DAY OF INTERCESSION
Yom Kippur - The Day of Atonement
Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish year. It is the climax of the 40 day "Season of Teshuvah" (the Days of Repentance), which is marked by the final ten day period of repentance called the "Days of Awe." It is a day for solemn assembly, marked by complete fasting and prayer, which begins at nightfall and lasts for 25 hours until nightfall the following day (October 3-4, 2014).
"This is to be a lasting ordinance for you:
On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and do not do any work -
whether native-born or an alien living among you -
because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you.
Then, before the LORD, you will be clean from all your sins.
It is a Sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance.
The priest who is anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest
is to make atonement. He is to put on the sacred linen garments and make atonement
for the Most Holy Place, for the Tent of Meeting and the altar,
and for the priests and all the people of the community."
(Leviticus 16:29-33)
The Day of Atonement was the one day of the year when the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies and offer the blood sacrifice on behalf of the sins of the people. It is the great day of intercession, "a day of deliverance and salvation," which revealed the work of our great High Priest, Jesus Christ, who offered Himself on the cross as the once for all sacrifice (Hebrews 6:17-20). "And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:10). It is a reminder that our God is holy and that sin is an offensive disease that is destructive to the health of His creation. Holiness is the moral condition God requires of His people. "Be holy, because I am holy" (Leviticus 11:44a). The presence of sin cost holy God His perfect Son, who laid down His life on a cross to pay our debt and restore us to a right relationship with the Father.
When Moses went up to the mountain for 40 days, to spend intimate time in the holy presence of God and receive the Law, he returned only to find that while he was gone the people had fallen into the pit of immorality and sin. God called His servant back to the mountain for another 40 days to intercede for the people, and to learn that he was not to throw the Law at the people, but rather to lead them in all the ways of holiness in preparation to enter the promise land (Exodus 32-34). When we began our journey, desiring to intercede for marriage in our land, God purposed to use these 40 days, as He had with Moses, for us to sit in His presence and be still while He reminded us of His covenant of love; which He washed over us with the water through the Word, saturating us with holy influences and strengthening us, to prepare us to live our lives, and to lead others, in all the ways of holiness. These past 38 days have been a time of preparation leading up to these two days of intercession. We observe the Day of Atonement with gratitude in our hearts for being sealed by the grace and love given to us by God through the salvation of His Son, Jesus Christ. We intercede on behalf of marriage with wisdom and understanding of God's original intent; praying for the obstacles to be removed out of the way of the people so that a highway of holiness would be built. And we pray for the Lord's covenant of love to be fulfilled as He comes for His Bride, and then returns to restore Israel and establishes His kingdom on the earth.
Eschatologically, the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) pictures the return of the Bridegroom to take away His Bride; while The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) represents the national restoration of Israel and the return of Yeshua to establish His Kingdom. As we intercede for marriage we are praying for a revival of holiness in the church and a recommitment to our marriage covenant with the Lord so that we will passionately, faithfully, and obediently serve the Lord and fulfill the great commission so "all men will be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth" (1 Timothy 2:3-4), and the building up of the "one new man," the united body of believers, the Church, made up of Jews and Gentiles (Ephesians 2:15); and for God's ultimate purposes for Israel to be fulfilled "Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved..." (Romans 11:25b, 26a); when Jesus Christ will be glorified with His Bride and reign on His throne as King of Kings in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21). On day 40, the final day of our journey, the Wedding Feast, we will pray for the fulfillment of God's marriage covenant as we Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem (click on "Return to Information" at the bottom of the scroll to go back to the main page and click on "Wedding Feast" for information on our final day of intercession).
Day of Intercession
(Recommended format)
"What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the
LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to Him?"
(Deuteronomy 4:7)
1. 25 hour fast from sundown on Friday, October 3rd to sundown on Saturday, October 4th.
"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place
by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain,
that is, His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God,
let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience
and having our bodies washed with pure water."
(Hebrews 10:19-22)
2. Individually commit this day to a time of rest and focused prayer and intercession for our own marriage to the Lord, our earthly marriage (whether married, divorced, widowed, or single), and marriages in the land. Praying specifically that we would take on God's heart of faithfulness, forgiveness, holiness and love in all our relationships so that we would be a vessel of reconciliation and healing and graciously lead others to that more perfect union we have been so blessed to experience with the Lord Jesus Christ, our Beloved Bridegroom.
"Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord.
For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church,
His body, of which He is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ,
so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her
to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word,
and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle
or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way, husbands
ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself."
(Ephesians 5:22-28)
3. Corporately (if you have walked this journey with other believers) join together for a designated time of intercession during a part of the day for the Body of Christ. Praying that we would remain faithful, as His Body under His Sovereign Head, to our covenant commitment to the Lord, and to honor and obey all of its stipulations and commands. Intercede for the members and parts that have weakened the Body because they have departed from and/or compromised the truth of God's Word with regards to marriage and morality. Pray for strength and perseverance as the Lord sifts and purifies His Church in preparation for His return. Pray for courage for our pastors, and for all believers, to stand firm on the unshakeable foundation of truth which is Jesus Christ, who will keep the pillars (His saints) firm in the midst of chaos and persecution (Psalm 75:3); to boldly proclaim the whole Truth without apology or fear of man (Acts 4:19-20); and to take a stand against unjust laws that keep men locked in the shackles of sin and prevent them from knowing the truth of the life of freedom and liberty that is found only in Jesus Christ.
"Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy;
without holiness no one will see the Lord.
See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root
grows up to cause trouble and defile many. See that no one is sexually immoral,
or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son."
(Hebrews 12:14-16).
4. Commit from this day forward to a new beginning of walking in all the ways of holiness. Let us honor God with pure and holy lives; submitting to the power and presence of the Holy Spirit, so that as a member of the larger Body we will do our part to remain free from the sickness of sin that infects and weakens the rest of the body, and instead become vital members that will uphold the weaker parts until the whole body is united and made healthy and strong.
"Live a life worthy of the calling you have received...
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves,
and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning
and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up
into Him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
From Him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament,
grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."
(Ephesians 4:1a, 14-16)
Additional Scriptures and prayers will be provided in the final emails.
5. Begin your time of intercession with a portion of the original prayer prayed by the settlers in the church in Jamestown, Virginia
Prayer excerpt taken from the book:
"Laws Divine, Moral and Martial for the Colony of Virginia"
printed in the year 1612
(Quoted and prayed in the video "On Holy Ground" at the beginning of our journey)
"Merciful Father, and Lord of heaven and earth, we come before Thy presence to worship Thee in calling upon Thy name, and giving thanks unto Thee, and though our duties and our very necessities call us here unto: yet we confess our hearts to be so dull and untoward, that unless Thou be merciful to us to teach us how to pray, we shall not please thee, nor profit ourselves in these duties.
We therefore most humbly beseech thee to raise up our hearts with Thy good spirit, and so to dispose us to prayer, that with true fervency of heart, feeling of our wants, humbleness of mind, and faith in Thy gracious promises, we may present our suites acceptably unto Thee by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And Thou our Father of all mercies, Thou hast called us unto Thee, here us and pity Thy poor servants, we have indeed sinned wonderously against Thee through our blindness of mind, profaneness of spirit, hardness of heart, self-love, wordliness, carnal lusts, hypocrisy, pride, vanity, unthankfulness, infidelity, and other native corruptions, which being bred in us, and with us, have defiled us even from the womb, and unto this day, and have broken out as plague sores into innumerable transgressions of thy holy laws, (the good ways whereof we have willfully declined), and have many time displeased Thee, and our own consciences in choosing those things which has most justly and severely forbidden us. And besides all this we have outstood the gracious time and means of our conversion, or at least not stooped and humbled ourselves before thee, as we ought, although we have wanted those helps, which thou vouch-safest unto Thy wandering children to fetch them home withal, for we have had together with Thy glorious works, Thy word calling upon us without, and Thy Spirit within, and have been solicited by promises, by threatenings, by blessings, by chastisings, and by examples, on all hands: And yet our corrupted spirits cannot become wise before Thee, to humble themselves, and to take heeds as we ought, and wish to do.
Wherefore O Lord God, we do acknowledge Thy patience to have been infinite and incomparable, in that Thou has been able to hold Thy hands from revenging Thyself upon us thus long, and yet pleases to hold open the door of grace, that we might come in unto Thee and be saved. O Lord, O God, Our God, Thou hast dearly bought us for Thine own self, give us so honest hearts as may be glad to yield the possession of Thy own. And be thou so gracious, as yet to take them up, though we have desperately held Thee out of them in times past, and dwell in us, and reign in us by Thy Spirit, that we may be sure to reign with Thee in Thy glorious kingdom, according to Thy promise through Him that hat purchased that inheritance for all that trust in Him.
Yea our Lord God we humbly desire to bless with our prayers the whole Church and more specially our nation...We beseech Thee to furnish the Churches with faithful and fruitful ministers, and to bless their lives and labors for those merciful uses, to which Thou has ordained them. Sanctify Thy people O God, and let them not deceive themselves with a formality of religion in steed of the power thereof, give them grace to profit both by those favors, and by those chatisements which Thou has sent successiviely or mixedly amongst them. And Lord repress that rage of sin, and profaneness in all Christian states which breeds so much Apostasy and defection, threatening the taking away of this light from them. Confound Thou O God all the counsel and practices of Satan and his ministers, which are and shall be taken up against Thee, and the kingdom of Thy dear Son. And call in the Jews together with all the fullness of the Gentiles, that Thy name may be glorious in all the world, the days of iniquity may come to an end, and we with all thine elect people may come to see Thy face in glory, and be filled with the light thereof for evermore.
And now, O Lord of mercy, O Father of the spirits of all flesh, look in mercy upon the Gentiles, who yet know thee not, O gracious God be merciful to us, and bless us, and not us alone, but let Thy ways be known upon the earth and Thy saving health amongst all nations. We praise Thee and we bless Thee. But let the people praise Thee O God, yea let all the people praise Thee, and let the ends of the world remember themselves and turn to Thee the God of their salvation. And seeing Thou has honored us to choose us out to bear Thy name unto the Gentiles: we therefore beseech Thee to bless us, and this our plantation, which we and our nation have begun in Thy fear and for Thy glory. In Christ Jesus our glorious Mediator for us all. Amen."
"Holy, holy, holy
is the Lord God Almighty,
who was, and is, and is to come."
(Revelation 4:8b)
"Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."
(Revelation 22:20b)
| Printer Friendly |