Intercession

Intercede - to intervene between parties with a view to reconciling differences : mediate

Lee McDerment recently asked me a question that I had never been asked before. The question was phrased something like this, “what is your take is on intercession and how does that affect your prayer life?” What followed was a great discussion on the subject that challenged us both in how we pray for other people. Not just how often we pray for others but literally how we pray for them… the words we use and the action we may need to take as a result of our prayers.

Two verses come to mind in regards to intercession:

Romans 8:25-27
But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will.

Hebrews 7:25
Therefore he (Jesus) is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

Here we have examples set for us by the two most important people in our daily lives. Jesus and the Holy Spirit. One who we follow and the other is who equips us to do so. They intercede… all the time… and if we are being conformed into the image of God’s son then so should our prayer lives.

What can we glean from these verses? First, in some way intercession is about praying something for someone that they don’t even know that they themselves need to pray for. This verse tells us that even as we pray for ourselves that the Holy Spirit steps in and offers to God what he really knows we need. The second is that Jesus’ current existence in someway includes a continual interceding for me to complete the salvation process that started before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:3-8). He started the process by taking action. He left heaven to come to earth and do what he did to buy my salvation for me because I had no way to get it for myself. He was and still is an active participator in the very thing he is praying for me. WOW!

So, if I’m tracking in the right direction… my prayer life should consist of very regular prayer for other people that is focused on things they don’t know they need and I should ask God what role I need to play in making those prayers a reality in that persons life.

If this is true then the idea of asking God to “bless” someone and then just watching to see what happens in their life isn’t good enough. Its passive and weak prayer, which doesn’t seem to be the example set for me. If this is true and the example is that both the Holy Spirit and Jesus are in this state of prayer continuously then a journal full of self focused prayers may be a journal of pride instead of prayer. (I’m not saying that we don’t ever ask and beg God on our own behalf, but if we have a pattern of prayer where intercession is not present, I’m afraid we’re missing out on the real power of prayer and the blessing of “loving others before ourselves”.)

Romans 1:8-12
First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world. For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I mention you always in my prayers, asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you. For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you— that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine.

Paul, too, seems to follow this idea of prayer. In this letter he is telling them that he is praying and he wants to get to them to “impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you”. There is something beyond just a prayer that Paul wants to offer these people. He wants to do something for them that they can’t do for themselves. He wants to get involved, literally, in God’s answer to their needs.

The challenge for me is to take a look at where I am in regards to following Jesus in my prayer life. I keep a daily prayer journal so I can look back and see where I am. In addition to praying I need to take action in the lives of others to participate – in whatever way God directs me – in seeing those prayers answered. For some reason I just believe that if I can take my focus off myself and place it upon others and then do something to participate in what God wants to do in their life then I’ll be more like Jesus. That is the example he set… and is still setting.

If I am on the right track in regards to this idea of intercession and I pursue it by putting others needs before my own, then wouldn’t I necessarily become more like Jesus? And if I become more like Jesus and I start praying for and participating in the answer to other peoples prayers, I believe that I’ll be growing closer to the heart of the Father and I bet I’ll start to see the changes or blessings or growth or provision in my own life happen… The ones I used to spend all my time praying for.