Prayer for a Desperate Hour — Carter Conlon

Prayer for a Desperate Hour and Standing in the Gap

If you'll go to Ezekiel chapter 22, please. Ezekiel 22, I want to talk to you about prayer for a desperate hour. Now, Father, I thank you for the anointing of your Holy Spirit. I thank you for your strength and your power.

I thank you, God, that this battle is not ours, it's yours. You have invited us, you've called us to approach your throne for the betterment of all in this nation. Give us grace and strength, Lord. Help us, help me this morning.

Help us to embrace your word. Help us to see things the way that you do. Help me to convey it clearly. And Father, I thank you for this in Jesus' name. Ezekiel 22, verses 28 to 30. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered mortar.

Seeing vanity and divining lies unto them. Saying, thus saith the Lord God, when the Lord has not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression and exercised robbery and have vexed the poor and needy.

Yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it. But I found none.

Now, it was a season that Ezekiel is speaking about where those who are supposed to be representing God have been bringing forth a word that has no power to sustain the people. It's like a wall that's put together, but there's a deficiency in the cement whereupon all the bricks are being placed that will cause it to crumble under the wind or the elements or the struggles, the things that are going to happen in that season.

And they're seeing things that are vain and they're speaking things that are not true. They're saying, this is what the Lord is saying when the Lord himself has not spoken. Because of it, according to Proverbs 29, verse 18, where there is no vision, the people perish.

Now, the word vision means a revelation of God, the character of God, the person of God. Where there is no clear revelation of God, the people themselves cast off moral restraint. That's really what it means.

They cast off all restraint and they begin to go in any direction that seems right to the natural mind. And because the word of God was not coming clearly from the pulpits of that time, the people began to use oppression, exercise robbery, vex the poor and oppress the stranger wrongfully.

They cast off godly restraint and moral boundaries. And this is exactly what is happening in our nation. We are living at the time when I think the two of these things, I've worked hand in hand. A very light, and the scripture calls it a treacherous message, has been preached purporting to represent Jesus Christ in our generation.

And because it hasn't been true, because it has not brought people to the place where they should be in God, there's been a casting off of moral restraint. Now we are facing all kinds of things in our day that were almost unthinkable years ago.

We've redefined the family now. And I was told recently in Brazil, there's a law now being considered where three people can get married. And the people that spoke to me about it said, there appears to be a chance it could become law.

But you see, once you've cast off your moral compass, once you've thrown away any kind of writing that says this is the way things ought to be done, then there are no restraints anymore. There's nothing stopping this complete moral landslide that the Apostle Paul says will characterize the last days of this world as we know it.

God’s Search for an Intercessor

Now, in verse 30, here we see the heart of God searching. This is God speaking through Ezekiel. He said, I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land that I should not destroy it, but I found none.

Now, there was a destruction coming because of the behavior of the people. There was a breakdown. There was a point where God just simply lifts his hand. He says, I can't walk with this anymore. There's the hardness has gotten so deep in the society.

And folks, God help us literally the day that the Lord lifts his hand and restraint is gone because once he lifts his hand, there's no more restraint. And we will plummet into depths of depravity that are almost unspeakable and unthinkable.

And God says, I look for somebody. Now, he could do it sovereignly, but he has, for his reasons, he has tied the working of his hand into working with people, with individuals. He wants somebody to walk with him, to talk with him, to move his heart, to change his mind.

I sought for somebody that I should not destroy the land, but I found none. Now, I don't think it's because there weren't people of prayer. I don't think it's because there weren't people of faith. There were people there, obviously studying the scriptures, obviously given to fasting and prayer like we are today.

But what was the characteristic? What was it in the people that God couldn't find anybody? What kind of a man, what kind of a woman, what kind of a person is God looking for in this generation? Now, to find the answer, you and I have to go back and see some examples of people that God has used to change the course of history in the past.

Samuel and the Power of an Ordinary Answer to Prayer

Now, you don't have to turn there. Let me just talk to you about it. In 1 Samuel 1, Israel, again, was in a season of serious spiritual declension. The ministry of Eli and his two sons characterized a ministry that had become immoral and lazy and greedy.

