Intervention Prayers - 2 - A Living Instrument

Hi, my name is Michelle Steele.

I'm so excited to have this opportunity to visit with you today about the Word of God.

Today we're going to continue talking about praying intervention prayers, how to pray for our family in a way that's effective, how to pray for those, especially when people are living in addiction or in a lifestyle that is destroying them.

We can be a supernatural connection to the power of God for our loved ones in our praying.

In our series, we have talked about already some important things.

We talked last week about seeing our prayers as a divine connection, as a connector to the power of God, like we are a living instrument in the hand of God.

We saw some examples.

We saw from the Old Testament that there was a woman, the Shunammite woman, who was a living instrument in the hand of God, who brought salvation from the power of God through her covenant of peace.

She said, I have the peace that comes from being made complete.

I will not be missing, I will not be broken in the life of my son.

And God's power came on the scene.

And your covenant is a covenant of great peace.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace.

And the covenant that God has made with you includes the promise that He will save your children.

So you don't have to talk God into it.

Glory to God.

And they feel like they are spinning their wheels because they're still in that place of saying, please God, please, God, please, God, save them.

Please, God, change their life.

Please, God, set them free.

And God said, I'm on board.

I'm all in.

I'm already convinced.

It was my idea.

I'm the one who made salvation available for them.

I'm the one who sent my son.

I am willing.

When we're praying, intervention prayers, and I'm making a reference to this is the way that God has given me to teach it.

Intervention being the work that someone does to intervene in the situation.

I know we're talking about intercession as well, and intercession is definitely in the toolbox of intervention prayers.

But intervention praying is bringing God on the scene.

It's bringing the power of God into the life of your loved one, bringing your loved one into contact, into a connection with the will of God for their life.

And so when we're talking about intervention praying, we're talking about uh something that is um it's it's a process at times.

There are different seasons that we may be praying in a specific way, and then the Holy Spirit says, okay, now I need you to pray this.

And so we we switch over and we began to just like a person would use an instrument in uh building or in um if they are are cutting wood and they're using a skill saw and they're taking that skill saw and they're using precise measurements and they're doing specific cuts and they're they're working on a specific blueprint.

The Holy Spirit's got the blueprint.

God already has, he knows exactly what will reach your loved one.

He does, he does, and so what we need to get in with him, and we need to let our praying be an extension of his leading.

And so one of the things that we talked about in last week was James chapter 5, and I just want to read uh verse uh 16 for us from James chapter 5, the Amplified Bible, and this part this specific part of this verse, the earnest, heartfelt, continued prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available.

James 5 · chapter mention James 5 · chapter mention

Your prayers are making power available for the plan of God in the life of your loved one.

Your praying is bringing the power of God on the scene.

Um, when we continue in James chapter 5, we find out that the Holy Spirit gives us an example of the prayer of faith in Elijah and how Elijah prayed and changed things, how he became a living instrument for the plan of God.

James 5 · chapter mention

We know from 1 Kings 18 that God came to him and told him that in in earlier chapter, he told him it's not gonna rain.

And then in chapter 18, he said, Now I'm gonna send the rain, go tell Ahab.

And so even though God already made known his will to Elijah, Elijah prayed.

God gives us his will so we know how to pray.

He makes his will known in his word so we know how to pray.

We know what to say.

You know, Hebrews uh in verse chapter 13 it says, The Lord has said, I will never leave you, I'll never forsake you, so that you may boldly say, I will not fear what man can do unto me.

The Lord is my helper.

The Lord has said, so that you may boldly say, God has said in his word, his will, so that you know how to speak, how to pray, how to expect God to move in that situation.

When we're praying for our loved ones and we're using our faith as a power supply for the plan of God in their life, we're we're our focus is to connect them with the power of God.

Our focus is to connect the power of God to their situation.

And so that's what intercession, if you were to look up the word intercession in the Bible, it means to go between.

Jesus is the intercessor.

Jesus has gone between us and God and given us, He is the new and the living way, He has made a path for us to God.

He said, I am the door.

No man comes unto the Father except by me.

