PRAYING FOR THE HARDENED - Pt. 1

 

What is an intercessor’s most formidable challenge? It is praying for the hardened person. You know the type. Maybe you are praying for someone like that now. This person has no interest in the things of God. This person loves his or her lifestyle more than pursuing God and His will. This person is determined to have nothing to do with God and His Word. The list of characteristics could go on and one. But, the bottom line is that this person is hardened to God and determined to do anything but surrender to Him.

Praying for the hardened person drains you. You have to keep on praying even when you see no change. You continue even when the person seems to get deeper and deeper into sin and further away from God. You know the consequences if this person does not turn to God in surrender and repentance. You are standing in the gap between God and this hardened person. This is the heavy price that must be paid in order to pray for the hardened person.

Praying for the hardened person requires a commitment to pray for the long haul. God is sometimes pleased to immediately answer and deal with a person in this condition. Yet, sometimes it is a matter of a process over a period of time. It is a matter of praying through the layers of hardness until you get to the heart of the problem. Patience and persistence must characterize the intercessor that will stand in the gap for this type of person.

Are you praying for hardened people? Maybe you are discouraged. Maybe you are tired. Maybe you are ready to give up. You have prayed and prayed but this person or persons remain hardened in their rebellion against God It seems there is no hope in your case. If this is the case, you need to look at the prayer life of Moses.

The prayer life of Moses provides us with an excellent example of praying for hardened people. Moses dealt with and prayed for the hardened and often rebellious people of Israel. He offered agonizing and broken intercession for disobedient people. His example suggests some lessons that we must consider in praying for the hardened. These are lessons that will aid you when confronted with the formidable challenge of praying for a hardened person.

DO NOT LIMIT YOUR INTERCESSION

( EXODUS 8-10) please read

The first lesson that Moses’ prayer life presents is that you should not limit your intercession. By this, I mean that you should not fail to have hope for the most hardened of individuals. As an intercessor, you should not feel that ANYONE is beyond the grace and power of God. Regardless how long and how deep in sin and rebellion a person has been, God can still speak to and transform that person.

Pharaoh is a classic example of a hardened person. He refused to let Israel leave Egypt to worship the Lord in the wilderness. The Word of God states in Exodus 10:3, "so Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him ‘Thus says the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me? Let my people go that they may serve me.’" Pharaoh had heard the Word of the God. He along with the Egyptians had experienced the plagues sent by God. Each one was designed to cause Pharaoh to repent. Yet, in spite of all this, he stubbornly hardened his heart toward God and His Word. He refused to humble himself before the Lord.

On four occasions, however, Pharaoh asked Moses to pray for him. The first time came after the plague of frogs (Exodus 8:8-15). Moses prayed, but Pharaoh hardened his heart. The plague of the insects provoked Pharaoh again to ask for Moses’ intercession (Exodus 8-30-32). Moses once again prayed, but Pharaoh hardened his heart.

At this point, most of us would have been ready to give up on Pharaoh. The plague of hail ruined the crops of Egypt. Once more Pharaoh wanted Moses to pray, "And Pharaoh sent and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, ‘I have sinned this time. The LORD is righteous, and my people and I are wicked. Entreat the LORD, that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you go and you shall stay here no longer" (Exodus 9:27-28).

Moses discerned Pharaoh’s hypocrisy and told him. "I know that you will not yet fear the LORD God" (Exodus 9:30). Yet, even this did not stop Moses from praying for Pharaoh. Pharaoh’s hypocrisy and hardness of heart did not prevent him from interceding for him (Exodus 9:33-35).

The fourth and final time that Moses prayed for Pharaoh is found in Exodus 10:16-20. Pharaoh again asks Moses to pray for him. Moses does and Pharaoh once again hardens his heart. In this passage, something unique happens, "But the LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go" (Exodus 10:27). This text says that God hardened Pharaohs heart. Previously, the Word of God declares that Pharaoh had hardened his own heart. Because Pharaoh repeatedly hardened his own heart, the Lord gave him up to his own depravity. Pharaoh had hardened his heart so much that God gave him over to his own hardness of heart. Yet, Moses still prayed for him.

The Bible does teach that God gives people over to their own depravity and hardness of heart (Romans 1:18-32). When a person continues to harden his or her heart to God and His Word, God will harden that person’s heart beyond salvation. Yet, who of us is sufficient to know when this takes place? Who knows when this happens in the life of an individual? This is something that God only knows. It is not our responsibility to determine if a person’s heart has been hardened beyond salvation. It is our responsibility to pour ourselves out in intercession for those who are hardened. It is our responsibility to plead and wrestle with God for that person. As long as that person’s heart beats and there is breathe in his or her body, there is hope. As long as the person is this side of the grave, we must pray fervently for him or her.

Have you ever heard someone say, "It’s useless to pray for him. He’ll never become a Christian." What an insult to God! What a lack of confidence in the power of prayer! The first and most basic lesson of praying for hardened people is that you do not limit your intercession. You do not decide who is beyond the grace and power of God. You do not write people off because they are hardened and rebellious toward God and His Word.

If you are praying for a hardened person, don’t give up! Don’t lose hope! You are praying to the God of power and mercy. The only time to lose hope is when you stop praying. As long as you are pleading, there is hope for genuine change in this person’s life.  (cont ...)