Prayer of Intercession for Forgiveness

“So Moses returned to the Lord and said, ‘Alas this people have sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now if You will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of Your book that you have written.’ But the Lord said to Moses, ‘Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. But now go, lead the people to the place which I have spoken to you; behold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.’ Then the Lord sent a plague on the people because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.” (Exodus 32:31-35. ESV).

Moses returned from a wonderful meeting on Mt. Sinai with God in which he was given the Ten Commandments. When he got to the valley below, he found an abomination. The people were worshiping a golden calf made from the molten golden jewelry they had brought out of Egypt when they escaped slavery. What made the deed even more dastardly was that Aaron, the chosen priest who was charged to lead the people in worship of Jehovah God, had given in to the people’s demands and allowed the pagan idol and altar before which they danced and worshiped. Moses became very angry when he saw the golden calf and the orgies. He cast down the tablets of stone and they broke. Later the commandments would be given again to Moses. But now he had a job to do. He must rid the camp of the abomination of the idol and call the people back to God. Notice the prayer of intercession Moses prayed: “But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that You have written.” Moses loved his people—sinful and rebellious as they were—so much that he was willing to forego his own life and his standing with God as a penalty for the people’s sins. He was willing to have his name blotted out of the book of life so that his people could live. As generous as it was, God rejected Moses’ offer of his own death for the sins of the people. God needed Moses to lead the people. He gave him an angel to guide him and told him to get on with the work of leading the people. Moses’ prayer was not an attempt to bargain with God. It showed instead his love for and identity with the people for whom he was praying. He was willing to sacrifice himself to have his people restored to God. Paul himself likewise prayed in Romans 9:2: “For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, the people of Israel.” Jesus stood in the stead of all and was cut off for the sins of the people: “I lay down my life for the sheep.” (John 10:15). Intercessory prayer is a vital ministry. Praying for others should include pleas for their right relationship with God—salvation, first and foremost, restoration, following God’s way, peace, godliness, righteousness, forgiveness of sins and God’s grace to meet specific needs and crises. Keep a prayer journal with requests and answers. Be ever sensitive to what God is accomplishing through prayer and thank and praise Him!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Thursday, November 4,2010

Ezekiel’s Good Shepherd Prophecy

"For thus says the Lord God: 'Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of his sheep have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the fountains, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountain heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on fat pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down,' says the Lord God. 'I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will watch over; I will feed them in justice.'" (Ezekiel 34:11-16, RSV) [Read Ezekiel 34]

Ezekiel 34 is another Messianic prophecy in which the prophet foresees the day when the Lord Himself will be the Good Shepherd, restoring with compassion and every provision necessary His scattered sheep. His people who have been exiled to other lands will be returned to the green pastures of Israel and their good shepherd will be one who guides with mercy and tenderness. The prophet encourages a scattered people with his hope of restoration. God Himself will intervene, end strife and division, and bring the people back to their beloved land, even as a Good Shepherd cares for His sheep. We are reminded when reading this prophecy in Ezekiel 34 of Psalm 23, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want." We remember the words of the Lord: "I am the good Shepherd" (John 10:14)

Israel (and Judah, considering both kingdoms in the divided period) had endured some poor shepherds, those who had exploited teh people for their own good. Taht was one reason the whole nation was punished and scattered abroad. They had not taken warning of the prophets to repent and change their ways. Like sheep that wander from the fold and become lost, so they had to be punished. The Good Shepherd is not intrested in reestablishing the grandeur of David's and Solomon's powerful kingdoms. Rather, He will come to heal the sick, bind up the broken-hearted, take home those who are lost and wandering, and they will no longer be prey to devouring beasts (or false doctrines). And in that day, when restoration occurs, the Good Shepherd Himself will watch over them, and be their God. This prophecy of Ezekiel was given about 585 B.C., many years before Jesus came. We who are on this side of Jesus' life, ministry, death and resurrection and his declaration as the Good Shepherd have not seen a physically restored kingdom. But we know a spiritual kingdom of belivered, and we look forward to the Second Coming when all will be made right and glorious, as Ezekiel saw it and as our Lord Promised. "Even so come, Lord Jesus" (Revelations 22:20). Amen!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones;

