Mike Bickle emphasizes the vital role of intercessors as outlined in Isaiah 62, highlighting the unprecedented global movement of 24/7 prayer ministries that have emerged in recent years. He connects this prophetic call to the end times, asserting that the transformation of Jerusalem serves as a model for cities worldwide, demonstrating that through persistent prayer, even the darkest conditions can be reversed. Bickle encourages believers to embrace their calling as intercessors, reminding them that their prayers, though often weak, are powerful and significant in God's plan. He stresses the importance of understanding the context of Isaiah 62 within the broader narrative of God's promises and the necessity of night and day prayer for justice. Ultimately, he calls for a renewed commitment to intercession, urging individuals to recognize their divine assignment in this sacred trust.

Thank you, Ben. Thank you, worship team. Go ahead and turn to Isaiah chapter 62. Father, we ask you that you would mark our heart tonight. Holy Spirit, we ask you to mark people tonight in a sovereign way. Those that you are setting on the wall of intercession in this hour of history. So we recognize your presence, Holy Spirit. We ask you to touch us, to renew us, to initiate a clear commission, or to strengthen one that you've already given. In the name of Jesus, amen. Well, tonight I want to look at Isaiah chapter 62, one of the most significant end-time prophecies. It's one of the clearest prophecies to measure in the body of Christ, in the generation the Lord returns. And I'm focusing on this instead of the typical series that we're on, on Jesus, our magnificent obsession, because we're coming up next week to present our sacred trust before the Lord. Now, Isaiah 62, verse 6 and 7 has a companion passage, or a parallel passage, Luke 18. Actually, in Luke 18, it's Jesus talking about praying night and day to release justice. He's actually referring to Isaiah 62, verse 6 and 7. He's pointing back to that foundational truth, and then Jesus is elaborating on it in Luke 18. And so we have to read both passages together to see a more full meaning of it. Again, this is one of the clearest and easiest to measure end-time prophecies. What is happening today around the world relating to God setting intercessors into place is unprecedented in church history. I'm just guessing, approximating the last 20 years, about 1990 is the, if I had to pick a date, where there has been a sudden global escalation of prayer ministries that are going 24-7. Now, they don't have, they're not led by full worship teams. I'm talking about prayer ministries where one or two or three are in a room, they pray for an hour or two, and they pass the torch, and another group comes in, one or two or three, and another one, and they go on 24-7. There are, we don't know the number, but I would estimate, conservatively, there are 10 or 20,000 new 24-7 ministries in the last 20 years that have been started. I mean, the numbers are staggering. And we don't have that much data compared to what's out there, because there's no central office taking all the data yet. I talked to the leaders in South Africa a few years ago, and throughout South Africa, they believe that there are 3,000 or 4,000 24-hour prayer watches in South Africa alone. These are breaking out all over Africa. In Asia, with Dick Eastman, Every Home for Christ, they call them Walls of Prayer. They estimate four or five, maybe, I think the number's 10,000 of them, that are going 24-7 throughout Asia, many in the underground church. I'll be conservative and say four or 5,000, but I think it's like 10,000. And they're breaking out all over the world. It's a sudden, massive, global activity of the Spirit, and we can miss it, because in the midst of the day-to-dayness of it, it's very human. It's weak, but it moves God, and it's what He's after. We can get excited about being set by God with this kind of commission, but then the walking out of it has enough human, kind of mundane, routine faithfulness in it. We can lose the glory of what this calling is to God and how significant it is to the end-time purpose. But here in Isaiah 62, it's one of the most significant issues that the prophet Isaiah highlights, because in context, Isaiah 60, 61, 62, 63, these four chapters, put them together, it is one of the most dynamic descriptions of the glory of God touching the city of Jerusalem, and the greatest reversal in the condition and the destiny of a city in one short period of time. Let me say that again, and I have this in the notes, but Isaiah 60 to 63, four chapters, is one of the clearest descriptions of the condition and destiny of the city of Jerusalem. Now, the condition is they're broken, attacked, filled with sin, and under the siege of Satan, and under the judgment of God, but because of night and day prayer, right here in 62.6, God anchors His promises to make this city the greatest reversal of a city's condition in all of human history in the span of one generation. And the message isn't that it's only about Jerusalem, although Jerusalem is the centerpiece of the end-time drama and story, but there's a message that we must not miss, and here it is. If a city as dark, filled with satanic activity, under the judgment of God, attacked by the nations, if it's in that kind of dark condition, and it's the most severe condition in history for a city, and that sudden total reversal within the span of one generation, the message is, if it can happen in Jerusalem, it can happen in all the cities of the earth by the same spiritual principles, night and day prayer. So we don't read the passage and only see Jerusalem. Now, don't lose Jerusalem, but we are to understand there's never been a city that will have such a dramatic, sudden reversal in a short period of time as the city of Jerusalem, and the number one thing that Isaiah highlights, it's anchored in God stirring up intercessors to be faithful, and to cry out night and day, and to remind him of his promises, and again we do it, so we know the human dynamics. It's weak. I like to say this, we offer our prayers from our human experience in weakness, but because of the grace of God, they ascend in power, and our prayers, they're dynamic, they have longevity, they multiply. Whatever we offer in prayer, that prayer is actually alive in God's heart through the ages. The prayer isn't over when we offer it in weakness, and it ascends in power, but rather it's collected in a bowl around the throne of God, and there's an hour in history where that answer is fully manifest, and the implications go on and on and on even past the return of the Lord into the age to come. Now again, the way the prophets describe the purpose of God, they highlight the city of Jerusalem. It's got the greatest promises, the greatest destiny, the greatest sand, and the greatest attack, but the idea is what God does in this prototype city, he will do in lesser measure, but still substantial in the cities of the earth. That's the idea. So this passage is foundational to the end time prayer movement. It's foundational to every intercessory missionary. God's raising up this new thing called full-time singer musicians and intercessors, and it's like in the days of David where in 1 Chronicles 6 verse 32, David described it as an office, this office of the full-time intercessor, the singer musician, this order in the kingdom. It was a new kingdom order that God revealed to David. 