The nation was itself on the brink of captivity. So we ask ourselves, who could make a difference? Now, I can imagine as in our day or every day, everybody's more or less standing back, waiting for another Elijah, waiting for another John the Baptist.

And that has happened throughout the course of history and thank God for that. But that's not the only way God comes. That's not the only way the Lord moves and changes the nation. And I'm sure there were people there.

There had to be people discerning, knowing that Eli is just completely backslidden. His sons are immoral. They're so greedy that through them, people have begun to despise the offering of God in his house towards his work.

The ark is about to be captivated by the enemies of God. That means the presence of God seemingly is going into captivation. There are people there who are obviously aware of that. So how is God going to remedy the situation?

What is he going to use to make a difference? Now, suddenly, suddenly, into the temple one day comes the answer. A lady enters into the temple with a little child that God has given her in prayer. Just a little boy.

The scripture says he was weaned. I don't really know. That's gotta be somewhere between a year and a half and maybe four years. But this is a little boy that God gave to this woman in prayer. And what it speaks about to me number one, God's answers are seldom noticed by the carnal and proud, by the movers and shakers, by the strategists and thinkers.

They seldom see how God works and they forget that God's ways are not our ways and his thoughts are not our thoughts. We forget that God works in ways where he takes those things that are nothing and make something out of it.

He takes a little boy's bag lunch and feeds 5 ,000 men plus women and children with it. We forget how God works. You know, we sit on the hilltop looking for a caravan, a bread coming in, in camels or trucks or whatever the vehicles are of the moment.

And we missed the little boy with his lunch. So today you come into the house of the Lord and it's only a little time since you've been saved. And you're only a little distance from your old ways of living.

And you only have a little victory from where you think your life needs to go. But I want to challenge you and tell you today that it's your life and your prayer that can change the course of the nation.

Just a little boy, insignificant. How many times do we have to see it through history until it finally gets into our hearts? The God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. He works through people who will not touch the glory.

When he begins to do what only God can do, all they have is a song like Mary had, like Elizabeth had, like Hannah had, and like so many others, like Deborah had. It's just a song about how magnificent God is and how he came in my weakness and how he filled me in my emptiness and how it took me in my nothingness and multiplied his life within me and through me.

And God came and did the miraculous that he alone might receive the glory. Paul says, consider your calling, brethren. Not many mighty, not many noble, not many of royal birth, not many that the world would look at and said, oh, surely this is the one that God is going to use.

No, but God has chosen the weak and the foolish and the nothings and the nobodies. And it's through these that he makes a difference that no flesh can glory in his presence. No flesh can glory. He alone is God.

He alone deserves the glory. God took this little answer to prayer called Samuel and through Samuel, he brought renewal one more time to the nation. Kings were anointed. There was a clear revelation through Samuel of who God was one more time in the nation of Israel.

And this is our prayer. God almighty, I'm coming to you this morning with my little life and my little salvation and my little bit of victory and my little bit of hope for the future. But oh God, the little bit that you've given me, I've learned through the scriptures that you are well able to multiply that.

And you can take that, oh God, and you can start to move in the heavenlies in a way that confounds those who walk according to their natural thinking. So I'm not gonna be held back from praying the prayers that you want me to pray.

I'm not going to let anything of the devil, anything of the frailty of my own heart stop me from believing that God wants to answer my prayer. I'm gonna bring my little bit that God's given me to the throne and I'm gonna open my mouth and I'm gonna give it to God and God's gonna hear me and God's gonna answer my prayer.

Esther and the Call to Speak in a Desperate Hour

You look at the book of Esther. Again, in Israel, it's a season where a law of death has been passed in the nation, which would affect many people. You think of our time, we're abortion on demand now.

Oh folks, there's a very fine line between where we are now and getting rid of the elderly who will be bleeding our medical systems. Once you've crossed the line and we crossed it a long time ago, folks, what makes you think that we as a people have the moral resolve to draw a line and go no further?

Oh no, we've seen through history what man can do to man. And if we've learned anything through history, we know that there has to be a value placed on human life. We have to value every life that is given of God.

