by Dutch Sheets
Throughout the remainder of the book, we will look at several of these meanings, and then put them into the context of prayer. As we do, our understanding will increase of what Christ did for us through His intercession and what our re-presenting of it on the earth through prayer really entails. As the opening stories imply, the first usage of gaga we will explore is "to meet."
Intercession creates a meeting. Intercessors meet with God; they also meet the powers of darkness. "Prayer meetings" are aptly named!
A Meeting for Reconciliation
Similar to Christ's, often our meeting with God is to effect another meeting-a reconciliation. We meet with Him asking Him to meet with someone else. We become the go-between: "Heavenly Father, I come to you today (a meeting) asking You to touch Tom (another meeting)." On the opposite end of the spectrum, as Christ did through spiritual warfare, our meeting with the enemy is to undo a meeting-a breaking, a severing, a disuniting. All of our praying intercession will involve one or both of these facets: reconciliation or breaking; uniting or disuniting.
First, we will look at a couple of Scriptures that describe what Christ did when He met the Father to create a meeting between God and humanity. Then we will look at the warfare aspect. Psalm 85:10 states, "Lovingkindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." Let's examine more fully this beautiful description of the Cross.
God had a dilemma seen through four words in this verse. He not only is a God of lovingkindness (which represents His mercy, kindness, love and forgiveness), but He is also a God of truth (which represents His integrity and justice). He does not merely represent peace (safety, wholeness and rest), but also righteousness (holiness and purity), without which there can be no peace.
The dilemma is this: A truly holy, righteous, just and true God cannot simply forgive, grant mercy to or bestow peace on a fallen humanity without compromising His character. Sin cannot be excused. It must be judged and with it the sinner. So, how can this holy, yet loving, God marry the two? THE CROSS!
On the Cross lovingkindness and truth met. Righteousness and peace kissed each other. And when they did, so did God and humanity! We kissed the Father through the Son! We met Him through the blood of Christ! Jesus grabbed our end of the table and was introduced to His bride.
In one sovereign, unsearchable act of wisdom, God satisfied both His love and His Justice. He established righteousness as well as peace. Who is like unto You, 0 Lord? Who can describe Your great mercy, Your awesome power, Your infinite wisdom?
When this took place, Christ's ministry of reconciliation was being accomplished: "Who reconciled us to Himself through Christ ... namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself" (2 Cor. 5:18-19).
Because we now represent Christ in His intercession, let's apply these verses to ourselves. Verse 18 says He "gave us the ministry of reconciliation." In other words, through our praying intercession, we release the fruit of what He did through His act of intercession. We bring individuals to God in prayer, asking the Father to meet with them. We, too, have been given the ministry of reconciliation. Whether for a person or a nation, regardless of the reason, when we're used to create a meeting between God and humans, releasing the fruit of Christ's work, gaga has happened.
It might be as you are prayer-walking through your neighborhood, asking God to meet with families and save them.
It could be a prayer journey into another nation. Our church has sent teams of intercessors into some of the darkest countries upon the earth for the sole purpose of prayer-creating meetings between God and humanity-divine connections through human conduits.
Meetings that Heal
I have witnessed miracles of healing as God met with people. In 1980 I was on another of my many journeys into Guatemala. On one occasion my wife, another couple and I were ministering to an elderly lady who had recently been saved. We had gone to her home to share some teaching with her.
Approximately six months earlier this lady had fallen from a stool and severely broken her ankle. As is often the case with the elderly, the fracture was not healing well. Her ankle was still badly swollen and she was in much pain. While we visited with her, the other gentleman and I both sensed that God wanted to heal her ankle-right then.
After sharing this with her and obtaining her agreement, we asked her to prop her leg on a stool. I began to pray, sort of.
Has God ever interrupted you? He did me on this occasion. (Oh, that He would always be so "unmannerly"!) When I stepped between her and God to effect a meeting, the presence of God came so powerfully into the room that I stopped in mid-stride and mid-sentence. I had taken one step toward her and uttered one word, "Father."
That's all He needed!
It's as though He was so eager to touch this dear lady that He couldn't wait any longer. I realize that what I'm about to say may sound overly dramatic, but it's exactly what took place.
The presence of the Holy Spirit filled the room so strongly that I froze in my tracks, stopped speaking and began to weep. My wife and the other couple also began to weep. The lady we were ministering to began to weep. Her foot began to bounce up and down on the stool, shaking uncontrollably for several minutes as she had a powerful encounter with the Holy Spirita meeting! The Lord healed her and filled her with His Spirit.
On the same visit to Guatemala, my wife and I, along with the couple previously mentioned, were asked to pray for a woman hospitalized with tuberculosis. We found her in a ward with approximately 40 other women, the beds being only about three feet apart. It was simply an area in the hospital where the doctors and nurses could attend the very poor. Not even partitions separated the women. And yes, this woman was coughing her tuberculosis all over those around her.
As we talked and prayed with her, we noticed the lady in the next bed observing us closely. When we finished she asked if we would be willing to pray for her. Of course we were glad to and inquired about her need. She pulled her arms out from under the covers and showed us her two hands, curled back toward her body, somewhat frozen in that position. They were totally unusable. Her feet were also the same way.
