14 July 2021
Introduction: We often use the Word “intercession: “as a synonym for “prayer.” In our daily conversation it is acceptable to use the words interchangeably, but not when we are dealing with them as technical terms. Prayer means talking to God. Intercession is coming to God on behalf of another. All intercession is prayer, but not all prayer is intercession. “Intercession” is derived from the following:
Hebrew:
Paga – to come up against; strike against; to be violent against; to light or fall upon; to come between; to meet with; to entreat; to pray; to reach; to run; to strike the mark; to paint a target.
Massa – to prophesy by breaking forth the burden of God out of your belly, an utterance.
Greek:
Haperentunchano – to make a petition or intercede on behalf of another.
Entunchano – a meeting between; to meet with; to come between for one’s sake.
Enteuxis – to get the ear of a king on behalf of another.
Agonizomai – to struggle, to contend with an adversary, to fight; to labour fervently; to travail; to accomplish something.
Biazo – to force, to crowd and press forward.
Biastes – an energetic and aggressive taker, to seize by violence.
The true spirit of intercession is the spirit of humility, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, (all that the complete love character of the Father is).
The true intercessor is one who has passed from darkness into light and because of the love of God shed aboard in his heart consents to go back into the darkness in the spirit to bring others out.
- Jesus Gives a Model
Jesus’ priestly prayer for His disciples on the night before the crucifixion is an excellent model for our intercessory prayers. It is found in the seventeenth chapter of John. Read it over carefully. Note how Jesus reaffirms His oneness with the Father as the basis of His confidence in prayer. His claim and confidence are based on what the Father had already done declared. Then the Lord prays for the disciples as people given Him by His Father. He prays for them in the following areas:
For their sanctification (John 17:17)
For their protection (John 17:15)
For their unification (John 17:21)
The Lord goes on to claim all that the Father had promised for the disciples. Then the prayer proceeds to include those who will become believers through the disciples. The Lord’s intercessory prayer was in perfect consistency with what He knew was the heart of God. This is a key factor to unlocking the power of intercessory prayer.
As intercessors, God is able by His Spirit to teach us what to pray and how to pray for others. He gives us a picture of what He wants to do and then the content of our prayer is to claim that picture. Intercessory prayer is the risen present Christ continuing His ministry through His chosen and called people.
After our conversion experience, our major ministry is praying for others. “Talking to men for God is a great thing but talking to God for men is greater still” (Bounds). The intercessory prayer of Jesus gives us further insight into how to pray when we are concerned for others. The ultimate prayer is that “they may be one.” That oneness with God is the deepest need in everyone for whom we pray. Oneness means love, communion, intimacy, closeness. The essential “I” meets the eternal God. Whatever need in a person drives us to our knees is insignificant in comparison to this. And when we are led to pray about a specific problem, our supreme concern is that the Lord will use what is happening to a person for an introduction to a deeper relationship with Him.
- Why God Needs Our Prayers
Why does God need our prayer? If He knows what is best for someone, why doesn’t He just do it without involving us? That is the other dimension of the oneness Jesus prayed for. He came not only to make us one with God but to call us into oneness with each other. The reconciliation He died and rose to provide, and returned to impart is, both vertical and horizontal: It is with God and between others and us.
That is why intercessory prayer is so crucial. The Lord wants us to be to one another what He has been to us in love, forgiveness, and unlimited concern. The mystery of it all is that often He will not bless another until we pray.
When we do pray, His love flows through us to the other person. The help the Lord has reserved until we prayed is given because we become agents of His intervention.
When He is ready to give reconciliation, salvation, healing, deliverance, strength, guidance, or the resolution of a seemingly unsolvable problem, He enlists us into partnership for the accomplishment of His will.
Question: Who in our lives is experiencing less than God’s maximum because we have not taken our calling to intercessory prayer seriously.
Question: How many mediocre relationships do we have with other members of Christ’s Body? Measure these relationships with the extent to which we pray for the individuals concerned. Because we pray so little for others, we cannot experience true and genuine relationships with them.
Intercession is the best arbitration of differences, the best promoter of true friendship, the best cure and preservative agent against unkind tongues, all anger and haughty passion. Intercessory prayer frees us to love the persons for whom we pray.
We feel the pulse-beat of the Lord’s love. Concern for them prompts forgiveness and patience. Our hearts are knit to theirs as we claim what the Lord has given us – the discernment and boldness to ask for them.
