11And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? 12I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
13But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, 14and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.
15Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, 16‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ 17And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, 18‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ 19Pleasepardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.” ~ Numbers 14:11-19
How many times has God said He would blot out those wicked Israelites and start over through Moses? Yet each time Moses pleads with the LORD and is able to change His mind. Here’s the thing, we do not serve a God who changes. But we do serve a God who will change His mind depending on how well you argue your case. Why? Because God isn’t a malevolent dictator. If God wasn’t interested in Moses’ opinion, He would have never told Him what He was going to do. We see this all throughout the Bible that God will tell His plans to one whom He trusts, with whom He has a strong relationship with. And they will defend a case for why He shouldn’t do it. Moses did this must’ve been 10 times at least. But what we don’t understand is how to be a good lawyer.
We have to learn how to be a good lawyer. In order to be a good lawyer, we have to learn how the courts of Heaven work. We have to understand that the Court of Heaven has rules and specific procedures we have to follow. We can’t just speak random words of foolishness and expect God to overturn His initial ruling. Instead, we have to know the Bible. We have to know how to go before God. We have to know how to enter His courts. We have to know how to petition Him. We have to know how to quote scripture. We have to know how to defend. But how do we learn these things? We read our Bibles. We pray. We worship. Psalms 100:4 “Enter His Gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name.”
How many of our prayers start with petition instead of thanksgiving? Instead of praise? How many of us actually take the time to thank Him for what He’s done, instead of continuously just asking. I’m not saying we shouldn’t ask. I’m saying we need to understand how to ask. We need to understand how to petition. Derek Prince, one of the greatest prayer warriors of our time, said in his book, ‘Secrets of a Prayer Warrior,’ unless we first give thanks for someone or something, we have no right petitioning God for them. If we want to see something take place, we must first thank God for what He has already done. We can’t expect to say, ‘gimme gimme gimme,’ and never once take the time to say thank you.
God is not a dictator. He doesn’t want to just do things, He wants input. If He didn’t, He wouldn’t have a divine council that He speaks with. He wouldn’t come to us and tell us of His judgments. We have to understand that we are in the gap. We have to stand in the gap and petition for others. Just as Moses stood in the gap. Just as Abraham stood in the gap. Just as Derek Prince stood in the gap. We have to stand in the gap. We have to be prayer warriors, so that we may change the mind of God that He may not bring judgment on those who deserve judgment. But instead that He would show mercy. We must remind Him of His word, as the others did. We must remind Him of His character as the others did. Not because He forgets. But so that you may build a case before Him and He may see your heart through your prayers.
Peace. Love. Go Forth and Bring Your Petitions.
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