While in the hospital for back surgery, the doctor had accidentally cut a nerve in her spinal cord, leaving her in this condition. There was nothing they could do to correct the problem.
Compassion filled our hearts as we asked the Lord to meet her need. Nothing noticeable happened, but we encouraged her to trust the Lord and drifted across the room to see if we could share Jesus with anyone else. No hospital employees were present, so we had relative freedom to do as we pleased.
Just as we began to visit with another lady across the room, we heard a sudden commotion and someone screaming, "Milagro! Milagro! Milagro!" We turned to look and saw the lady moving her hands wildly, opening and closing them, wiggling her fingers, kicking her feet under the covers and shouting the Spanish word for miracle. A meeting had taken place!
I don't know who was more surprised-the lady who was healed, the other ladies in the room or me. I hoped for a miracle but I don't think I believed for one. I remember thinking, This sort of thing only happened during Bible days.
The next thing we knew, every woman in the room was begging us to minister to them. We went from bed to bed-just like we knew what we were doing-leading women to Christ and praying for their recoveries. I remember thinking, This is wild. Is it real or am I dreaming? We're having revival in a hospital ward! Several were saved, the lady with tuberculosis was also healed and another lady who had been scheduled for exploratory surgery the following morning was instead sent home healed. In general, we just had a good time! We even sang a song or two. Probably shouldn't have because a hospital employee heard us, came to the room and asked us to leave. She left but we didn't. Too many women were begging for prayer. A few minutes later she returned and "graciously" escorted us out of the hospital.
What on earth can turn a sad, hopeless, disease-filled ward into a church service? God! God meeting with people. And
prayer meetings create God meetings!
I don't want to mislead you into thinking that miracles will always happen as easily as they did on these two occasions. However, we can bring individuals into contact with God and that is the very meaning of the word "intercession." It often requires much intercession; but whether it takes days or minutes, it's always worth the effort. The important thing is that we do it.
She-Bear Meetings
Let's progress in our thinking to the breaking aspect of intercession meetings-enforcing the victory of Calvary. I call this "the bear anointing" because of Proverbs 17:12: "Let a man meet a bear robbed of her cubs, rather than a fool in his folly."
I've never met a she-bear in the wild with or without her cubs, and I hope I never do. But a wise old woodsman, instructing me in the art of surviving bear encounters, gave me the following piece of wisdom: "Son, try to avoid them, if possible! But if you can't and it's a female you run into, don't ever get between mama and her cubs. Because if you do there's fixin' to be a meeting, and you're gonna be on the receiving end!"
Now, before I'm lynched for contextual murder of the Scriptures, let me say I am not insinuating that this verse is talking about prayer. I am saying, however, that the word for "meet" is our Hebrew word translated "intercession," gaga. Other Hebrew words could have been used, but this one was chosen partly because it often has a very violent connotation. In fact, paga is frequently a battlefield term (for examples, see Judg. 8:2 1; 15:12; 1 Sam. 22:17-18; 2 Sam. 1:15; 1 Kings 2:25-46).
Intercession can be violent!
Meetings can be unpleasant! Some can be downright ugly!
Such as the one Satan had with Jesus at Calvary when Christ interceded for us. Satan had come between God and His "cubs." He ought not to have done that! Satan's worst nightmare came true when, with 4,000 years of pent-up fury, Jesus met him at Calvary. The earth rocked, and I do mean literally, with the force of the battle (see Matt. 27:51). The very sun grew dark as the war raged (see v. 45). At the moment of what Satan thought was his greatest triumph, he and all his forces heard the most terrifying sound they had ever heard: God's laugh of derision (see Ps. 2:4)!
The laughter was followed by the voice of the Son of man crying with a loud voice, "Tetelestai." This Greek word is translated "It is finished" in John 19:30. Please don't think Jesus was talking about death when He spoke that word. No way! Tetelestai means to fully accomplish something or bring it to its completed state,2 as the word "finished" would imply, but it was also the word stamped on invoices in that day meaning "Paid in full."3 Jesus was shouting, "The debt is paid in full!" Hallelujah!
Christ was quoting from Psalm 22:31 when He chose this statement. Three of His seven sayings on the cross come from this psalm. The Hebrew word He quoted from this verse is asah. He may have actually been speaking Hebrew, using this very word, even though john recorded it in Greek. The word means, among other things, "to create."4 It is used in Genesis, for example, when God created the earth. I believe that not only was Christ saying, "The debt is paid in full," but also, "Come forth, new creation!" No wonder the earth shook, the sun reappeared, the centurion was terrified (see Matt. 27:54) and Old Testament saints were resurrected (see Matt. 27:52-53). Don't tell me God doesn't have a flare for the dramatic. The Cross defines drama.
And yes, behind the scenes it was violent. Captives were rescued (see 1 Pet. 3:19; 4:6; Isa. 61:1), bruises were inflicted (see Gen. 3:15; Isa. 53:5; 1 Pet. 2:24), keys were exchanged, authority was transferred (see Matt. 28:18).