And there's a season in the book of Esther where this law of death has been passed in the nation and it would affect many people. And God's remedy to counter this law and rewrite the law of life was an orphan girl.

A girl herself who had to be adopted by a family member after her parents passed away. She could lay no claim to wisdom, to any might or to any nobility. She had simply been placed there by God for such a time as this.

You have been placed in this generation, just as Esther was placed in the court of the king. You have been born at this time. You're not a fluke of nature. No matter how you were conceived or how you were brought into the world, you have to understand that God is all knowledgeable.

God is all powerful. He saw you the moment you were conceived in your mother's womb and allowed you to be born and to be born now, to be born for this time and this season in which we're living. And he allowed you to be born for a purpose.

You're not just here occupying time and space, hoping to get through until one day you get to heaven when you die. No, there's a reason why you're here now. Now listen to her confession. She's got no lineage.

She's got no people. Technically she can speak to the king about. She has nothing to boast. She has no army. She's got no political connections. She has no large reserve, but a word comes to her to go into the king and ask the king to change the law of death and rewrite it into a law of life.

She's the type of the person who says by her own confession, in Esther 411, she said, but you don't understand. I haven't been with the king. I haven't been intimate with the king for over a month now.

30 days, she said. And it's the type of a person sitting here this morning and says, but you don't know who you're talking to. You see, I don't have much of a prayer life. I haven't been talking to the king for a while now.

I do love him and I do honor him and acknowledge him, but I don't really pray very much. And are you really telling me that God wants me to pray or come in and place my petition before him? And if I do, why would God want to hear me?

And the reason is simple. He chose you for this moment. It's his choice. It's not yours. It's his choice. He placed you here for this moment. And if you don't get that, then the devil can succeed in quashing your faith and quashing your prayers and causing you to drop back at a moment that you should be pressing forward into something of him that he wants to give you and do through you.

The king's favor is towards you. Already, God has moved towards you. He has already made an entrance towards you. He's already written in his word, come to me, not when you are strong, come to me when you are weak.

Come when you don't have it all together. Come when you're weary and heavy laden. Come when you're burdened and don't know how to get out. Come, not in your strength, but in your trials and in your time of need.

And he says, come boldly, come with confidence. Come, because I've invited you. My heart is towards you. I want to hear your voice. I want you to present your petitions before me. We have an open heaven, according to the writer of the book of Hebrews.

He's appointed you to stand before him, to appeal for mercy for yourself and for others at this time, which is exactly what Esther did. She knew that she needed mercy, and many other people also needed mercy.

And she stood before the king, and his heart, even though by his hand had been decreed a judgment, Esther stood before him and caused him to release as it was, the writing of his own hand, and to put a seal in hers and a family member of hers to be able to rewrite the law of sin and death that was over that society, that would give people a chance to stand up and fight again by the decree of God, by the word of God, by the power of God, by the presence of God, by the glory of God, by the encouragement of God.

And it all happened through an orphan girl who went into the king, realizing she had been placed in the kingdom for such a time as this. You cannot let the devil silence you now. You cannot be marginalized in this battle.

You cannot, you must not, you must speak at this time. You have been appointed for this time. You've been called at this time. It is wrong for you to hold your peace at a time when so many could be saved if you lift your voice to heaven.

Your voice must count in this battle that's ahead of us. You must not sit in silence and allow the devil to condemn you and allow your own fears to govern you any longer. You've got to stand up. You stand up like Hannah did and walk boldly into the temple.

You stand up like Esther did and you come before the king with a realization in your heart and in mine. It's not by might nor by power. It's by the spirit of God that this victory will be won. And he doesn't call us to come in because we are exceeding great prayer warriors.

As much as I thank God for those who are, the bulk of us are not, but he calls us in our frailty and our weakness and our lack of pedigree. It says, come and ask of me what you will. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you will ask whatever you want and I will do it for you.

I will give it to you. These are words from God. They are true words. He says, have faith in God for truly I say to you, whoever will say to this mountain, be removed and cast into the sea and will not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that the things that he says shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he says.