He has also gone between us and Satan and broken the power of Satan off of our lives.

He is the intercessor.

What he has done in his redemption, in his sacrificial work, he has connected us to God and disconnected us from Satan.

He became a curse for us because cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree, so that the blessing could come on us.

He took stripes.

By his stripes, we are healed.

The stripes that he took were the necessary punishment to obtain our nothing missing, nothing broken.

He became sin who knew no sin, so that we would be made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.

So everything Jesus has done, he did as our intercessor.

The intercessory work is complete.

The prayer of intercession applies the work and that completed work.

When I am interceding for my loved one, I am going between them and God to connect them to God by applying the blood.

I plead the blood of Jesus over my loved one.

I plead the blood to cover them.

I am applying the work that Jesus has done.

I am uh I am connecting them to that available redemption that's in him.

I thank you, Lord, that that they see the price that Jesus paid to set them free.

And another part of that going between is, Father, in the name of Jesus, I bind that mind-blinding work the enemy has done, and I break it off of my loved ones' thinking.

And I pray, Father, for you to send laborers across their path who will speak the word to them.

And what you're doing is you are going between.

You are bringing a power greater than the power that's holding them into bondage, and you are bringing the power of God to help break that bondage, to help set them free, to help them see the life that's available in Christ.

So even though Elijah knew the will of God, God told him his will, Elijah began to pray in line with that will.

Elijah began, he brought his authority on the earth to that will of God and began to employ that will of God.

He began to put that will to work.

God wants it to reign, so I'm bringing my voice, I'm bringing my faith, I'm bringing the the um the position that I have here in this situation, and I am releasing what I know to be the will of God in this situation.

And so it gives us this example that Elijah, he prayed in line.

I want to read in from the Amplified Bible.

It says, Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have, feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours.

And he prayed earnestly for it to not rain, and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months.

And then he prayed again, and the heavens supplied rain, and the land produced its crops as usual.

So this scripture is not in here to make you say, golly, look at Elijah.

Oh Elijah, he can pray like that.

Elijah, he was a man of God, and he was a prophet of God, and Elijah could, but not me.

No, it's in here because he wants you to see that Elijah was just like you.

He was a man under God's authority.

He was a man who was coordinating his ability with God's ability and God's will in the situation.

And he says, the prayer of the righteous makes power available.

Well, when Elijah made power available, it was God's power to produce what God wanted.

That's the power we're making available.

God's working through you.

Just like a skill saw, it doesn't have very much ability until it's plugged in, until it's got a power supply.

But once that skill saw is turned on, once that drill is turned on, it's got a power supply that causes the effectiveness to be more than just what you can do with a plane screwdriver, more than just what you can do with a nail, a regular hammer.

A nail gun can do more than a hammer can do.

The the skill of the person working the instrument has a part, but the instrument has a supply, a power supply that makes it of a greater ability, a greater effectiveness.

And yes, you love that person, you love that son, that daughter, that husband, that wife, you love them, and and you're doing everything in your own ability to reach them and tell them and help them, but God's ability is what we need to be accessing and bringing on the scene.

When you pick up the phone and call 911, you bring help to the scene, you bring skill to the scene, you bring someone with a greater ability on the scene.

You tell them, come here to this location.

This is what's happening.

And they now have an invitation into that that that situation.

They have an invitation to come and rescue.

And your prayers provide an invitation for the rescue of God.

Now, I want to look a little bit closer at this idea of our prayers being like an instrument.

And I want to look specifically at some New Testament examples.

Romans chapter 15 is the first one, and in Romans chapter 15, uh, verses 30 through 33, the Apostle Paul is telling the people at the church in Rome about this, that the praying that he is asking of them.

Romans 15 · chapter mention Romans 15 · chapter mention

He's asking of them to join him in prayer.

And he says, now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake and for the love of the Spirit.

I'm beseeching you, I'm petitioning you.

And beseech means to ask with an earnestness.

I really am serious about asking.

He said, This is the request that the apostle Paul made, that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.

He said that you strive together with me in your prayers to God for me.

The Weast, Kenneth East translation says that you would contend vigorously with me in your prayers.