1 Chronicles 6 verse 32. I don't have that on the notes, but here's my point. As these, what we call intercessory missionaries, that's not a name anybody else has to use, just a name we use that's functional. These are the set ones. These are those that understand God has made clear to them that crying out night and day or being a part of that collective effort is their sovereign calling and their mandate. They don't apologize for it, but they lay hold of it. They may lose sight of it because of the day-to-day routine mundaneness that's often involved, and there's those moments of heightened Holy Spirit activity, but then after those moments, there's the day-to-dayness of it. And when I read Isaiah 62, I look back and it strengthens my heart. I see myself right in the pages of the scripture in end-time prophecy. Beloved, every intercessory missionary, they don't, again, they don't have to use that term, they, in every house of prayer, they can see themselves in this prophecy of Isaiah 62, verse 6. They're in it. We're a part of it. It's a global phenomenon. Now, we need to be very familiar with this passage. Now, I'm not sure how many at IHOP are familiar with Isaiah 62. I mean, I know they know the passages there, but I don't know if they know the 12 verses. We don't know the entire chapter, and we really want to know the four-chapter context, 60, 61, 62, 63. We want to know the entire context because when we understand the context, then we have more conviction and the particulars make more sense. But it's not enough to have this passage on the wall somewhere on a poster on stationery. We have to be familiar with it. And I'm not sure how many that have even been here a year or two or three are familiar with the line-by-line logic of Isaiah 62, and that's what we're going to look at just a little bit. And again, I'll give more of them notes than we're going to cover. It's my prayer and earnest desire you would not just become familiar with it, but you would strengthen your own soul in this chapter, but you would be able to communicate it to other people. And not just that, you would be able to withstand the critics when they say that's not an end-time passage. And you can say with tenderness, humility, but with boldness, it is an end-time passage. And I'm going to show you how you can be sure this is talking about one generation in history in particular. It's the generation just prior to Jerusalem becoming a praise in the earth, which we know happens at the time of the second coming of Christ. Jesus in Luke 18 is referencing this prophecy, and He connects it to the end times as well. He makes it a very clear connection in Luke 18 to the end times. And Jesus is the best Bible teacher there is, and He connected this truth to the end times. But Isaiah 62 stands alone. It's clearly an end-time passage, meaning it's describing Jerusalem as a praise in the earth for four chapters. Describes the detail of the grandeur and the glory and how far God is going to go with the city of Jerusalem. But the other message is how great the reversal from the depths of depravity and darkness to the heights of glory anchored in night and day prayer as the issue that God highlighted as the primary function. Not the only thing, but the primary issue highlighted was night and day prayer. Now my own personal story, just take a minute on it because this passage is so dear to me. It was in May 1979, so 30 plus years ago. May, it was May, it was right now. I was 23 years old. I was a fiery evangelist. I don't know about fiery, but I was a zealous evangelist. I wasn't very effective, but I would preach on the streets. I preached with bullhorns in restaurants and cafeterias. I didn't bear much fruit, but I did everything. I would hitchhike from one end of the city to the other to trap a guy in the car so I could witness to it. The university, we would go in, get a team, and they always voted on me to do the bullhorn. I hated it, to be honest. Repent! And they'd look at me and go, who is the weird guy calling repent? Well, John the Baptist did it. The only thing I didn't figure out, he did it in the wilderness and everybody walked out five miles by foot to hear him. I went into the restaurants. It was really mixing apples and oranges. Some wise older brother said, just go out in the wilderness and preach, repent. If they come out, you're John the Baptist. If they don't, well, you're not really approaching it the right way. And now, okay, I tried it and nobody came out. But I was a committed evangelist, is the point. I was radical about soul winning. I made a commitment I would witness to somebody every single day, no matter what. And that didn't always turn out good. I remember once at the university, it was 11 30. I was in bed and I forgot because I made this solemn commitment. I broke it and the Lord forgave me, but I was gonna do it the rest of my life because I read it in a biography. So the guy in the biography did it, I thought I'd do it. So I promised the Lord, it was 11 30. I go, oh no. And I was so tired. I got ran out to the campus, university of Missouri, went to a guy, go, hello. He goes, yes. I go, do you know Jesus? He goes, no. I go, do you want to know? He goes, no. I said, okay. I went back to bed. I checked the box. That's, that's the way to do it. But I've spent enough time on that. But anyway, I'm only saying that to tell you in may 79, God spoke two passages to me. Isaiah 62 verse six and seven and Luke 18, put the two together. I did not even know they went together on purpose. And he said, I'm calling you to be an intercessor. This is your major, your major calling in your life. Now in may, 