prophesied. When I said, “What’s going on here?” I prophesied. Neither of us knew what we were doing.

There are prophets here and there, but prophecy is everywhere. The office of a prophet is unique, but all may prophesy. Prophecy is simply speaking what God has already spoken. There are many levels of this. Intercession is a prophetic act. The same is true with spiritual warfare. One enters a different world where things no longer make sense to our carnal minds. People do things that seem out of character. Bizarre things happen. What is bizarre to the flesh is natural to God, and we must learn a new natural.

My journey into the prophetic realm caught me off guard and knocked me off my feet. It took years to regain my footing, and when I did, I was a new man. I could never go back to the old way of life. Intercession changed me forever. I never would have gone that route, if it had been in my power. But the sovereign God of creation willed it so, and it was done. I did not even know that I had become an intercessor until a year after it was done.