Contend vigorously.

So he says the prayer, it was to God for him.

But they're not contending against God.

They're contending with God.

God is the wrestling partner, not the opponent.

The opponent is the enemy.

The opponent is the blindness.

The opponent is the hard-heartedness.

The opponent is the unbelief.

What we're fighting, what we're contending against is what's holding our loved one in bondage.

We're working with God.

So God is our wrestling partner, but we're contending vigorously.

So he talked about prayer as a way of wrestling that situation.

And then it goes on to say, he said that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints, that I may come to you by the will of God and may with you be refreshed.

And so he says, I'm asking you seriously that you would join your ability, your strength, and contend with me.

Another translation says, Unite with me in earnest wrestling in prayer.

Unite with me in earnest wrestling in prayer.

So again, this isn't just a one-time prayer.

We're using faith, and it is the prayer of faith, but it's not something that we are limiting ourselves to just the prayer of faith.

We're going to use faith at every prayer, but we're going to pray that interceding prayer where we're going between.

I also have 2 Corinthians 2, 11 that I want to share with you.

2 Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 11.

2 Corinthians 2 · chapter mention

It says, you also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf.

He says their prayers were helping.

Helping together by prayer for us.

Now, I have to admit, when I first got saved, I thought the Apostle Paul, he doesn't need anybody.

He doesn't need any help.

He's got it going on.

The Apostle Paul, what a trooper for the Lord.

What a he was like a John Wayne of the men of God.

You know, he was, but I began to read the Bible, and I see that he depended upon the people that he was connected with to pray with him for him to be able to accomplish what he accomplished.

He said, helping together by prayer.

Another translation says, cooperate by your prayers for us, helping and laboring together.

And the word helping in the original language here means to aid along in the Greek.

It's in the Greek language, to aid along.

So your prayers are aiding.

They're helping.

Your prayers are used by God as a force to wrestle that situation away from the hands of the enemy and into the power of God, into the flow that God wants it to be, and into the direction that God wants it to be.

Glory to God.

Glory to God.

What was bringing the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ?

Their prayers.

He said, I know that this situation will turn through your prayers.

And God wants to use your prayer and my prayer to help turn situations in our loved ones' life.

When the Apostle Paul, another place that he was asking people for prayer was Ephesians chapter 6.

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

But before he asked them for prayer, he taught them about the armor of God.

And this armor, he described each little aspect of the armor and how that it will give you complete victory.

That with your with the armor of God, you can withstand all the strategies of the enemy.

You can stand against any trick, any deceit, anything that he brings against you.

And it goes through the armor of God, which we know each piece of this armor of God stems from the word of God in our life.

And then he says, praying always.

After you've got this armor on, you're taking the shield, you're taking, you've got put the helmet on, you've got your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.

You've got the shield of faith above all.

And then you've got the sword of the spirit.

And now what?

Now what do I do?

Now that I'm dressed, now that I'm equipped, now that I am standing, what do I do?

Praying.

He says, praying with all prayer and supplication in the spirit and watching, praying and watching, praying and watching.

So again, it's not a one-time event where I'm just going to pray a quick prayer and now I'm done.

But I'm watching, I'm on guard.

I'm I'm looking over my loved one's life and I'm saying, Lord, what do I need to pray next?

What can I pray that'll put something on the shelf that they're going to need in the morning?

What can I pray that's going to put somebody across their path that's going to reach them next week?

What can I pray?

So I'm watching over it.

So he said, praying and watching with all prayer and supplication, watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication.

So praying with all prayer and supplication.

Um, the Kenneth E.

Weiss translation says, through the instrumentality of every prayer.

You know, in my cabinet at home, in my drawer, in my kitchen, for example, I have a spatula.

And I use that spatula a lot when I'm cooking.

Sometimes I'll stir stuff with my spatula.

Of course, you gotta have a spatula to flip a good Friday.

You gotta have certain you gotta have that spatula for certain things, but that spatula cannot do everything.

There are some things.

That it's better for me to use a knife.

Some things that it's better for me to use a whisk.