1979, I had never once been to an intercessory prayer meeting in my life. I had devotional prayer meetings where I told Jesus, I loved him and asked him for help. But I mean, where five of us got together and prayed for revival. I'd never been to one. And he told me Luke chapter 18 and Isaiah 62, this is your primary calling. I didn't have any sense of what it meant, but being young and zealous, I told everybody having never been to a prayer meeting before I said, this is what I'm gonna do the rest of my life. So we started them by the grace of God. We started daily prayer meetings in may 79. And by the grace of God, I've kept doing them daily ever since. But the thing that I discovered that I really was a rude awakening in 1979, I did not like prayer at all. I knew I didn't like prayer, but this was a whole nother level of boredom, but I'd committed to it. I had a group of people all in our early twenties and we began to cry out to God every single day. Oh, nevermind. I just lost my inner healing for just a moment there. Just remembering it was 20 years. I mean, it was 20 years to the month, may 79. And then main 99, I hop would start and God knew I hop would start 20 years later. If you would have told me in 79, I would do this and the way that I'm doing it now, I just would have been utterly in despair. Well, a few years after that, December, 1982, we left St. Louis. I'd been there seven years, church planning and, and as a pastor, seven years. So in December 82, right out of this experience in Cairo, Egypt, we start the new church in Kansas city. I was to meet Bob Jones a few months later. And then Paul came a little bit after that and some of the others. But here's the point I want to make. The Lord stirred me and now it makes sense. I did not know it. I didn't, I didn't fully understand it then on the first Sunday, new boy in town, 27 years old, about a hundred people show up at this new church word of mouth that went out for about a month. This new guy from St. Louis is coming. I mean, a hundred people. I was expecting 10. I got up and the Lord stirred at me. So clearly on this, I preached on Isaiah 62, six and Luke 18. Here's my point. Not one person in the room could make sense of what I was saying. I remember a guy came up afterwards. He said, I think I'm going to like this church. And he shook my hand. He goes, I couldn't make any sense of what you said, but it feels good to be here. I said, what is it? You couldn't make sense of Isaiah 62, Luke 18. He goes, none of it made sense to me. Zero. So I was actually a little discouraged. I mean, I should tell you, you know, 30 years later, I was filled with the glory of God. It was in 1982, December, but I wasn't, I was discouraged. I thought maybe I wasn't supposed to do it. But now that I look back 30 years later, I go, Lord, that was, he stirred me. He was saying, I want you to put an anchor in the ground, so to speak, or, or take a stand in the spirit. That is the destiny of the people that will come out of the seat. Well, the reason I'm telling you that because 1979, I was 23 years old and there's a room full of 23 year olds. I didn't like it at all prayer I'm talking about, but God marked me and I understood. Now I look back the mystery, how this works, because you would think if it's the marking and the assignment of God and it's the grace of God, it will be easy. The fact that it's the grace of God. Does it mean it's easy? It means it's doable. My definition of the grace of God on a challenging assignment. It's not that it's easy. Some people say, I don't have grace. And what they mean is it's not easy anymore. And I don't know where they got that definition of grace. Nowhere did God say that the assignment that he gives you will be easy. Paul found himself in prison stoned. I mean, all kinds of things, but when you have the grace of God, it's doable. The argument in me to continue was greater than the argument in me to quit. That's what I call the grace of God. The argument to quit intercession was ever before me, but the argument to stay with it was slightly greater, not that much greater, but slightly greater. So I went to many prayer meetings, 23, 24, 25 day by day, seven days a week. I mean, 90% of that over the last however many 30 plus years, but I want to tell you how the mystery, the mystery of this, I didn't feel almost anything. Yeah. I wanted to quit all the time, but the argument not to quit was slightly stronger. So I stayed with it. And now I have the hindsight of 33 years later, that was may 79, 32 or three, however that is. But I look back and I go, that's how this works. And the Lord smiles. And I believe that I will be shocked when I stand before him to see how much that week. And I want to say in the flesh, seemingly pathetic prayer meetings, how much they matter to him, how much they counted and how connected they are to what I'm doing today and we'll do in the decades ahead. So 23 year olds or any age that's out there, if God marks you, if he convinces you, this is yours. Don't live in idealism or spiritual romanticism thinking it will be easy. And you'll just kind of breeze along, but let the marking of God touch you tonight. Well, let's look a little bit long introduction, but I enjoyed it. And again, the notes are there for you to read on your own. He says in verse six, I set Watchman. Every single phrase is filled with meaning. Every phrase in verse six and seven, I set Watchman now Watchman or intercessors. I set them on your walls. Oh, Jerusalem. They will never hold their peace. Meaning they will never be silent. Most translations say they'll never be silent day or night. Now Isaiah pauses in the prophecy and he gives a personal exhortation to the intercessors. He says, okay, now know this. God is going to set them. He's going to sovereignly mark them. He's going to commission them, but then he pauses. He's not prophesying. Now he's giving a personal exhortation. It's like a pastoral exhortation. He says, you who make mention of the Lord now to make mention of the Lord, some translations say you who remind the Lord you're making mention of his promises. And I don't like the word, the phrase you who make mention. I like the other translation, the new American standard. It says you who remind the Lord and the ideas of his promises. And of course the promises are right there in Isaiah 60, 61, 62, 63, but we have the whole word of God full of promises. This is one of the clearest definitions of intercession right here. You remind the Lord or the new King James, you make mention of the Lord of his