Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Bible Lesson: Intercessory Prayer: Solomon Asked For God's Blessing On The Temple And On His People.
Bible Lesson: Intercessory Prayer:
Solomon Asked For God's Blessing On The Temple And On His People.
Bible Text:
I Kings 8:1-66 NLT / 9:1-3 NLT
The Ark Brought to the Temple.
Solomon then summoned to Jerusalem
the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes—the leaders of
the ancestral families of the Israelites. They were to bring the Ark
Of The Lord’s Covenant to the Temple from its location in the City
of David, also known as Zion.
2 So all the men of Israel assembled
before King Solomon at the annual Festival of Shelters, which is held
in early autumn in the month of Ethanim.
3 When all the elders of Israel
arrived, the priests picked up the Ark.
4 The priests and Levites brought up
the Ark Of The Lord along with the special tent and all the sacred
items that had been in it.
5 There, before the Ark, King
Solomon and the entire community of Israel sacrificed so many sheep,
goats, and cattle that no one could keep count!
6 Then the priests carried the Ark
Of The Lord’s Covenant into the inner sanctuary of the Temple—
The Most Holy Place—and placed it
beneath the wings of the cherubim.
7 The cherubim spread their wings
over the Ark, forming a canopy over the Ark and its carrying poles.
8 These poles were so long that
their ends could be seen from The Holy Place, which is in front of
The Most Holy Place, but not from
the outside. They are still there to this day.
9 Nothing was in the Ark except the
two stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Mount Sinai, where
The Lord made a covenant with the people of Israel when they left the
land of Egypt.
10 When the priests came out of The
Holy Place, a thick cloud filled The Temple Of The Lord.
11 The priests could not continue
their service because of the cloud, for the glorious presence of
The Lord filled The Temple Of The
Lord.
Solomon Praises
The Lord
12 Then Solomon prayed, “O Lord,
you have said that you would live in a thick cloud of darkness.
13 Now I have built a glorious
Temple for you, a place where you can live forever!”
14 Then the king turned around to
the entire community of Israel standing before him and gave this
blessing:
15 “Praise The Lord, The God Of
Israel, who has kept the promise He made to my father, David. For He
told my father,
16 ‘From the day I brought My
people Israel out of Egypt, I have never chosen a city among any of
the tribes of Israel as the place where a Temple should be built to
honor My name. But I have chosen David to be king over My people
Israel.’”
17 Then Solomon said, “My father,
David, wanted to build this Temple to honor the name of The Lord, The
God Of Israel.
18 But The Lord told him, ‘You
wanted to build the Temple to honor My name. Your intention is good,
19 but you are not the one to do it. One of your own sons will build
the Temple to honor Me.’
20 “And now The Lord has fulfilled
the promise He made, for I have become king in my father’s place,
and now I sit on the throne of Israel, just as The Lord promised. I
have built this Temple to honor the name of The Lord, The God Of
Israel.
21 And I have prepared a place there
for the Ark, which contains the covenant that The Lord made with our
ancestors when He brought them out of Egypt.”
Solomon’s
Prayer of Dedication
22 Then Solomon stood before the
altar of The Lord in front of the entire community of Israel. He
lifted his hands toward heaven,
23 and he prayed, “O Lord, God Of
Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven above or on the
earth below. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all
who walk before you in wholehearted devotion.
24 You have kept your promise to
your servant David, my father. You made that promise with your own
mouth, and with your own hands you have fulfilled it today.
25 “And now, O Lord, God of
Israel, carry out the additional promise you made to your servant
David, my father. For you said to him, ‘If your descendants guard
their behavior and faithfully follow Me as you have done, one of them
will always sit on the throne of Israel.’
26 Now, O God Of Israel, fulfill
this promise to your servant David, my father.
27 “But will God really live on
earth? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much
less this Temple I have built!
28 Nevertheless, listen to my prayer
and my plea, O Lord my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your
servant is making to you today.
