ARTICLE – 4 September 2016
INTERCESSORY PRAYER
One type of prayer Christians are involved with is “Intercessory Prayer”. Intercessory prayer is different from prayer for self, for “enlightenment”, for spiritual gifts or any general personal matter that require God’s attention. It is praying for someone else’s needs. In the Old Testament, one striking example is the patriarch Abraham’s plea with God to spare the sinful cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Then there was Moses, who led the Israelites into the Promise Land, praying for his people during the exodus from Egypt; King David and Prophet Daniel are other examples of individuals much involved in intercessory prayer. In the New Testament, Apostles Paul, Peter and some others were cited as offering intercessory prayer with our Lord Jesus Christ as the Ultimate Intercessor. “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5) and “Christ Jesus, who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us” (Romans 8:34).
Do we have to be gifted Christians to be praying intercessory prayers? The Bible is clear that all Christians are called to be intercessors having the Holy Spirit in our hearts. He intercedes for us in accordance with God’s will and we are to intercede for one another. The key motivation behind all these giants of the Christian faith was compassion and love for the people. We simply cast our personal weakness before God’s strength and have a bit of God’s passion burning in us and love for those we are interceding for.
A story is told of a woman suffering from a sudden attack of a massive brain hemorrhage. The family, relatives and friends gathered to pray for the woman in this life-threatening situation. The mood turned into despondency when the surgeons gave the woman little hope as the minutes ticked by. Just then, a friend who was present, out of the blue, lit up and interceded with a prayer of hope that God will intervene much to the surprise of everyone present. Suddenly, to the shock of all the intercessors present, the surgeons declared that the operation the woman had gone through was successful. They can expect her full and complete recovery. God heard and responded according to His will. Today, the woman is very much alive, worshipping and glorifying God.
A saying in a poster best illustrates the blessing of intercessory prayers. It goes like this: “When you pray for others, God listen to you and bless them, and sometimes, when you are safe and happy, remember that someone has prayed for you.”