promises or the NIV says you who call on the name of the Lord. The word that I, the phrase I like the better, I mean the best is you who remind the Lord, you're reminding him of his promises. He says, don't give up, give God no rest. I mean, the commission came in verse six, but Isaiah being an intercessor, I believe that he's imagining they're going to be tempted to give up. So he stops. Now he speaks directly to them. He says, don't be silent. Don't give up. Don't give in. Stay with it. Don't give God any rest because it will look like he's not answering. And actually Jesus comments on that in Luke 18. He says, though, I bear long with you. He goes, though. It seems like I'm not listening or answering. No, this that when the divine calendar lines up with the wisdom of God, I will answer speedily and it will be the sudden breaking of God. Well, it looks like. That God is disinterested. So he tells him there, give him no rest. Now he gives the timeframe. Keep at it until he establishes Jerusalem, a praise of the earth. That's the timing indicator right there. Now, Jesus makes Jerusalem a praise of the earth at the time of the second coming. Jerusalem as a praise in the earth again is described in chapter 60, 61, 62, 63, and many other places as well. Not just those passages, but in context, Isaiah has said, I've given you the most glorious description of the greatest reversal of destruction and darkness in a city to the glory of God at the highest heights imaginable. I've anchored it in night and day prayer. It seems like God is never going to answer, but he will. So every prayer he remembers now, this passage is talking specifically about ministries that Jesus initiates as 24 seven. He starts them, but it's more than that. He sustains them until the second coming. Read it clearly. Verse six, let's just stare at this until you get your mind around it because you need to be able to answer this in your own soul and then be able to even withstand critics who tell you this is not an entire passage. There's never been a time in all of church history or world history where God has set 24 seven prayer ministries in place on a global level. It's never happened before ever. There's always an example, an exception. I mean one here, one there, but he's going to do this. And it's not just their 24 hour, 24 seven. They go night and day for two or three decades, and then they phase out. They go night and day until Jesus returns and makes Jerusalem a place of praise of the earth. So there's one group of, of there's one generation of prayer ministries that will continue until those prayer ministries that go 24 seven. That's pretty challenging until the Lord returns. Those are the ones that Isaiah is talking about specifically in a, in a Hermann Germany in 1727, count Zinzendorf started a prayer meeting. It went over a hundred years and they prayed for Jerusalem. Remarkable. He had a revelation of the salvation of Israel, but it went a hundred years and then phased out. It's not one of these words. It's not, it's not one that's promised here in verse six. Now the principle of Isaiah 62 six is operative throughout church history. I mean the spiritual principles are there, but I'm talking about, there are actual 24 seven ministries that will be initiated by God, setting them in place. And the way that we know they're verse six and verse seven, that they actually are, are in God's mind related to these verses. They sustain till the end. He anchors this whole thing in night and day prayer, all of his promises. Paragraph B he says, I have set now. It's the revelation of being set that gives you sustainability. It's not the joy that you feel in the setting because that joy comes, but it also goes. I've had the joy and that sense of excitement is what I'm almost. I'm using the word excitement, that strong kind of, uh, powerful sense of confidence and excitement about the calling, but it lifts. Then a little time later comes back. Then it lifts again. So the setting is not mostly about just the feeling good while you're doing it. Though I like feeling good while I do it. I love it, but there's a revelation of being set. This is critical because it's a sovereign activity of God. When God says, I have said it's God talking, it's talking about a sovereign commission to individuals. Now this, the setting of the Lord could be given to ministries like this one and thousands worldwide where he commissions an entire ministry to do 24 seven. But the setting is individual as well, where he speaks to the intercessor. He marks them. He convinces them. And many of you have had a moment where you were convinced and you had joy in it, and then it lifts. And some of you have been tempted to think because it's not easy and it's not as fun as I thought it must not be a sovereign setting. But I want to tell you that the setting of the Lord is bigger than the feelings in a period of time. And the reason this passage is so important, because as I have become familiar with it, the fog lifts and I can see clearly my destiny in this verse. And when I don't have that feeling of the enjoyment, like I had in a season before I see it written down black and white ink. And I say, I know that I know this is who I am. So we're going to ask the Lord in a little while for a fresh sense of commission, a fresh sense of being set by the Lord, being set by the Lord in place of setting that will sustain you even in a tough season. And in 33 years, when the Lord told me this is my major calling, I couldn't make any sense of it at all. I mean, no sense of it, but it was so clear. I have lost that sense of joy in it so many times I can't count, but here's the good news. It keeps coming back because I'm really set. And not just, that's not just the proof that it keeps coming back, but I stayed in the prayer meetings when I had no feeling when I was in them. So I kept my body in the position and I positioned my heart and I can see it now many years later where the, the sense of the strength of that calling would return. And I can imagine the Lord whispering and saying, yeah, but you kept posturing yourself in a place of faith. You stayed in the prayer meeting and that's why the sense of renewal of the commission kept coming back and being renewed. Another guy, I'm not picking on anybody. That's not my point, but he loses the feeling, doesn't position himself anymore by obeying the calling by faith with no feelings. And then he loses the whole sense of it for years and years and years, and sometimes never gets it back. Now there is a, I have paragraph B, a