Hebrews 12:26-27 And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
I had shared with Bishop and my Pastor a month ago that the Lord had showed me how to pray for America. I didn’t share this with the Body as a whole, because people tend to misunderstand God “shaking” or “judging” as something evil. Everything God does is for our good and His glory. “Shaking wakes us up to false security so we can get on the solid rock and not only survive, but thrive.
What the Lord showed me about intercession for America is that there are two stages of intercession. In the first stage, intercession is able to pre-empt all judgment. But in it’s second stage, intercession preserves amid judgment. The first intercession saves from fire. The other saves only ” as by fire.” The difference between these stages of intercession depends on the stage of development of sin in the life cycle of a person, a family, a church, an administration, a government, or a nation.
Pre-emptive intercession heads off all judgment early in the life cycle of a people where sin is committed largely through ignorance. But in the later life cycle, after sin has been repeatedly committed against the mercies of early forgiveness, a line is crossed where intercession can no longer pre-empt judgment. At this point, intercession must re-tool, re-gear, refocus to become a protection and preserving agent amidst judgment.
Whereas early stage intercession can cancel judgment, late stage intercession labors in the face of certain judgment to distinguish between the salvageable and the unsalvageable, to extend a blanket of mercy over the salvageable and to put limits on the unavoidable wrath of God.
Once the evidence of late stage sinfulness manifest early stage intercession then becomes an affront to the Lord and He rejects it. Samuel’s intercession for Saul is the best example of this in scripture. God told Samuel to stop mourning for Saul as He had rejected him and to go with the plan God had now of anointing David as king.
Our intercession now for America is this second stage intercession. There will be protection for God’s own and we will shine like bright lights in the darkness.
Word received by Gail Ferguson Nov 7, 2012