Glory to God. I don't know about you, but I'm not willing to draw back from the throne of God. I'm not willing to be silent in a moment such as this. I'm not willing to let New York City perish when you and I are here and we have access to the throne of God and a difference can be made.

A Word from God in the Midst of Storms

We were here last Tuesday, in Tuesday night service and we prayed in that service for the city and for the future and for numerous other things. And when the curtain came down last Tuesday evening, we couldn't leave, those of us on the platform couldn't leave.

We stayed on the platform for an extra 20, maybe 25 minutes. The presence of the Lord had come down. His presence was like a weight pressing on us. I can't explain it any other way. And all you could think about was Jesus.

I couldn't help but think at that moment, Oh God, you're giving us a taste of what you can do in New York City. Your presence can come down. You can go to our colleges and our schools and our streets and our boroughs and our apartment buildings.

And if you came with that same presence in these places, people would be streaming out of their houses and trying to find a prayer meeting somewhere in New York City to get right with God. I stand like Paul did in Acts chapter 27.

And though all hell seems to be breaking out and though there are waves and tides and storms and the future looks hopeless, I stand with Paul who said, I have a word from God. I know what God is about to do in the future.

And I believe it will be as it was told me. Yes, Paul said the ship is going to break apart. And yes, the loss of things that once comforted you are going to be taken away. But he said, we're all going to make it to shore.

There's lots of wood to go around. You grab hold of a piece of the cross of Jesus Christ. You'll make it through trial and flood and difficulty. And you will have an opportunity to hear a message like you've never heard in your entire life.

A message that will save you from the power of sin. A message that will open prison doors and set you free. A message that will heal your mind and heal your body. A message that will give your family hope for the future.

A message that will set your thinking right. A message that will put a path before your feet. A message that will cause you to hear a voice that says this is the way, walk in it. A message that will give you a song and a heart and hope for the future.

A message that will put love in your heart for the lost. A message that will make you a catalyst for good and not for evil in this society. I have a word of God for you. Hallelujah. Lastly, in Acts chapter three, we have Peter and John heading into the temple at the time of prayer.

Peter and John: Prayer Focused on Others

Which is interesting in itself because the temple at that time was essentially focused on the Old Testament. The Old Testament way and sacrifice and view of God. And Peter and John are obviously New Testament believers in Christ.

They've been given the Holy Spirit. So why are they going to the temple? Well, number one, they recognize the power of prayer. They recognize it with everything that is, they know that it's through prayer that God works.

They know it's through fealty. Number two, they didn't abandon anybody who was in that temple seeking God. People were seeking, they were in a deficient system at that time, but they were still seeking God.

Just the same way that you and I are not going to abandon any church in New York City. Any place where people are in that door, I don't care what name is on the door. Personally, if they invite me, I'm going to go and speak there.

We're not going to abandon people who are seeking God. They may be a little off to the left or a little off to the right. Anybody here can honestly say that wasn't you at one point in your walk with God?

Thank God he didn't abandon you, he didn't abandon me. And we're not going to abandon anybody who's seeking God. Praise God. And Peter and John came into that temple and they also were fully aware of the heart of God in that place.

When that temple was established, Solomon had prayed a prayer. And when he prayed these words, oh God, if we are put to the worst before our enemies, if we are conquered within or without our borders, if we are taken into captivity, if we go into a season of famine or hardship or want, if there is difficulty that we don't know how to get out of, if strangers start coming in with questions in their hearts and they're looking for answers, Solomon said, oh God, hear the prayer that is prayed in this place and answer that prayer.

And when he had finished praying, the scripture says the glory of God, the weightiness of God, the majesty of God came down into that temple in a way that the priests at one portion of scripture could not even stand to minister because of the presence of God that had come into the temple.

And Peter and John knew this. He knew that the heart of God had not abandoned people who were seeking him, no matter who they were or where they had come from. And they knew that when people are gathered to pray, that they were gonna gather with them and they were gonna pray with them and they were gonna trust for that glory to come and Jesus Christ to be revealed to the people.

And as Peter and John headed to the temple, they had needs in their own lives. According to their own testimony, Peter looked at a man who was lame at the gate and he said, silver and gold, have I none?