sudden massive number of new 24 seven prayer ministries in the last 20 years. And so we are witnessing an unprecedented phenomenon. It's a sign of the times. I want to stress this has never happened in world history, but thousands of ministries and millions of people have this sense of destiny and calling to do this. It's a brand new reality in the body of Christ. I have written here, there's a significant increase in prayer events and stadiums. I mean, I think of our own beloved Lou, what he has done in the 20 plus stadium events or big arenas. This was unheard of. I remember when Lou first told me before the call 2000, you know, lose leading a little prayer room with three people in the prayer room in Pasadena. And he had the night watch and he fell asleep night after night. That's his story. I think he exaggerates his weakness. I don't think he really fell asleep as much as he says, but he swears he did. Then he comes and he tells me, I'm going to go to Washington, DC, a hundred thousand young people. I said, Lou, for what it's worth, don't do it. I totally missed it. He went there. 400,000 showed up September, 2000, the global day of prayer. I mean, began by a businessman started a prayer meeting. The last 10 years has been a multiply. They estimate the last couple of years, a hundred million believers gather on that day. Always in may it's coming up. The global day of prayer stadiums are filled around the world. The world prayer assembly in Jakarta is going to be the biggest prairie event in history coming up on may 17th, the world prayer assembly. They're anticipating 5 million believers engaged in that stadium event. There's only a hundred thousand in the stadium, but it's all set up with prayer rooms all over the nation and delegates from 150 nations. Our own beloved Daniel Lim is going to represent IHOP. It's the biggest prayer gathering of international prayer leaders and ministries, the biggest prayer meeting, probably in all of history ever. They're declaring 2012 as the year of prayer for the body of Christ. Beloved, there is an acceleration that is beyond the coordination of human efforts. I mean, there is human effort and coordinating different events, but the global picture is so much bigger than any one company of people doing it. Look at number two with Mark Anderson, with the call to all congresses. Now these call to all congresses, he's had 19 of them. He takes top prayer leaders, leaders over prayer ministries, mission leaders and church planting movements and they gather in key parts of the world and they spend a day seeking the Lord. How many new church plants they plan to start that's realistic, that's measurable, that they're accountable to other people, and they've put this new focus of prayer watches or prayer ministries. And out of the thousands of leaders, it's one of the most remarkable ministries going on in the world today, these call to all congresses, 700,000 prayer watches or ministries have been committed to by the year 2020 to start by all of these leaders. Let me say that again, 700,000 new prayer meetings. It's like a church planting movement, a missionary movement. They would say, we have these many churches and we're going to plant prayer watches in each one of them. That's remarkable. Beloved, we're living in the generation of the beginning of the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. It's almost like the Lord said, watch, watch for the generation where these prayers watches break out all over the earth. And beloved, we're watching it right now. I mean right now, since 1999, the last 12, 13 years, four houses of prayer have been birthed in Jerusalem, four of them with a vision to go 24 seven. That's unprecedented in history. Paragraph D he says, I'm going to set you on the walls. Now the question, are these physical walls or are these spiritual walls? And I think possibly it's both. I believe that there will be a remnant in Jerusalem. Is that surrounded by the nations? Zachariah 14 makes it clear. Jerusalem is going to be besieged by Gentile nations with the intent of annihilating the Jewish race that's coming in the days ahead. I believe there'll be intercessors in that company that will literally be on the wall, but I don't believe that's mostly what this is about. I believe there, maybe there'll be hundreds, maybe there'll be more. I don't know, but there'll be besieged and surrounded by the nations with the thought of utter destroying them. But it makes clear when you read Ezekiel and we're not going to look at the passage, but Ezekiel spoke of intercession related to a spiritual wall. He talked about an Ezekiel 22 that God is looking for intercessors who would make up a wall. He doesn't mean build a wooden fence or stone wall. That's not what he's talking about. It says, I'm looking for an intercessor that would build a wall. They would stand in the gap and the gap between God's graciousness and God's holiness and the sin and rebellion of the city of Jerusalem. They would stand in the gap between what God's willing and desire to do in goodness and what he is obligated to do in terms of judgment. They stand in the gap between Jerusalem's sin and compromise and they cry out an intercession. Now this is a spiritual wall. Ezekiel wasn't talking about God was looking for carpenters to build a wooden wall or a stone wall to stand on. Ezekiel 13, he makes the same point. He told the prophets, the false prophets in Jerusalem in his day, he goes, you're supposed to be building a wall. And again, he wasn't talking about a construction program of a physical wall. He's talking about intercession. So it's a wall of intercession, but the Bible makes clear and it goes 24 seven and it sustains until the Lord's return. Top of page two, paragraph E, he says they will never be silent. Now Isaiah emphasizes the 24 seven dimension of these prayer ministries, three different ways. You can read that on your own there. Paragraph E, but he says it three different ways, meaning they will go 24 seven. They will never be silent. They will never hold their peace. They will never give God rest three ways where Isaiah makes clear. He means literally 24 seven paragraph F I already mentioned to you that when he says in the new King James translation, he Isaiah describes the work of an intercessor as one making mention of God's promises. Again, I prefer the translation to remind the Lord or to call on the Lord. But in essence, we have the definition of an intercessor real clear. They tell God what God promised to do. See in worship, we declare and agree