At times our expectation is that if God is in a thing that it will automatically be successful. This is a lie meant to discourage us from pressing on. When we hear from God to act in some way and then it does not work in the way that we expect it can lead to a diminishing of our faith. Especially when we believe that God's hand guarantees immediate success. At all times God is working in a bigger picture. As much as we would like to think "it is about me" I can assure you that it is not.
Later, Moses and Aaron went in and said to Pharaoh, "This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Let My people go, so that they may hold a festival for Me in the wilderness." But Pharaoh responded, "Who is Yahweh that I should obey Him by letting Israel go? I do not know anything about Yahweh, and besides, I will not let Israel go."
Exodus 5:1-2 (HCSB)
Who will be glorified if Pharaoh let the people go at this point? I think it would be Moses. He would become a national hero and not servant of the Most High God. God did not choose Moses because he needed him. No God chose Moses that He might be glorified through Moses' obedient life.
You see we are here as servants to God. There is no room for self-glorification in the ministry of intersession. It is a ministry of resignation. "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30). The moment people begin to see you as their savior is the moment that you take the place of Christ in their lives. Trust me you do not want that job, nor are you able to bear it. Ours is a ministry that responds by bringing forth what God desires by outpouring of His love, grace, mercy, kindness into others lives. We are a conduit through which God provides this outpouring. Substantively we are nothing in ourselves.
So when things are not going as you might have expected them be resigned to continue in the last command that God has given you. If you do be prepared to see a mighty movement of God in your life. God often makes us aware of our frailty as He manifests His glory (Isaiah 6:3-5)! We may approach life with great boldness, not because of anything in ourselves, but because of the Mighty God whom we serve.
In short a ministry of intercession is one of persistence often in spite of the appearance of ineffectiveness. It is openness to the fact that God may be choosing to do something that you do not see or expect. Finally the ministry of intercession is an expectant waiting to see what God is going to do next.
God Bless You
~BJ
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