08/15/2021
When we ask an intercessor to pray for us, and our prayers are answered, we can be tempted to place that person who prayed for us on a pedestal, and claim they have a power that they don’t possess. Prayers are answered by God alone, and there is no better evidence of this truth than when an intercessor asks others to pray for them. Even someone who intercedes will find themselves in need of intercession.
“I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf,”
Romans 15:30 ESV
There is great power in intercessory prayer, but that power is not ours, but rests solely in the hands of God who places kings on their thrones, forgives sinners their transgressions, and is the one to whom we pray. We read that Paul asked the church to pray for him, but it didn’t stop there… Paul tells us to pray for everyone. Listen as he instructs Timothy to pray for all people, even kings, and especially for those in need of salvation. He isn’t delegating this responsibility to Timothy, but asking him to join him and others (you and me) in such prayer.
“First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
1 Timothy 2:1-4 ESV
Many righteous believers ask how they can become an intercessor, well, it isn’t a secret, and is meant to be exercised by all believers… so here is the way… first, ask God in your prayers to hear you as you pray for others, then simply begin to pray for them, just as you pray for yourself. Begin by seeking God’s will for the person, or situation, and then lift up that desire in fervent prayer within God’s will. If you are at a loss concerning God’s will in the matter, then tell Him so, and ask that it be revealed to you. Then, if you are still at a loss for it, faithfully place the request in His hands by praying that His will be done.
“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
James 5:16 ESV
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, pray for others out of love. It is because of our own human weaknesses, that this is perhaps the hardest thing for us to do. Yet we are told to pray for even the most terrible people that they might be saved, and for kings, even the bad ones, so that we can lead quiet and peaceful lives. But how do we bring ourselves to love such people? How do we love those we find despicable, or an abomination? We do so by beginning to lift them up in our daily prayer, and as we pray for them our heart will become stirred, and we will find that we can separate the people from the sins that have manifested themselves in them. When I begin such prayers I ask God to call these people to Himself through Jesus, and to change their hearts. Then, I say “In this way Father, they will no longer be my enemy, but my brother and sister in Christ.” Praying for the salvation and transformation of our enemies is powerful indeed.
“But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?”
Matthew 5:44-46 ESV
Interestingly, we are told to judge prophets, but not intercessors. Prophets ask men to do what God has said, and in this way can mislead us, but intercessors are asking God to do something that we desire, and which only He can do.
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.”
1 John 4:1 ESV
Intercessors have no power beyond their ability to faithfully, and righteously, ask God, but false prophets can convince men with a lie to do something in faith that was never of God… even ungodly. In this way the intercessor is a messenger from man to almighty God, and God knows our hearts. But, a false prophet claims to be a messenger sent by God to man, and man doesn’t know the thoughts of God.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV
So being an intercessor is a calling that each of us has received to some degree, and like the law it is fulfilled in a single word… Love. Praying in this way is also something that we can nurture, and which grows in us as our hearts, faith, and righteousness, increase.
“For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.””
Galatians 5:14 ESV
Today let’s list the names of a few people we feel are lost souls, and pray for their salvation. Let’s list a few people we believe to be our enemies and pray for them to be saved, and transformed into our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let’s ask another believer to pray that God teaches us to love those we once felt were unlovable. Then lastly, let’s list the names of a few people we know to be in need of healing, or relieved from some other hardship, and pray that God’s will be done for them. In other words… let’s begin to intercede.
Prayer:
Abba, Father, thank you for giving us a heart with which to love one another, even our enemies, and those who we have disliked. Thank you Lord for allowing us to participate in the love you have for the world by praying in intercession for it. Thank you for your Son Jesus who intercedes for us every day and who is our model for loving and interceding for each other. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who desires that we share in each other’s sorrow, pain, challenges, and salvation through loving and righteous prayer. Merciful are you Lord who hears our prayers and provides for us. Great are you in whom there is no request we can ask that is unreachable. Praised be your name for heating our prayers, and for every answer you provide us. Wash us clean in the blood of Jesus, and hear His intercession on our behalf, so that we will be found worthy of joining you in eternity, and loving you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength as we worship, and glorify you, forevermore.
“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.”
Colossians 1:9-12 ESVl
Rich Forbes