What Does God Seek?...True Worship and Intercession
What Does God Seek?....True Worship and Intercession
Dr. Dallas Eggemeyer
Jesus said, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24)
The Hebrew and Greek words for worship mean more than just singing songs. No matter how s-l-o-w-l-y or loudly they maybe. Worship means serving God with all of your life. It pictures the ready-to-hear-and-obey attitude of a servant with his master. God is seeking true worship from us, with passion and love. Intercession requires this same kind of passion for Him, it is an attitude of praise.
God seeks intercessors. "I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none." (Ezek. 22:30) He wants them to plead for His mercy when His righteous judgments are due. "O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD...in wrath remember mercy." (Hab. 3:2)
Throughout Scripture, it was the intercessor who moved, or stayed, God's hand. Abraham standing before God for Sodom, although not successful in saving the city, did succeed in saving Lot. By interceding, he did the righteous thing in God's eyes. People who do not understand what Israel's restoration means to the Kingdom of God, can still intercede for the righteous in Jesus here. Those who understand can intercede for much more, the true eternal purposes of Father God in all creation!
Moses understood and interceded for Israel in spite of their worship of the golden calf. The result: "LORD repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people." (Ex. 32:14) The Hebrew literally says God repented! The Psalmist recalls it this way: "Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath..." (Psa. 106:23a) God wants, and waits for, His children to ask Him to do His will before He does it. In His rulership He has chosen to enable us to CO-labor with Him.
Ezekiel 36 is the essential chapter in understanding Israel's restoration today. God promises to restore the fertility of His land, bring His people back home and then save them. Throughout this chapter He says over and over, "I will" do this; "I will" do that. None of this is done because Israel is so pure or holy, just the opposite. "Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the [gentiles], whither ye went. I will sanctify my great name...and the [gentiles] shall know that I am LORD ... when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." (v. 22-23)
After listing many promises, God then says, "I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them..." (Ezek. 36:37a) The Hebrew word for inquired implies persistently asking God to fulfill His promises. Who are part of the "house of David”? Believers are grafted in and part of the Commonwealth of Israel (Rom 11:24; Eph 2:12). God is still waiting for our prayers in Israel's behalf. Will you pray?
We can be very bold when it comes to asking God to do His revealed will. Asking for His kingdom, His rulership, to come and His will to be done on earth. Could asking God to glorify Himself truly be the cure for the all creations ills?
God so desires for intercessors to plead with Him to do His will, that He declares, "I have set Watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of LORD, keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." (Isa. 62:7) He not only ordains Watchmen, but He then commands them to plead with Him to do His will!
"But the end of all things is near; therefore, beef sound judgement and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. ( 1 Peter 4:7)
Dr. Dallas Eggemeyer
Jesus said, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23-24)
The Hebrew and Greek words for worship mean more than just singing songs. No matter how s-l-o-w-l-y or loudly they maybe. Worship means serving God with all of your life. It pictures the ready-to-hear-and-obey attitude of a servant with his master. God is seeking true worship from us, with passion and love. Intercession requires this same kind of passion for Him, it is an attitude of praise.
God seeks intercessors. "I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none." (Ezek. 22:30) He wants them to plead for His mercy when His righteous judgments are due. "O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD...in wrath remember mercy." (Hab. 3:2)
Throughout Scripture, it was the intercessor who moved, or stayed, God's hand. Abraham standing before God for Sodom, although not successful in saving the city, did succeed in saving Lot. By interceding, he did the righteous thing in God's eyes. People who do not understand what Israel's restoration means to the Kingdom of God, can still intercede for the righteous in Jesus here. Those who understand can intercede for much more, the true eternal purposes of Father God in all creation!
Moses understood and interceded for Israel in spite of their worship of the golden calf. The result: "LORD repented of the evil which He thought to do unto His people." (Ex. 32:14) The Hebrew literally says God repented! The Psalmist recalls it this way: "Therefore He said that He would destroy them, had not Moses His chosen stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath..." (Psa. 106:23a) God wants, and waits for, His children to ask Him to do His will before He does it. In His rulership He has chosen to enable us to CO-labor with Him.
Ezekiel 36 is the essential chapter in understanding Israel's restoration today. God promises to restore the fertility of His land, bring His people back home and then save them. Throughout this chapter He says over and over, "I will" do this; "I will" do that. None of this is done because Israel is so pure or holy, just the opposite. "Thus saith the Lord GOD; I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the [gentiles], whither ye went. I will sanctify my great name...and the [gentiles] shall know that I am LORD ... when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." (v. 22-23)
After listing many promises, God then says, "I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them..." (Ezek. 36:37a) The Hebrew word for inquired implies persistently asking God to fulfill His promises. Who are part of the "house of David”? Believers are grafted in and part of the Commonwealth of Israel (Rom 11:24; Eph 2:12). God is still waiting for our prayers in Israel's behalf. Will you pray?
We can be very bold when it comes to asking God to do His revealed will. Asking for His kingdom, His rulership, to come and His will to be done on earth. Could asking God to glorify Himself truly be the cure for the all creations ills?
God so desires for intercessors to plead with Him to do His will, that He declares, "I have set Watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of LORD, keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth." (Isa. 62:7) He not only ordains Watchmen, but He then commands them to plead with Him to do His will!
"But the end of all things is near; therefore, beef sound judgement and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. ( 1 Peter 4:7)