with who God is and his glory and his beauty and his majesty and his power and his mercy in worship. We declare who he is in intercession. We declare what he promised to do. So who he is, what he'll do, who he is, what he'll do. It's worship and intercession. The essence is an agreement with God over the 13 years of IHOP. I hear it regularly and just, just a little bit, but regularly a guy comes too much worship. I want more intercession. You know, they're kind of more of the Rambo types, you know, devil come out or I'm coming in after you. I want some intercession around this place. The other guy, I don't want to do all that stuff that just going to be outward manifestations of God's work. I want to talk to God about God. And I tell him, stop it. Whether you agree with who God is, worship, or you agree with what he's going to do, intercession, the essence is you're agreeing with him, who he is and what he does. There's no distinction between them. That distinction is fabricated. It's artificial in our own mind. So the girl singing just real sweet, I love you, Jesus. I love you, Jesus. I tell the Rambo guy, that's as good as anything you can say. I promise you. And the Rambo guy, I tell the little sweetie pie, that's as good as anything you can say. I love you, Jesus. It's the same. I go when it reaches heaven, it makes no difference. I just enjoy whatever one of this, as long as we're agreeing with who he is and what he said to do, it's worship and intercession. Beloved, we offered weak in a sense and strength because of who he is, not because of how we offered it. I have no confidence in the manner of which we offered. I mean, if we groan, the groaning of the prisoner is heard, it says in Psalm 102, Jesus name, it works. I mean it, it does. When the human heart agrees with God, it works. And I like certain styles and I like certain this's and that's, but that's because I like it, not because it's more powerful to God. It's equally powerful to God, all of it is. Even the groan of the prisoner, you know, guys just in pain, Jesus, you know, he gets it all. Paragraph G, well, we're going to stay with it. These God initiated prayer ministries, God will help. He will continue to encourage, but we have to do, we do have to put our way, ourself in the way of receiving that encouragement. Meaning when I would feel nothing, I kept going to the prayer meetings. I complained a little bit, but I kept going to them. I told God, what are you doing? Why am I going to do this? Why can't I be like a normal guy? And I was 22, 23, 24, 25, 26. All my friends were out doing other stuff. Our prayer meetings are three people and not even a broken string guitar. That wasn't a guitar in miles. It was just rock pile for years. And I said, why, what have I done to where you're making me do this? And again, I look at it back now, as long as by faith, I stayed in the way of it and postured my heart. The renewed sense of commission kept returning to stay with it. Well, Jerusalem is going to be a praise to the earth right now. Jerusalem is hated by the nations. The nations do not love Jerusalem right now. I'm sure you've noticed, but one day every single nation, every city, every king of the earth will love Jerusalem. They will brag about Jerusalem incessantly. They'll say, Oh, Jerusalem. They'll talk about it in every nation all the time. And it's because of who's in Jerusalem, but they will talk about Jerusalem. Jesus called Jerusalem. This is Jesus talking about his own city. He called it the city of the great King. He goes, that's my city. I know it's broken, but I'm going to raise intercessors up who see my value of that city long before the power is openly displayed on a global level. I will personally call them when the city is in sin and brokenness filled with darkness. And even before the intercessory ministry has come to its full manifestation of power, they will stay faithful because it's my city and I'm calling them to pray and I will watch over them and help them if they want me to. Well, look at what Jerusalem is going to be called one day in Jeremiah three, the throne of the Lord, all the cities of the earth will say that's where the throne of Yeshua, the throne of Jesus is. Zachariah eight, God has zeal for Zion. Zion and Jerusalem are the same city. It's the same city. I'm talking about physical city of Zion. We're talking about Jerusalem. There is a, a principle of the heavenly Zion, which involves includes every believer, but almost all the references to Zion, not all of them, most of them by far are talking about the physical city of Jerusalem. So you don't have to be confused about that. I mean, 90% plus way beyond 90%, the high 90% Zion is Jerusalem, the physical city, Jerusalem. God is zealous for it. He goes, I know something about that city. You don't know. I am calling intercessors for that city. And again, the reversal of destruction and darkness to the heights of glory will be so sudden and so dynamic. It will be the model. It will be the prototype of how willing I will reverse the destruction of every city in the earth, but it will be anchored in intercession every single time. I don't believe that if the coming of Jesus to Jerusalem, and it requires night and day intercession ahead of time. I mean, imagine that I've thought about that. I go, well, Jesus, if you're coming to Jerusalem, why are you setting people in place for a few decades or longer? Maybe, I don't know. Why are you setting so many people in place to pray for it? If you're coming, isn't it already guaranteed? And there's something in the mystery of God's counsel that even the presence of Jesus in the city is tied to a couple decades or longer of night and day prayer for the city. And if that's true for Jerusalem, it's true for Kansas city or the city that you came from. The presence of Jesus in that city is still going to be anchored to consistent intercession before the presence was manifest. Paragraph H, prophet Isaiah says, Oh, Jerusalem, you'll pray for Jerusalem. Now there's a promise that if we pray for the city of Jerusalem, now I'm being specific here. God says, he'll prosper anyone who loves the city of Jerusalem enough to pray for. Why? Verse nine, because the temple of God will be in that city forever, the house of God, which is his temple. And if you love that, now here's the, here's the issue. It's clear in other passages that Jerusalem responding to Jesus is critical to the whole end time purpose of the coming of the Lord. Now, a lot of Gentiles, they can't connect with that idea, but it's, it's too big of