We are on their side – for them. People desperately need that. God knows – He created us so that we could not be complete without Him or each other. Intercession is the mother tongue of the new creation in Christ.
- Who Is an Intercessor?
A. An intercessor is one who stands in the gap (Ezek. 22:30,31).
The implications of these verses are staggering. God’s holiness, integrity, and uncompromising truth prevent Him from simply excusing sin. It must be judged. On the other hand, not only is He holy, but He is also love and His love always desires to redeem, to restore and to show mercy. The Scriptures tell us that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezek. 33:11) but is willing that we repent (2 Pet. 3:9) and turn away from sin.
The passage is clearly saying, “While my justice demanded judgment, my love wanted forgiveness. Had I been able to find a man to ask Me to spare this people, I could have. It would have allowed Me to show mercy. Because I found no one; However, I had to destroy them.”
B. An intercessor is one who takes the place of another (Isa. 59:16)
In that calamitous hour, there was no man to act as mediator for the sin of the nation and a Holy God. The picture of a nation of which Isaiah speaks is the same as that of that of the nations today. One wonders what the Holy Creator thinks of the complex, powerless, heavily-financed, electrified (but not electrifying), computerized system that we dare to fall the “Church in this hour. Does God still look for intercessions? Where will He find them? Will He take the fund raisers, programs of men and the tireless energy of the flesh in exchange for the sweat of the intercessors?
C. An intercessor is one who stretches himself out (2 Kings 4:34; Acts 12:5).
D. An intercessor is one who labour in prayer (Col. 4:12;1 Thess. 2:9).
E. An intercessor is one who upholds or lifts another (Isa. 63:5).
F. An intercessor is one who pours out his or her soul (Isa. 53:12; 1 Sam. 1:10,15).
The divine meaning of “intercession” is “the outpouring of the soul.” Jesus poured out His soul in Gethsemane and on the Cross. Hannah (also known as the silent intercessor) poured out her soul in her state of anguish. She overcame the scorn of the high priest who was out of touch with such intercession.
G. An intercessor is one who wrestles with God (Gen. 32:24-32).
H. An intercessor is a Gatekeeper to keep the enemy out (Gen.24:60).
I. An intercessor is a watchman who “never hold their peace night nor day… who gives God no rest.” (Isa. 62:6,7).
J. An intercessor is a director who directs the affairs of the Body of Christ (Rom. 8:28; Eph. 6:18; Acts 12).
K. An intercessor is a Conductor who controls the world affairs (1 Tim. 2:1,2).
L. An intercessor is one who is radical and violent in prayer (Matt. 11:12).
M. An intercessor is an enforcer – our responsibility is to enforce the victory of Jesus Christ on Calvary as we also meet the power of darkness: With this in mind, we may state it this way: We, through prayers of intercession, meet the powers of darkness, enforcing the victory Christ accomplished when He met them in His work of intercessions. A good example of how we enforce Christ’s victory is found in Josh. 10:22-27; see also Josh. 1:3; Matt. 16:19.
N. An intercessor is one who reminds the Lord of promises and appointments not yet met and fulfilled. (Isa. 62:6,7).
O. An intercessor is one who makes up the hedge and builds up the walls of protection in time of battle (Ezek. 13:4,5).
P. An intercessor is a Birther – (1 Kings 18:41-45; Ps. 126:5,6; Isa. 66:7,8).
- The Qualifications of an Intercessor
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- You must be saved (Born-again) Jn. 3:1-8; Acts 2:21.
- You must be sanctified. (Heb. 7:25,26)
- You must have faith in God’s Word and Promises. (Num. 23:19; Jer. 33:3; 2 Cor. 1:20; Titus 1:2).
- You must have a sound knowledge of God’s Word (Acts 4:24-31).
- Unconditional Love – (1 Cor. 13).
- Impartiality (Eph. 6:6:18; 1 Tim. 2:1).
- Jealousy for God (1 Kings 18:1- 46).
- Filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:8; 2:1-4).
- The Power of Intercessory Prayer
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- It breaks down barriers and strongholds of the enemy (Joshua 6).
- It moves mountains (Ex. 14:13-16; Mk. 11:23,24)
- It opens closed doors (Acts 12:1-10).
- It brings deliverance in the time of a crisis (Gen. 18:9-33; Ex. 32:30-32; Daniel 3; Numbers 14:13-21).
- It gives us power to bind and to loose (Matt. 18:18,19).
- It releases labourers for God’s work Matt. 9:37,38).
