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Since the love of God is in us, and the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts, we are to be kind like God is kind to the unthankful and to the evil. Jesus purchased a gift of salvation for anyone who would accept it. God commands all men everywhere to repent (Acts 17:30). His hand of mercy is extended to all mankind.

Our intercession for all men is not so much for God to extend His mercy. This He has already done through Jesus. Our intercession is mainly to break the bondage that the devil has over men. The devil has blinded men (2 Cor. 4:3-4). We are to loose the sinner from the blindness that he may see the Light.

One afternoon a number of years ago, I was lying across my bed resting between the morning and evening service. I had my Bible and another book and I was studying. Into my spirit came an understanding of some of these things I'd never had before.

I saw this scripture in a way I'd never seen it up to that time: "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (2 Cor. 4:3-4).

I saw how we had missed it in praying for the lost. That afternoon, I heard the Lord say to my spirit, "No human in his right mind would drive his car down the highway 100 miles an hour, past blinking red warning lights, past signs that said, 'Danger! Bridge out!' and plunge himself out into eternity. But a drunk man would, a doped man would. The same thing is true spiritually. No man in his right mind would plunge himself out into eternity without God. But the god of this world has blinded their minds."

He gave me this scripture, "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds" (2 Cor. 4:4). I could hear the Spirit of God challenging me, "You've approached it wrong. You've worked on the wrong end of the thing. You've fasted and prayed that I would do something and I've done all I'm ever going to do. The blood has already been shed. The Gospel has already been given. The light is already here. It can't shine in because of what the devil has done. What you've got to do is break the power of the devil over them."

Intercession does not change God, God never changes. Prayer does not change God. Prayer changes you and it changes others. It does not change God.

I saw what I had to do for my brother, Dub. I'd been fasting and praying that God would save him off and on for 15 years, and if it ever did any good, I couldn't tell it. Dub was the black sheep of the family. Anything you could mention, he'd done. I knew if breaking the power of the devil would work on him, it would work on anyone.

I rose up off the bed with my Bible in one hand, and the other hand lifted, saying, "In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I break the power of the devil over my brother Dub's life, and I claim his deliverance. (That meant I claimed his deliverance from that blindness, that bondage of Satan.) And I claim his full salvation in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ."

Within three weeks, my brother was born again.

Here is where intercession comes in - we are to loose the sinner from the blindness that he may see the light. If we can get people to see God as He really is, they'll want to love Him. We are one with the great Intercessor in His ministry of reconciliation

Whom did He reconcile unto Himself? The world! Whose trespasses are canceled? The world's! That's what will be so terrible - people will go to hell, and when they get there, they'll find out we hadn't told them the truth. We hadn't told them everything was canceled out.

The sins of the unsaved have been cancelled out by Jesus. That's how God is kind to the unthankful and the evil. And He has given to us that message, that word of reconciliation. Yet we have preached, "God is going to get you if you don't watch out. He's after you."

He has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. We used to think we had to preach people under conviction. So we went out and beat them over the head, so to speak.

No! The Spirit of God will convict them. Ours is the ministry of reconciliation. When we can get people to see God as He really is, they will want to love Him.

Source: The Art of Prayer by Kenneth Hagin.
Excerpt permission granted by Faith Library Publications

Author Biography

Kenneth E. Hagin
Web site: RHEMA
 
Rev. Hagin served in Christian ministry for nearly 70 years and was known as the "father of the modern faith movement." His teachings and books are filled with vivid stories that show God's power and truth working in his life and the lives of others.
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