Intercessory Prayer
Today's message is about intercession. It's a topic I needed to understand better, and an area in which I want to grow and mature. I thought others could have a similar need. Also, the need for intercession has become especially clear in our church lately. I hope that those of you who are already proficient intercessors will bear with me, and hope that the Lord reveals one or two things you hadn't thought of before.
We'll start in what I think is an unusual place, the end of the book of Job, for an example of intercessory prayer. Then we'll jump back to Genesis for a piece of Abraham's story, and then to the New Testament, to see what Paul has to say about it.
Job 42:10
10 The Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the Lord increased all that Job had twofold.
This is at the end of the story, after Job lost everything, and his well-meaning friends had given him bad advice. Notice that the Lord restored his fortune after he prayed for his friends.
Genesis 17:18-20
This is when God is telling Abraham that He's going to make His covenant with his son by Sarah. Abraham sounds like he's trying to get God to change His mind.
18 And Abraham said to God, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” 19 But God said, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name [n]Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his [o]descendants after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall [p]become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.
Colossians 4:2-4
Paul is in the Roman prison, asking for the Colossians' prayers.
(2) Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with {an attitude of} thanksgiving; (3) praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; (4) that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak.
Oswald Chambers said that there is never a danger or trap of being deceived in intercession. I found this to be really interesting. Physically helping someone involves some risk, some danger. That other person might let you down, they might not accept your help, or they might have been lying when they said they needed help. Intercession presents no danger. You intercede with God and then watch for what He does. If they were lying, God will sort it out. You can't be deceived or let down.
However, interceding is not without its risk. Henry Blackaby says in Experiencing God Day-by-Day “When was the last time your heart so grieved for those you were interceding for that your entire body agonized along with your mind and heart? (Heb. 5:7). We are a generation that avoids pain at all costs. This is why there are so few intercessors. Most Christians operate on the shallowest levels of prayer, but God wants to take us into the deep levels of intercessory prayer that only a few ever experience. Deep, prolonged intercession is painful. It involves staying before God when everyone else has gone away or sleeps (Luke 22:45). It involves experiencing brokenness with the Father over those who continually rebel against Him. How many of us will experience this kind of fervent intercession? We long for Pentecost in our lives and in our churches, but there is no Pentecost without Gethsemane and a cross. How do we become mature in our prayer life? By praying. When we do not feel like praying is precisely the time we ought to pray.”
Intercessory prayer leads us to gain the Mind of Christ regarding the other so we discern God's will. We might want to jump in and “fix” things for them, but we might be short circuiting God's intentions if we do things our way. Pray that the other will recognize Christ's atonement just as you have.
So what if we pray and nothing happens? What do we conclude about “God's promise that if we live righteous lives and pray fervently that our prayers will produce results”? (I think this comes from James. If our prayers are not accomplishing much, do we conclude that God's promise isn't true? (Hint: the answer is "no, we shouldn't conclude that.")
What should we do? We need to hold ourselves accountable to Scripture. Praying fervently means that we don't quit. And we need to let God lead us to pray for things that align with His purposes. We are not to throw our petitions at the foot of His throne. Our prayer must be worship, and lead to conforming to the mind of Christ, awaken our minds to the point that God can convey His mind to us about the people for whom we intercede. Can Jesus see the agony of His soul in us? He can't unless we are so identified with Him that we see others as He does.
And if other people don't respond in the ways they ought to, don't become discouraged. Remember the multitude of stories of God's patience with His people and how patient He's been with you.
From My Utmost for His Highest May 4
Beware of thinking that intercession means bringing our own personal sympathies and concerns into the presence of God, and then demanding that He do whatever we ask. Our ability to approach God is due entirely to the vicarious, or substitutionary, identification of our Lord with sin. We have “boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus.” Spiritual stubbornness is the most effective hindrance to intercession, because it is based on a sympathetic “understanding” of things we see in ourselves and others that we think needs no atonement. We have the idea that there are certain good and virtuous things in each of us that do not need to be based on the atonement by the Cross of Christ. We do not identify ourselves with God’s interests and concerns for others, and we get irritated with Him. Yet we are always ready with our own ideas, and our intercession becomes only the glorification of our own natural sympathies. We have to realize that the identification of Jesus with sin means a radical change of all of our sympathies and interests. Vicarious intercession means that we deliberately substitute God’s interests in others for our natural sympathy with them. Further, when the Holy Spirit gives us discernment, it must lead us not to judgment, but to intercession. Remember that when God reveals other peoples failings to us, it's not due to the sharpness of our minds, but the penetration of the Holy Spirit. We can't turn discernment into comments of ridicule and criticism. Don't spend your time trying to get others right with God before you worship Him yourself.
From My Utmost for His Highest – April 1
Are we living in such a relationship with others that we do the work of intercession as a result of being the children of God who are taught by His Spirit? We should take a look at our current circumstances. Do crises which affect us or others in our home, business, country, or elsewhere, seem to be crushing in on us? Are we being pushed out of the presence of God and left with no time for worship? If so, we must put a stop to such distractions and get into such a living relationship with God that our relationship with others is maintained through the work of intercession, where God works His miracles.
Use the circumstances we find ourselves in and the people who surround us to lift others up to God.
I'll close with some examples and of Jesus responding to intercession, and of Jesus interceding for us.
Some examples of Jesus responding to intercession
Mark 7:24-30 – The story of the woman whose daughter is possessed by a demon. This was when Jesus said it's not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs, and the woman says even the dogs get the crumbs.
Matthew 8:2-4
2 And a leper came to Him and [c]bowed down before Him, and said, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.” 3 Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
Matthew 8
Centurion's servant was very sick. Jesus says He'll go to heal the servant, and the centurion says that he's not worthy to have Jesus enter his house. He knows Jesus has authority, to just say the word and his servant will be healed. Jesus commends him for his faith, and heals the servant.
Two examples of Jesus interceding.
John 17
11 I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.
I think this is the most powerful and important one of all: “Father, forgive them for they don't know what they're doing.”
To conclude, Paul tells us to intercede, Jesus Himself intercedes, and we saw where Jesus responded to intercession. And back in Job and Genesis, we saw the Father responding to intercession. I think it's clear that we are supposed to intercede and that it's effective.
A final thought: Oswald Chambers said is that if we're doing it right, we'll be so focused on praying for others, that we won't have any mental capacity left to focus on our own sad and pitiful selves. (What an uplifting thought. :) ) So you'll have that going for you.