29 May you watch over this Temple
night and day, this place where you have said, ‘My name will be
there.’ May you always hear the prayers I make toward this place.
30 May you hear the humble and
earnest requests from me and your people Israel when we pray toward
this place. Yes, hear us from heaven where you live, and when you
hear, forgive.
31 “If someone wrongs another
person and is required to take an oath of innocence in front of your
altar in this Temple,
32 then hear from heaven and judge
between your servants—the accuser and the accused. Punish the
guilty as they deserve. Acquit the innocent because of their
innocence.
33 “If your people Israel are
defeated by their enemies because they have sinned against you, and
if they turn to you and acknowledge your name and pray to you here in
this Temple,
34 then hear from heaven and forgive
the sin of your people Israel and return them to this land you gave
their ancestors.
35 “If the skies are shut up and
there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, and if
they pray toward this Temple and acknowledge your name and turn from
their sins because you have punished them,
36 then hear from heaven and forgive
the sins of your servants, your people Israel. Teach them to follow
the right path, and send rain on your land that you have given to
your people as their special possession.
37 “If there is a famine in the
land or a plague or crop disease or attacks of locusts or
caterpillars, or if your people’s enemies are in the land besieging
their towns—whatever disaster or disease there is— 38 and if your
people Israel pray about their troubles, raising their hands toward
this Temple,
39 then hear from heaven where you
live, and forgive. Give your people what their actions deserve, for
you alone know each human heart.
40 Then they will fear you as long
as they live in the land you gave to our ancestors.
41 “In the future, foreigners who
do not belong to your people Israel will hear of you. They will come
from distant lands because of your name,
42 for they will hear of your great
name and your strong hand and your powerful arm. And when they pray
toward this Temple,
43 then hear from heaven where you
live, and grant what they ask of you. In this way, all the people of
the earth will come to know and fear you, just as your own people
Israel do. They, too, will know that this Temple I have built honors
your name.
44 “If your people go out where
you send them to fight their enemies, and if they pray to The Lord by
turning toward this city you have chosen and toward this Temple I
have built to honor your name,
45 then hear their prayers from
heaven and uphold their cause.
46 “If they sin against you—and
who has never sinned?—you might become angry with them and let
their enemies conquer them and take them captive to their land far
away or near.
47 But in that land of exile, they
might turn to you in repentance and pray, ‘We have sinned, done
evil, and acted wickedly.’
48 If they turn to you with their
whole heart and soul in the land of their enemies and pray toward the
land you gave to their ancestors—toward this city you have chosen,
and toward this Temple I have built to honor your name—
49 then hear their prayers and their
petition from heaven where you live, and uphold their cause.
50 Forgive your people who have
sinned against you. Forgive all the offenses they have committed
against you. Make their captors merciful to them,
51 for they are your people—your
special possession—whom you brought out of the iron-smelting
furnace of Egypt.
52 “May your eyes be open to my
requests and to the requests of your people Israel. May you hear and
answer them whenever they cry out to you.
53 For when you brought our
ancestors out of Egypt, O Sovereign Lord, you told your servant Moses
that you had set Israel apart from all the nations of the earth to be
your own special possession.”
The Dedication of the Temple
54 When Solomon finished making
these prayers and petitions to The Lord, he stood up in front of the
altar of The Lord, where he had been kneeling with his hands raised
toward heaven.
55 He stood and in a loud voice
blessed the entire congregation of Israel:
56 “Praise The Lord who has given
rest to His people Israel, just as He promised. Not one word has
failed of all the wonderful promises He gave through His servant
Moses.
57 May The Lord Our God be with us
as He was with our ancestors; may He never leave us or abandon us.
58 May He give us the desire to do
His will in everything and to obey all the commands, decrees, and
regulations that He gave our ancestors.
59 And may these words that I have
prayed in the presence of The Lord be before Him constantly, day and
night, so that The Lord our God may give justice to me and to His
people Israel, according to each day’s needs.