a topic tonight to cover, but we have an Israel in the church conference coming up in a couple of weeks. We're going to talk about it, but here's the point. A series of dominoes go down, so to speak, when Jerusalem is responsive to the Lord and Jerusalem will never be responsive to the Lord without a worldwide global God ordained intercessors among the Gentiles, because the Jews in the city cannot carry the load in the spirit by themselves. It's way bigger than the church in Jerusalem and it's 10 or 20 small congregations. It's going to take a global hundred million. That's just a number out there. That's not a, uh, it's more than I believe. We're talking about millions of Gentile intercessors that God set on the wall that will be crying out in unison. I remember 1983, almost 30 years ago, so perplexing when I met Bob Jones, he said, you're going to be involved in a youth group. Okay. I'm going to tell a little bit of the story tomorrow night before we sign our sacred trust. I said, okay, youth group. I don't think so. You know, I used to be a youth pastor. Now I'm a senior pastor. And he said, uh, it's going to be songbirds, singers and musicians. You've got to move over to Grandview next to Harry S. Truman, pray for Israel. You're going to touch Asia in a real special way. You know, he says, uh, do you know anything? Are you a singer? No. You're a musician? No. Do you ever pray for Israel? I go, never, ever. Are you connected to Asia? None, not. What's it? None. He said, well, you're going to do all that. You wait and see. The Israel thing was so weird. And when people come to join IHOP, they go, I love the Jesus prayer, the music, the outreach, the justice, but this Israel thing is weird. Where do my church never taught that as though that's the final authority of something being biblical. I go, your church didn't teach it. So therefore it's not in the Bible or the church didn't teach it. Therefore you're confused, but you're hungry for it. Well, let's bring this to a close. Let's look at Roman numeral two. Just want to, I just want to connect it here. Jesus in Luke 18 connects Isaiah 62, the night and day prayer by Isaiah 62. He connects it to the timing of his second coming. He says here in verse seven, shall God not avenge or bring justice first elect to cry night and day. That's the Isaiah prophecy. And then Jesus takes it up a notch. Look at the end of verse eight. He goes, let me ask you a question because I got a question for you. When I return at the second coming, here's my question. Will there be faith? He didn't mean, will there be born again people? There will be a glorious church. There will be born again people. That's not what he was asking. I've read some commentaries and they go, the falling away will be so severe. There'll be nobody with faith on the earth. I go, no, that's not it at all. You'd have to cancel out a thousand other verses. Well, not that many, but you'd have to cancel out a lot of what Jesus is saying. When I return at the second coming, will there be people on the earth in agreement with me in agreement with what agreement that you're the savior? Yes. Jesus would say, that's not what I'm asking agreement that you're the healer. That's not what I'm asking. Will there be people that have agreement or faith that night and day prayer for justice is critical for the release of justice? Will they exist on the earth? He doesn't answer it, but we know he knows the answer because Isaiah 62 verse six, he is personally going to call them one by one and set them in place and visit them and mark them and tell them to do it. Well, when you read Luke 18, if you start the parables, Luke 18, one to eight, if you start in verse one, you're going to miss the bigger picture because Luke 18 verse one to eight is the end of the, of the preaching he's doing in Luke 17. We need to take that chapter division, Luke 18 and throw it away in Luke 17. Jesus is talking about the son of man coming and describes the generation he returns. And then he ends that end time teaching with a call to night and day prayer for justice. You have to read Luke 18 in context with what he said before, because there was not even a break between the two sessions. It's the end point of his message. My point is this night and day prayer for justice is a critical part of the Luke 17 in time storyline. And that is exactly what Isaiah was saying. Let's look at top of page three, page three and four. I'll just read paragraph a leave you with that, but I wanted to just mark paragraph a, these four chapters give the context for which night and day intercessors are put in place. If you don't read the four chapters, then the night and day prayer is in a vacuum. It's in a vacuum. There's promises of glory. So I just wanted to put all that to you. I have to read one more verse. Where's it at? Because I thought of the vacuum. And then I thought of me paragraph D I've told this story many times. So I'll say it brief paragraph D verse four, you show, this is God speaking to the city of Jerusalem specifically, but in principle, it's to all the people of God because it, God never changes in his character. You shall tell it's talking about Jerusalem specifically. You shall call her Hefzabah for the Lord delights in you for as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride. So God rejoices over you. And if he does it for the redeemed in that city, they're the prototype of what is true in principle of the body of Christ. Here's my, then he says in six, I've set Watchman. And here's what I wanted to end with that. I read verse six for years in a vacuum. I didn't connect it with verse four and five beloved. It has to be connected with verse four and five and even more. It has to be connected with Isaiah 60, 61, 62, 63. I read it in a vacuum and it had a little impact because I knew God sent me in intercession to cry out night and day, but verse six, the setting of verse six by itself will not sustain you. And then, you know, the dream I've told many times over the years I had in November, 1995 in the dream, I'm at the, on a big auditorium platform like the Kansas city convention center. I'm convinced that's where it was. I didn't know back then, but now that we've been down there for one thing conferences every year, it's that room. And there's, you know, 30, 40,000 people in the room. I don't know the number, but it was massive, the whole thing full. And I'm up there on the stage and there were thousands of young people and the audible voice of God comes and speaks like thunder. Call them Hefzibah. Tell them