And so they could have technically been heading to the temple and saying, Lord, we need resources to do your work. And when the beggar at the gate would have said, do you have something for me? They could have said, well, hang on, we're going in to pray.

And we believe that God's gonna give us silver and gold. And then when he does, we'll have something for you. And that could have been the way the story was written. But folks, here's the key. Even though they had needs, they had a need of strength themselves.

They were on the cusp of being threatened. And even they were living under the threat as it was of a society that was against God. And even though they could have legitimately gone into the temple and prayed about their own needs all day.

And that's something you and I can do as well. You've got needs, I've got needs. I could spend my whole day. I could spend my whole day praying about my own needs. And that's not an exaggeration. I got lots of needs.

I could spend the whole day praying about it. But that wasn't the focus. They were people with needs like you and me. They were coming in. They were aware of it. Yet they focused firstly on the needs of others and that God would be glorified through their prayer.

Look at me, Peter said. Look upon us. Silver and gold, he said, I have I none. But in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. And this is the man, he said, immediately they had to reach down and grab him and pick him up.

And we're gonna pray like that in the days ahead. We don't only pray, we have to do something about it. We can't just say, be warmed and filled, my brother. We've got to reach down and pick him up. And God will show us how to do that.

And I pray that I live to see the day that in this and in other houses that we've got, the scripture says they walked into the temple and this man, they were holding him up in the temple because he'd never walked before.

So obviously he's got to learn to walk, but his legs are moving. They're going all over the place. He's probably got a hand around the shoulder of Peter on one side and John on the other. And his legs are going all over the place and he's leaping and dancing and praising God.

Oh, hallelujah, hallelujah. I pray for conversion so profound, so powerful. Maybe we'll have to set aside the lobby for people who just want to dance, are so happy to come to Christ. Oh folks, oh folks, when God begins to move, God moves, people get glad, they get happy.

When I was a young Christian, some people invited me to this church. It was a fairly large church. They invited me to attend it. And I was sitting in the congregation. I was newly saved. I was so happy to be saved.

So happy to be born again. So happy to know I'm going to heaven. So happy to know that I had a future ahead of me. That I was not anywhere near what I was supposed to be, but I wasn't what I was the day before.

And I was looking forward to the next day. How sad it was that I had to wait until church was over to praise God. It was amazing. I had to wait till everybody left. I stayed until everybody was gone. Then I walked up and down the aisles of that church singing, he lives, he lives.

Christ Jesus lives today. He walks with me and talks with me. Oh, long life's way. He lives, he lives, salvation to impart. You ask me how I know he lives. He lives within my heart. Hallelujah. I have no problem with people get happy for the right reason.

Now this is not a license for nutcases to show themselves off in Times Square Church. We'll pick you out right away. If you're not in the spirit, we know who you are. I warn you, if you don't stop, we have a way to help you out and we'll help you out, all right.

But for those who it's genuine, good grief man. If God heals your legs, then get up and dance in the house of God. What a day this is going to be. What a day to be alive. What a day to come to the throne of God and say, Lord, we ask you one thing, do something so powerful in New York City that the whole world, the whole world has to stop and take notice.

The media can't ignore it anymore. On one side of the world, we see people looting and burning and killing and angry and violent. God, create a contrast in the earth for people to see there is a living God, there is a savior, there is a way to eternal life.

That's my prayer. Oh Jesus, do something so profound in New York City that nobody, not even a fool could touch the glory. Nobody dare touch it, that everybody know this is God has done this. This is God is saving his people.

This is God who is reaching out. This is Jesus Christ who has come to his people one more time. This is the mercy of God touching a city. Folks, you and I have got to believe it. If a few hundred misguided individuals can occupy Wall Street and it goes around the world, how much more when people start to occupy the house of God?

Hallelujah. Now we come to the finish of what I'm talking about. Who is it that God is going to use? Who is it? It's everybody. It's everyone here, it's me, it's you. It's your voice at the throne, it's my voice.

It's me with my little bit of life and you with your little bit of life that God's given you. Bring it in and say, God, what you've done for me, would you bless your house with it? Would you bless others with it?