- It releases finances for God’s work (Ex. 24,25).
- It opens the door for us to find our right partner for marriage (Gen. 24)
- It overcomes worry (Phil. 4:6,7).
- The price to Pay as an Intercessor.
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- Total dependence on the Holy Spirit (Rom. 8: 26,27)
- Isaiah was called to walk naked and barefooted (Isa. 20:1-6)
- Moses had to forsake his palace (Heb. 11:24-27).
- Jacob was crippled for life (Gen. 32:24-32).
- Esther was prepared to lose her life (Esther 4:16).
- Ezekiel the prophet could not even cry at the death of his wife (Ezek. 24:16-18).
- Hosea was called to marry a harlot (Hosea 11:1-4).
- Hannah had to live with shame and disgrace (1 Sam. 1).
- Samuel had to live in a very undesirable environment (1 Sam. 2).
- Nehemiah had to give up a good paying job in the king’s palace (Neh. 1).
- Elijah had to stand alone (1 Kings 17,18).
- Job list all his earthly possessions and had to face the scorn of his wife and friends (Book of Job).
- Jeremiah had to remain single and was not permitted to take a wife. (Jer. 16:1-4).
- The Preparation of an Intercessor
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- A clean and holy life (Ps. 15; 24:3-6).
- Meditation on the Word of God Day and night (Josh. 1:8; Ps. 1:2; 19:4).
- Set a watch on your mouth, keep your tongue from speaking evil (Ps. 14:3; James 3:1-12).
- Forgive anyone who may have hurt you then intercede (Ps. 109:1-4; Matt. 5:44; Acts 7:60; Rom. 12:20)
- Have a set time for intercession. It is a must to communicate with God daily (Ps. 5:17; Dan. 6:10; Acts 3:1).
- Must have strong faith in God’s character knowing that He will answer our prayers (Isa. 65:24).
- Always stay armed and dangerous by putting on the Whole Amour of God.
- Ask God to create in you the desire to intercede and to do his perfect will (Ps. 51:10).
- Do not grieve the Holy Spirit by ceasing to intercede for others (1 Sam. 12:23; Dan. 9:13,14).
- Deal aggressively with the enemy. Come against him I the all-powerful Name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour and with the sword of the Spirit. (James 4:7).
- How Do You Intercede?
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- By praying without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17; Rom. 12:12).
- By praying with your understanding (1 Cor. 14:15).
- By praying in the Spirit (Eph. 6:18).
- By using Diversity of Tongues (1 Cor. 12:28; 13:1; 14:2).
- With groaning that cannot be uttered (Rom. 8:26).
- With strong crying and tears (Heb. 5;7).
- With deep travail and labouring (Isa. 66:8; Rom. 15:30; Col. 4:12)
- Pleading before God. (Isa. 43:26)
- By praying in secret (Matt. 6:6).
- By interceding according to the will of God (1 Jn. 5:14,15).
- By praying to the Father in the name of Jesus (Jn. 14:13,14; 15:16)
- By praying with a forgiving spirit (Mk. 11:25).
- By praying with humility (Matt. 6:7).
- By praying with a watchful attitude (1 Pet. 4:7)
- By praying fervently (James 5:16; Col. 4:12).
- By using the strategies of binding and loosing (Matt. 16:19; 18:18).
- By using the strategies of praying in agreement (Matt.18:19).
- By intensifying your prayer with fasting (Matt. 17:21).
- What to Intercede For
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- The peace of Jerusalem (Ps. 122:6)
- For labourers in the harvest (Matt. 9:37,38; Lk. 10:2)
- For those who are your enemies (Lk. 6:28).
- For all the saints (Eph. 6:18).
- For those who are sick (James 5:14).
- For one another and bearing each other’s burdens (James 5:16)
- For those in authority (Leaders) and for all men (1 Tim. 2:1-4)
- For unity in the body of Christ (Jn. 17)
- For the persecuted church around the world (Heb. 13: 3)
- For revival in our churches
- For your family members
- For your co-workers
- For your neighbours
- For those in prison
- For missionaries and their families
- For pastors and their families
- For governmental leaders in our nation
- For our communities
- For our youths
- For our young adults
- For young married couples to have stable families
- For God to raise up more powerful prayer warriors and intercessors in our churches.
- For students in schools and university and for our teachers
- For our protective services and essential services
- For new converts
- For unreached people’s groups
- For the nations of the world
- For Christians in their workplace.
- For all Christian churches