60 Then people all over the earth
will know that The Lord alone is God and there is no other.
61 And may you be completely
faithful to The Lord Our God. May you always obey His decrees and
commands, just as you are doing today.”
62 Then the king and all Israel with
him offered sacrifices to The Lord.
63 Solomon offered to The Lord a
peace offering of 22,000 cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats. And so
the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the Temple of The
Lord.
64 That same day the king
consecrated the central area of the courtyard in front of The Lord’s
Temple. He offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat of
peace offerings there, because the bronze altar in The Lord’s
presence was too small to hold all the burnt offerings, grain
offerings, and the fat of the peace offerings.
65 Then Solomon and all Israel
celebrated the Festival of Shelters in the presence of The Lord our
God. A large congregation had gathered from as far away as
Lebo-hamath in the north and the Brook of Egypt in the south. The
celebration went on for fourteen days in all—seven days for the
dedication of the altar and seven days for the Festival of Shelters.
66 After the festival was over,
Solomon sent the people home. They blessed the king and went to their
homes joyful and glad because The Lord had been good to His servant
David and to His people Israel.
I Kings 9:1-3
NLT
The Lord's Reply.
1 So Solomon finished building The
Temple Of The Lord, as well as the royal palace. He completed
everything he had planned to do.
Solomon had
interceded for his people, and The Lord heard him.
2 Then The Lord appeared to Solomon
a second time, as He had done before at Gibeon (I
Kings 3:5).
3 The Lord said to him,“I have
heard your prayer and your petition. I have set this Temple apart
to be holy—this place you have built where My name will be honored
forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to My heart.
Intercessory
Prayer:
Job
16:21 NLT (Job's prayer)
21
I need someone to mediate between God and me, as a person mediates
between friends.
22
For soon I must go down that road from which I will never return.
Joel
2:17 NLT
Let
the priests, who minister in The Lord’s presence, stand and weep
between the entry room to the Temple and the altar. Let them pray,
“Spare your people, Lord!.."
Luke
22:32 KJV (Jesus)
But
I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not..."
Acts 12:5-12 NLT (Read the whole
story 1-17.)
5 But while Peter was in prison, the
church prayed very earnestly for him.
6 The night before Peter was to be
placed on trial, he was asleep, fastened with two chains between two
soldiers. Others stood guard at the prison gate.
7 Suddenly, there was a bright light
in the cell, and an Angel Of The Lord stood before Peter.
The Angel struck him on the side to
awaken him and said, “Quick! Get up!” And the chains fell off his
wrists.
8 Then The Angel told him, “Get
dressed and put on your sandals.” And he did. “Now put on your
coat and follow me,” The Angel ordered.
9 So Peter left the cell, following
The Angel. But all the time he thought it was a vision. He didn’t
realize it was actually happening.
10 They passed the first and second
guard posts and came to the iron gate leading to the city, and this
opened for them all by itself. So they passed through and started
walking down the street, and then
The Angel suddenly left him.
11 Peter finally came to his senses.
“It’s really true!” he said. “The Lord has sent His Angel and
saved me from Herod and from what the Jewish leaders had planned to
do to me!”
12 When he realized this, he went to
the home of Mary, the mother of John Mark, where many were gathered
for prayer.
Ephesians 1:16 NLT (The Apostle Paul to the Ephesian
believers.)
I have not
stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly
Ephesians 6:18
NLT
Pray in The
Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be
persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
I Timothy 2:1
KJV
I exhort
therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions,
and giving of thanks, be made for all men;
James 5:16 NLT
Confess your
sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed.
The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces
wonderful results.
Solomon prayed for his people, and God heard his prayers!
And The Lord will hear our prayers, if and when we intercede for
others in humble faith.
If you do not have one, start a prayer list today, God will not only
hear your prayers, He will bless you as you intercede for others!
Pastor Reine's new eBook “Unlocking The Mysteries Of Prayer,”
will show you some things about prayer you will never forget.
(Amazon.Com)