Parable of the Good Shepherd

“Most assuredly I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the doorkeeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice; and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them; and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice…I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:1-4; 9, NKJV) [Read John 10: 1-30]

Jesus Himself is the main character in this parable. He is basing this story about himself on familiar Old Testament teachings. What is numbered for us as Psalm 23 would have been very familiar to His hearers: “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want…” The Lord as Shepherd of the sheep (his followers) was also given in Ezekiel 34 and 37, in Jeremiah 23:1-4, and Zechariah 11:4-17. He tells his disciples as well as the Jewish leaders whose animosity toward Jesus was growing daily, that he is the Good Shepherd, the Door of the Sheepfold. In this beloved parable, Jesus pictures a common practice in Palestine of that time (and even today), that of the shepherd leading his sheep, the sheep knowing the shepherd and his voice, the shepherd knowing the best grazing lands and the proper entranceway to the sheepfold. Complete trust existed between shepherd and sheep.

It was time for Jesus to declare that He is the Good Shepherd as predicted in Psalm 23 and in Ezekiel 34:23 and 37:24. “I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd” (Eze 34:23). “David My servant shall be king over them, and they shall all have one shepherd; they shall also walk in My judgments and observe My statutes and do them” (Eze. 37:24). The perfect shepherd, in the line of shepherd David who became King of Israel, was now among them, ready to establish His kingdom, unlike that kingdom of David which was imperfect, the new Shepherd was ready to establish the Kingdom of God, and to be the Door of the Sheepfold, knowing every sheep by name and every sheep knowing the Shepherd. What a beautiful story of what happens to the believer! Jesus is the Shepherd of His sheep—all those who call on His name. He knows His sheep by name. Remember the gospel song we often sang: “There’s a new name written down in glory—and it’s mine, I know it’s mine!” That song comes to my mind as I think of my own conversion experience, the day I decided to hear my Shepherd’s voice and follow Him! There is no other entrance to the fold except through Jesus Christ. He is the Door. We can go in and out and be satisfied. He shepherds us daily and holds us securely within His care. Praise be to God!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Friday, September 10, 2010

The Lord Is My Shepherd

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” -Psalm 23:1 (KJV. Read Psalm 23).

The 23rd psalm, one classified as a “Confidence Psalm,” is the most-memorized of all the psalms. Children learn it in Sunday School. Ministers read it at funerals of Christians. People quote it in the night to bring comfort and at trying times to bring strength. Its beauty is unparalleled, its truths deep and meaningful, its poetic expression balanced and flowing. King David, known as Israel’s “Shepherd King,” himself a shepherd, wrote it. The psalm’s familiarity to us may cause us to overlook the extent of its meaning and its application to our Christian life. I will spend several days exploring this magnificent psalm. My thoughts will be guided by what I know about the psalm and what it means to me but also by what W. Phillip Keller, himself a shepherd, wrote about the Psalm in his wonderful book, A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23 (c1970).

“The Lord is my shepherd.” Who is the Lord whom David calls Shepherd? To David, he was Jehovah God, the Lord God of Israel, the one true God. Centuries after David’s time when God became flesh and dwelt among us, Jesus Christ, Savior, said of himself, “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for my sheep” (John 10:14-15). Furthermore, the Good Shepherd promised, and it came to pass: “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; Even the Spirit of truth” (John 14:16-17a). This Lord, the Shepherd is “God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. God the Father—the author, the originator of all that exists. It was in His mind, first, that all took shape. God the Son, our Saviour, is God the artisan—the artist, the Creator of all that exists. He brought into being all that had been originally formulated in the Father’s mind. God the Holy Spirit is God the agent who presents these facts to both my mind and my spiritual understanding so that they become both real and relative to me as an individual.” (-Keller, p. 16).

This Holy Trinity, the Three-in-One, Originator, Saviour, Teacher is my Good Shepherd, my manager, my owner. And I have the distinct privilege and relationship of being His sheep! He bought me with His very life blood. I can trust Him with His ownership of my life, my soul, my very being. I can follow Him as a sheep follows and depends upon the shepherd, for the best interest of the sheep is paramount. I sense a purpose and deep contentment because I am under His direction. “The Lord is my Shepherd!” How utterly awesome and thrilling! Selah!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Wednesday, June 2, 2010