Intercession is simply praying for other people. Most of us have prayed for others at times and seen answers. Yet most of us have also been challenged or disappointed by the lack of answers we have experienced when praying for others. Many treat prayer as the last resort. When all else fails, pray. I once heard someone say, “Let’s pray,” and the reply came, “Has it come to that? Is prayer all we have left?” People pray in foxholes. They pray when they are about to die. Prayer should be our first resort, not our last.
I believe God wants to bring us to a place where we actually pray a little less, yet we pray more effectively. We should not be like a child with a machine gun, firing scattershot prayers all over the place and hoping one hits the target. We should be more like a sniper. Take the time to set up the shot. There have been many times in my life where I have spent a week praying and fasting—not praying that God would do something, but praying that God would help me get my heart ready so I could pray one prayer lasting ten seconds that actually changes something. I needed the week, but I did not need the week to talk God into doing something.
Prayer Changes Us, Not God
Prayer does not change God. As written in Malachi 3:6, “For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.” Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Prayer changes us. When our hearts are prepared, a short, focused prayer can shift things.
Make Praying for Others Normal
It should be normal, a regular part of Christian life, that we pray for others around us each day. I do not mean a long rosary-bead list we must grind through. I want to pray for my family. I will pray for my family more than I pray for yours, and I expect you to pray for your family more than you pray for mine. That is okay. Do not let your prayers only be about yourself.
Pray for your family. Then pray for a wider circle—friends, people you interact with, church family, community. There is a place to pray for the nations, for your own nation, for kings and those in authority. We should also pray for Israel and for the peace of Jerusalem. As written in Psalm 122:6, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ‘May they prosper who love you.’” This does not mean you agree with everything any nation does politically. It means recognising that God chose the Jewish people and that we carry a debt to pray for them.
Make it normal. Make it natural. It is good to have a specific time to sit down and pray through some things. It is also good, as you go through the day, to see who the Lord draws your attention to and simply pray for them.
Learn to Pray Simple Prayers
God is not impressed by complicated prayers. In fact, it is harder to pray a complicated, high-sounding, weird prayer without becoming religious than it is to pray something simple. When you pray in simplicity you have nowhere left to hide. When you pray in simplicity there is nobody left to impress. Keep the ingredients pure. There is something powerful about pure ingredients rather than a long list of things nobody can pronounce.
At times people commit the same sins as the Pharisees when they pray. They pray horizontal prayers—monologues really meant for the hearing of others in the room. They phrase it as if they are talking to God, yet they are venting or communicating to people around them. Learn to pray simple, effective, fervent prayers that come from the heart.
Stand in the Gap and Cover
Why pray for something when God already knows it? Jesus said your Father knows what you need. Yet there is something powerful about pouring your heart out for somebody else before the Lord. There is a connection you get with that person.
Satan loves to get us offended at other people. We want to come before the Lord and say, “Look what they did. Look at the gap between where they are and where they should be.” What God wants us to do is stand in the gap. Love covers a multitude of sins.
Remember the story in Genesis. Noah planted a vineyard, made wine, and one day became drunk. He lay naked in his tent. One son mocked and pointed the finger. The other sons walked in backwards, not looking on their father’s shame, and pulled a covering over him. In intercession that is often what we are doing. We can come and say, “Lord, look what they did to me.” Or we can come and say, “Lord, they are a sinner like I am. I do not look at their sin. I look at the blood of Jesus. I cover their sin with Your love. I cover it with Your blood.”
There is a way you can pray and, especially when you have a connection with someone, help bring their sins into an experiential place of forgiveness for a season. Imagine you are a parent and a child in the household is rebellious, not walking with God. As the priest of that household you can come before the Lord and say, “Lord, my child is far from You. In one sense they are worthy of judgment. Yet I want to repent on their behalf. I ask You to cleanse them. Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” As written in Luke 23:34, Jesus Himself prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
Listen carefully. They still need to repent of their own sin. You are not bringing them into an eternal relationship with God through your vicarious repentance. What you can do is pull the covering of your relationship with God over them. Through your prayer, your repentance, and your application of the blood of Jesus, you can close down access points into their hearts and lives. At an experiential level, at least for a season, they can live not under the judgment, guilt and shame of that sin. They live under the grace of God. It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance. As written in Romans 2:4, “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?”
Pray for others. Do not be discouraged. Have a go. Learn to pray simple prayers. Watch what happens as God answers those prayers.
Selah.
Scriptures for Study
Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8, Psalm 122:6, James 5:16, Luke 23:34, Romans 2:4, Genesis 9:20-23, 1 Peter 4:8, 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Matthew 6:7-8, John 17:9, Ephesians 6:18, Colossians 4:12, Romans 8:26-27, Hebrews 7:25, Ezekiel 22:30, Isaiah 53:12, Job 42:10, 1 Samuel 12:23, Acts 12:5, Philippians 1:9-11, Colossians 1:9-11, 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, 1 John 1:7, Galatians 6:2
10 Questions for Reflection
- Have I treated prayer more as a last resort than a first response?
- In what ways am I still praying scattershot rather than focused, prepared prayers?
- How regularly do I pray for my own family before praying for others?
- Where have my prayers become complicated or horizontal rather than simple and from the heart?
- Is there someone whose sin I have been pointing out to God instead of covering with the blood?
- What would it look like for me to stand in the gap for a rebellious child or family member this week?
- How can I apply the blood of Jesus over someone without replacing their own need to repent?
- Am I more focused on changing God’s mind or on allowing prayer to change my heart?
- Who is the Lord drawing my attention to as I move through ordinary days?
- What one simple intercessory prayer will I offer, believing God hears and answers?