An interesting word is used in 1 John 3:8 that adds insight to what happened at the Cross. The verse reads, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil" (KJV). "Destroy" is the Greek word luo, which has both a legal and a physical meaning. Understanding its full definition will greatly enhance our knowledge of what Jesus did to Satan and his works.
The legal meaning of luo is (1) to pronounce or determine that something or someone is no longer bound; (2) to dissolve or void a contract or anything that legally binds 5 Jesus came to dissolve the legal hold Satan had over us and to pronounce that we were no longer bound by his works. He "voided the contract," breaking Satan's dominion over us.
The physical meaning of luo is to dissolve or melt, break, beat something to pieces or untie something that is bound.6 In Acts 27:41, the boat Paul traveled on was broken to pieces (luo) by the force of a storm. In 2 Peter 3:10,12, we're told that one day the elements of the earth will melt or dissolve (luo) from a great heat. Jesus not only delivered us legally, but He also made certain that the literal consequences of that deliverance were manifested: He brought healing, set captives free, lifted oppression and liberated those under demonic control.
Enforcing the Victory
Our responsibility is to enforce the victory as we also meet the powers of darkness. It is interesting to know that Jesus used the same word, luo, to describe what we, the Church, are to do through spiritual warfare. Matthew 16:19 tells us, "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." The word "loose" in this verse is luo.
Now, the question is, "Did Christ luo the works of the devil or do we luo the works of the devil?" The answer is yes. Although Jesus fully accomplished the task of breaking the authority of Satan and voiding his legal hold upon the human race, someone on Earth must represent Him in that victory and enforce it.
With this in mind and remembering that the Hebrew word for "intercession," paga, means to meet, let's state it this way:
We, through prayers of intercession, meet the powers of darkness, enforcing the victory Christ accomplished when He met them in His work of intercession.
This is exactly what took place in Guatemala when we prayed for the little girl tied to a tree, mentioned in the previous chapter. We met the powers of darkness and enforced the victory of the Cross.
Several years ago in Guatemala, a friend of mine pointed out a vibrant, healthy young woman and told me the following story. When he first saw her just a few months prior to this time, she was paralyzed from the neck down. She could move her head slightly, but could not speak. "The young lady has been this way for two years," my friend was informed by her pastor. "And the puzzling thing is that the doctors can find nothing physically wrong with her to create such a problem."
My friend, who was visiting the church as a guest speaker, discerned that the cause was demonic. Not knowing the church's position about such matters, he discreetly approached this wheelchair-bound young lady, knelt next to her and whispered in her ear. As he did, he was going between (intercession) her and the powers of darkness, meeting them with the power of Christ. He prayed, "Satan, I break (luo) your hold over this young lady in the name of Jesus. I command you to loose (luo) your hold over her and let her go." (Parenthetical words are mine.)
No manifestation or immediate change occurred. A week later, however, she was able to move her arms a little. The following week she was moving her arms normally and her legs slightly. The recovery continued for a month until she was totally free and well.
She then told my friend the following details about the cause of her condition and why the doctors could find no reasonable explanation. "A teacher in my school who was also a witch doctor made a sexual advance toward me, which I refused. He grew angry and told me that if I didn't have sex with him, he would place a curse on me."
She knew nothing about such things and didn't think much about it. A short time later, however, this condition of paralysis came upon her. Her inability to speak prevented her from communicating with anyone about what had taken place.
What happened to bring about this girl's freedom? An individual stepped between this young lady and the powers of darkness, meeting them in the name of Jesus, enforcing His victory. That . . . is intercession!
A meeting can be a good and pleasant experience or it can be a violent confrontation between opposi
ng forces. The intercessor is either going to meet with God for the purpose of reconciling the world to the Father and His wonderful blessings, or he is going to meet Satanic forces of opposition to enforce the victory of Calvary. The purpose will vary, but one thing is certain:
The prayers of an understanding intercessor WILL create a meeting. And when the meeting comes to a close, something will have changed.
Don't be intimidated by the size of the giant. Jesus has qualified you to represent Him. And don't be intimidated by past failures. Be like the small boy playing in the backyard with his bat and ball:
"I'm the greatest baseball player in the world," he said proudly. Then he tossed the ball in the air, swung and missed. Undaunted, he picked up the ball, threw it into the air and said to himself, "I'm the greatest player ever!" He swung at the ball again, and again he missed. He paused a moment to examine bat and ball carefully. Then once again he threw the ball into the air and said, "I'm the greatest baseball player who ever lived." He swung the bat hard and again missed the ball.
"Wow!" he exclaimed. "What a pitcher!"'
Deny unbelief access. You can do it!
Let's have a prayer meeting!
Questions for Reflection
1. In what way does a meeting picture intercession? How does paga establish the correlation between the two?
2. Explain the two opposite kinds of meetings discussed in this chapter. How does each one represent Calvary?
3. Define luo and comment on Christ doing it and the Church doing it.
4. Think of someone you know who needs a meeting with God. How and when can you help facilitate this?
5. Don't you think God will be thrilled when you do number 4?
