This verse came alive for me when my friend Mike Anderson made the following
statement: "Sometimes the covenant of the Lord is released to you through others
coming to your aid." At the time Mike and his wife were missionaries in Jamaica.
The statement was made on the heels of a life and death struggle they had just
experienced with their son who had contracted a critical illness. The young
child, two or three years old, had regressed for several days to a point of near
death. That's when Mike called me and a few other individuals in the United
States.
I knew something fairly serious had to be occurring when the prayer meeting I
was leading was interrupted to inform me about an emergency phone call from
Jamaica.
"I'm sorry to interrupt your meeting, Dutch," my friend Mike began, "but I
desperately need your help."
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's my son, Toby," Mike replied. "He is deathly ill with a raging fever. The
doctors haven't been able to find the cause. They've done all they know to do,
but nothing seems to help. It is questionable whether or not he can survive
another night in his condition. I have been praying and praying for him, but
can't seem to break this attack. The Lord has now revealed to me that his
condition is being caused by a strong spirit of infirmity, which He actually
allowed me to see as I was praying. I have not been able to break its power over
my son, however, even though I've warred against it for hours. But I feel the
Lord has shown me that if some strong intercessors join me, we can break this
attack."
Mike and his wife, Pam, are strong in the Lord. They pray. They have faith. They
understand authority. They were not in sin. Why then, you might ask, could they
not get the breakthrough they needed on their own?
I don't know. But I suspect the Lord wanted to teach them (and those of us
praying with them) the principle I'm now sharing with you.
The people I was meeting with and a few others Mike had called went into prayer.
We asked God to meet (paga) with this child. We said essentially, "Father, allow
us to move into our priestly role as intercessors (paga) enforcing the victory
of Jesus in this situation, representing or administering the blessings of the
new covenant. Stake us to Toby and allow us, along with Christ, to be touched
with the feeling of this infirmity. Lay on (paga) us this burden that we might
bear (nasa, bastazo) it away. We ask this in Jesus' name-based on who He is and
what He has done, Father."
We then bound the power of Satan over this child's life-in Christ's name, of
course, because it was His victory we were "administering." Then we growled with
"the bear anointing". No, we didn't really, but lighten up and enjoy the
symbolism. Besides, I think maybe there was a growl in the Spirit! Perhaps a
roar would be more accurate because the Lion of the tribe of Judah roared
through us. He does "roar out of Zion," you know (see Joel 3:16; Amos 1:2). And
we are certain He did because Mike called back a few hours later and said,
"Almost immediately after I contacted several of you to pray with me, the fever
broke and my son began to improve. Within a few hours he was well and released
from the hospital."
Praise God! The Body of Christ had functioned as the Lord intended and Jesus was
glorified.
Mike continued, "I asked the Lord why I needed others to help me break this
attack against my son. He reminded me of the story of Joshua and the army of
Israel coming to the aid of the Gibeonites, who were helplessly outnumbered by
five armies." Mike then recounted the story from Joshua 9 and 10 for me, which
I'll briefly summarize for you.
The Gibeonites were one of the Canaanite tribes that Joshua and Israel were
supposed to destroy. They had deceived the Israelites, however, into believing
they had come from a far country in order to enter a covenant with them. Joshua
and the Israelites neglected to pray about this and were therefore deceived into
a binding, covenantal agreement. (Have you ever "forgotten" to pray about
something and gotten into trouble?) Even though it was born of deceit, the
covenant was still valid and made Israel an ally of Gibeon. Therefore, a few
days later when five armies marched against Gibeon, they called upon Joshua for
help-based on the strength of covenant. Even though the agreement was conceived
in deception, Joshua and his army traveled all night to arrive in time and
rescue the Gibeonites. The entire story is an incredible demonstration of the
power of covenant.
After calling my attention to this story, Mike then spoke these words to me:
"Dutch, after reminding me of this story, the Lord planted the following thought
in my heart as to why I needed help overcoming this spirit: `Sometimes the
covenant of the Lord is released to you through others coming to your aid!"'
Isn't that profound? The Aimighty administering the blessings of the covenant
through us. That's what intercession is all about. Paga: He "lays on" us someone
else's need. Anechomai: We "stake" ourselves to that person. Bastazo: We "carry
away" the weakness or burden.
Intercessory Prayer by Dutch Sheets, p.68-70. 1996, Gospel Light/Regal Books,
Ventura, CA 93003. Used by Permission
The Illustrator: This daily newsletter is dedicated to encouraging
everyone to look towards Jesus as the source of all the solutions to our
problems. It contains a daily inspirational story, a Bible verse and encouraging
messages. HTML and plain text versions available.
The Nugget: Published three times a week, this newsletter features inspirational devotionals and mini-sermons dedicated to drawing mankind closer to each other and to Christ.