It's the estrus of this generation. Some here, you don't even know who your parents are. It doesn't matter, Esther didn't either most likely. But God called her at that moment to be the vessel that would change the nation and change the future.

It's the Peter and John who are more steeped in the ways of God, who know better the things of God, but they knew this one thing, that the glory of God only comes when we're not focused on ourselves. The glory comes, the power comes, the healing comes, the testimony comes when our prayers and our focus is on other people.

Praise be to God. For you see your calling, brethren, Paul said. And the question I have in my heart today is do you see your calling? Do you see it? Do you fully understand that from this point forward in history, you are not to be a silent testimony in a prayer meeting?

There's a proverb that says, the dead don't praise the Lord, neither those that go down into silence. Don't think that sitting in silence is a type of prayer, it isn't. Oh, you have to open your mouth.

You talk to God. Hannah could only whisper. It was such an anguish, she could only whisper, but God answered it. God answered it. And I'm sure Esther didn't go in shouting at the king, but the king heard her.

She opened her mouth and Hannah opened her mouth. And you'll see it all, all, all through the scriptures. What an awesome hour that there'd be no superstars in this generation, just God coming in response to the prayers of his people.

And if people shouldn't say in the future, well, whose prayers did God answer? You and I can say, everybody's, everybody's, everybody's, everybody's, everybody's, everybody's. We're gonna stand in just a moment and I'm asking Pastor Teresa to come and pray for our government.

Pray for President Obama, pray for the Senate, pray for the Congress, pray for whoever will lead us in the future, pray for Mayor Bloomberg. We're gonna pray for his council. We're gonna pray for state and regional governments and leaders.

The Bible tells us to pray for our leaders. That's exactly what we're going to do. We're gonna pray, God Almighty, bless them. And those that have sat in any measure under the word of God, bring them back to the center, bring them back, oh God, to what they know the truth to be.

We have many members of Congress in the Senate who are Christians and we should pray, God, give them the courage to stand up now and be counted. I'd rather be a fool for Christ than somebody else's fool.

I don't know about you, but I would rather be a fool for Christ. And then I'm gonna ask Brother Chooks Ubu, one of our elders here at Times Square Church, a praying man of God, to come and lead us in a prayer for our spiritual leaders in America, the pastors and deacons and elders and those that are placed over us.

And when I say us, I'm talking about the whole body of Christ, pray, God, please bless them. Let your presence come to them again. Lift up those that are discouraged. Help to bring down measurably those that are proud.

Help those that are walking in the flesh to walk in the spirit. God, bring us together as a body. This battle is too big for any one church or denomination. The whole church has to come together now. And I do believe that God will answer that prayer and he will do it super nice.

He's doing it in New York right now. There's so many churches came last Wednesday for the Feed New York, launching a Feed New York and the excitement. I had pastors come to me, sit at the table and they said to me, pastor, this is a whole lot bigger than you realize what God is doing right now.

I thank the Lord for that. There most likely will be very close to, if not 100 churches that we're partnering with to start feeding people in New York City. What an incredible privilege. We'll get together every month to pray.

We'll encourage one another in the things of God. We'll visit each other's churches and the realization that we're a much bigger body than just one or two churches in the city. Thank God, thank God, thank God, thank God.

Pastor Tresor, would you please come and I'm gonna ask you to stand and please stay for this prayer. We'll be done by noon today and pray. Pray for our government. Pray sincerely. Don't just pray for the Democrats or the Republicans or the libertarians or the independents.

Pray for our government and pray as Christians should pray. You're not right to hate anybody. We're not to be part of this and if you are, get away from it fast. Get out of it because it's gonna poison your testimony.

Just get away from it. We have a right to hold opinions but not to become bitter and grieve in space. Do you understand what I'm talking about? We're gonna pray and you please, as she leads us, lift your voice as well.

Intercession for Government and Spiritual Leaders

Oh God of hope, would you help us now? We've heard a word. And Lord, I pray, oh God, that an Esther anointing would come upon us, the everyones. Lord, we have been anointed to make an appeal. We have been appointed to make an appeal.