Some things it's better, you know.

I could scramble my eggs with my spatula, or I could use a whisk and get a little bit more precise.

There are things that we need other instruments than just the prayer of faith to be able to bring the precise, direct touch of God in that situation.

This instrumentality of your prayers, it lets us know that my praying is like a toolbox.

I've got more than just one tool in my toolbox.

You don't need a toolbox for one thing.

You don't need if you say, Well, all I have is a hammer.

You got a whole big toolbox for just a hammer.

You don't have any screws in there, you don't have any screwdrivers, you don't have any bits or or drill bits or or or measuring tape or anything else in your toolbox.

He says the instrumentality of every of every prayer.

The amplified says with all manner of prayer.

So we see that Paul looked at prayer as an instrument.

It's a tool.

It's a tool that we and it's a power tool.

It's a power tool because it's it's powered with the power of God.

The prayers.

If it's a prayer that's based on the scripture, if it's a prayer that's based on the will of God, if it's a prayer where you are bringing the will of God and putting it, applying it to that situation.

If it's just a prayer of emotions, I can't promise you that it's it's it's plugged in.

To plug it in, you're gonna have to plug into the word.

To plug the prayer tool in, you've got to plug into the word.

You gotta get the word.

And that's why we designed intervention prayers as a four-week devotional to give you the tools that you need, the the teaching that you can know.

I'm not just in here begging God, I'm not just telling God my problem.

God knows the problem, he knows the details more than you know.

He knows deep down what is blocking that person from receiving, and he'll help you pray it out if you'll get in there and be a living instrument in the hand of God.

I'm so glad that you tuned in.

Go back and watch last week.

Go to our website, lifeoffaith.net, connect to our live stream, connect to the podcasts that we have.

We are here to supply the word of God so that you can hear it and put it to work.

And I look forward to seeing you next week as we build your faith and frame your world by the word of God.

911, what's your emergency?

When your loved one is in danger of losing their life, who can you call for help?

Are they battling drug addiction or alcoholism?

Are they cutting themselves or being tormented with thoughts of suicide?

Whatever evil force is driving your loved one to destruction, you have someone to turn to for supernatural help.

Hi, my name is Michelle Steele.

God supernaturally set me free from a life of addiction and crime.

I am a result of the intervention prayers my family prayed.

I've written this book to help you connect with God's rescue and deliverance for your loved one.

Intervention prayers is more than just a book, it's a life-saving manual.

It holds keys to unlock the power of God and bring divine intervention.

With this book, you can leave behind the desperate begging prayers that leave you feeling helpless and enter the throne room of God with the confidence to get the help you need.

Intervention Prayers is formatted with 28 days of teachings from God's word that will establish your faith and God's will to intervene in your loved one's life.

The daily chapters include guided prayers and faith-filled confessions to help you activate the truth you have received.

I want you to know that God is willing and ready to intervene and rescue your loved one.

Are you concerned about family members who are struggling with addictions or destructive lifestyles?

My name is Michelle Steele, and I invite you to join me and Pastor Philip Steele for a powerful weekly podcast dedicated to helping you stand strong in faith and pray for the salvation of your loved ones.

With inspired teachings, heartfelt prayers, and encouragement to help you keep believing for positive change.

We have new episodes every week.

They're available on major podcast outlets.

So tune in on your favorite podcast platform or watch on YouTube.

You can catch the video versions of Faith for Your Family on the YouTube channels for Faith Builders International or Faith Builders Little Rock.

Don't miss out on this opportunity to make a difference in your family's lives.

Subscribe now and join us in prayer and faith for the transformation of your loved ones.

You are invited to Life of Faith Church in Little Rock, where we are building people's faith, producing life, city, state, nation, and world.

Our address is 116-20 Rainwood Road, just one block off Rodney Parham, near Green Mountain Drive.

Our Sunday service begins at 10 a.m.

and offers classes for children and youth, in addition to the adult service in the main sanctuary.

On Wednesdays, we have an hour of power as we dive into Bible study.

We have a place reserved for you and your family at Life of Faith Church.

For more information, visit lifeoffaith.net.