the Lord delights in them. It was so powerful. So I said, you are Hefzibah. The Lord delights in you. The I wake up, the power of God's resting on me. It's so exciting. I mean, I'm just feeling the energy of the Holy spirit. And I thought, wow, what a remarkable truth of God delighting in weak and broken people. I mean, so it's Sunday morning. It's maybe five in the morning. I have an eight o'clock service, something like that. So I have three hours and I'm going to change my message. Already had my message. I'm going to throw it away. I'm going to preach on this Hefzibah. I mean, I have my spirits trembling in the good sense, exciting sense. I'm so excited. So I know this, I've seen Hefzibah before. I don't know where it's at. So I know it's the prophets. So I start Isaiah one, say one, two, and I got my Bible all marked up. So I figured I'd marked it up three, four, five, Isaiah six, Isaiah 21, 22, 23, 24, Isaiah 58, 59, 60, 61. And to save time, because I knew Isaiah 62 so well, because I preached on Isaiah 62, 6 more than any other one single message. I preached on it. I don't know, 20, 30, 40, 50. I don't know. Many, many, many times. So I said, Isaiah 61, 62. I know Isaiah 62. So I turned the page. I don't look. There are my Hefzibah. It goes with me. 63, 64, Jeremiah 1, 2, 3, 4, Ezekiel 1, 2, 3, 4, 48, 7, 48, Ezekiel, okay, Daniel 1, 2, 3, 4, 12, you know, Hosea 1, 2, 3, 4, 13, 14, Amos 1, 2, 3, 4. I get all the way to Malachi. It took me like an hour or two. I mean, I was so frustrated. So I said, duh, I know it's there. So I start again. Isaiah 1, 2, I go a little faster. Isaiah 58, 59, 60, 61. I already know 62. So I turn the page again. Jeremiah 1, 2, 3, 4. Daniel 1, 2, 3, 4. Hosea 1, 2, 3, 4. I'm like, ah, I'm so frustrated. Every sense of the presence and the grace of God is lifted completely. That's not even a joke. I wish it was. It was. It wasn't. I was so frustrated. So I broke down a total moral defeat. I got the concordance out. And I said, now this is, this tells you, this is not very flattering to me. I looked at Hephzibah. It said Isaiah 62. I said, that's wrong. I said, the concordance is wrong. I mean, this has got to be warfare. The concordance is wrong. I looked at it. It's the verse before my main verse. And I looked at it. And I asked the question, how did that get there? Who? What? And I saw the key right there. Verse 6. Set on the wall night and day must be anchored in the revelation of the God that delights in his people. In the partnership. In the revelation of the ministry to God. And all the dignity that goes with us in our weakness in the grace of God moving his heart and him and his infinite kindness opening up all that he is. I mean his kingdom that he's given his son and says, I want you to share as my eternal companion in it with me. For I delight in you. So beloved, you can't do verse 6 without verse 4 and 5 and verse 4 and 5 can't just be a class or a poster or a song. And I hope we have language down so clear on this that some folks are they go to the two sessions, they even preach it and therefore they have it or they sing it. That doesn't mean that it moves you. And if we're not moved by verse 4 and 5, we're going to be losing our way in verse 6. But the good news, it's all can be recovered. Amen. Let's stand. I'm gonna ask the Holy Spirit to mark us. Again, the marking I'm talking about. I mean he may just throw you back five rows. That's not I like that. I hope he does. But that's not what I mean I'm talking about the marking that I got when I was 23 that took. But I didn't feel it a bunch of times but I stayed with it and it returned. Then I lost it. Then I returned and I lost it and 33 years later I can tell you it will keep returning if you will stay with it because that's an act of faith to stay with it. Kept going to the prayer meetings. Like I said, I complained to them, but I went to them. I complained to God. I didn't complain at the worship team or the salsas and there wasn't a worship team. It was just so boring. But it worked. That's my point. Father, I ask you right now. This glorious chapter. I ask you to mark us. And what I mean by that is convince us. That's what I mean. I'm not even talking about the spirit of burning coming on you, but I hope that happens. I'm talking about something in your spirit says this is me. That's it. That's what I mean by mark you. Something just I knew that was me. For those few weeks until lifted the first time and then it came back. Lord, I ask you for this marking. I ask you for the 20 year olds like I was back in those days. I ask you for the 70 and 80 year olds. It's not too late. I mean the great intercessors of history were men like Daniel and Moses, John the apostle in their 80s and 90s. Don't give up. Simeon, Anna in their 80s. Beloved if you're in your 80s, you can get this mark. The sense of being convinced is what I mean. Holy spirit. I ask you renew us. I say yes to you. Jesus, if it takes you going to jerusalem Followed by decades of prayer that I say yes to prayer that that's what you want. When you said will any agree with me I say yes in this house and even in this heart Talk to him about your heart in this house. I will agree with you that justice will come through night and day prayer I will agree with you I just talked to him for a moment Holy spirit we say yes, we agree Now if you would like prayer for this, I mean, I wish the whole room What says yes to this? I mean that the lord would mark them. But if you're saying no, I specifically want prayer for this right now Because Because I'm not you know, I feel a little bit uncertain or I just need to a confirmation I'm going to invite you to come up if you would But again, I hope all of us in the room. We're saying yes to this without necessarily Wanting someone to pray for us tonight. This is bigger than a prayer line, but a prayer line can help Lord I ask you lord as we're going into this Week Sacred trust recommitment. I say yes, I will agree again I agree with you I agree with you lord Say in this heart I agree with you And I say with all the leaders in this house We agree with you the night day prayer is essential for justice there is no other way we agree with you I'm gonna ask for many of you to come up play for two or three people. Just take a minute or two for each Lord we say yes Without you, we love you jesus mark our weak Lord here we are. We offer ourselves to you tonight I am set on the waters. I'm saying yes to the setting of the lord The lord likes even you Won't you with him Still I will say Until You and me I am