Intercession is simply praying for somebody else. End of. Yet more unbiblical, nonsensical teaching gets attached to this subject than almost any other. You will hear people claim they hold the office of an intercessor. Where is that in the Bible? It is not. Everybody is called to intercede. Everybody is called to pray. There is no specialist class.
You will hear talk of prophetic intercession. We are a prophetic people. We are to be led and inspired by the Holy Spirit when we pray. Yes and amen. The problem comes when people attach extra things to it. I have seen prayer meetings become power bases. People claim to hear from God in ways others do not, then try to backseat-drive the leadership of a church. If you truly disagree with the leadership, leave or keep quiet. Do not cause division under the banner of intercession.
I have seen practices that modern science would call manipulation and the Bible would call witchcraft—trying to control others through prayer. That is a horrible, yucky thing. Some teaching has led people past the place of human authority into realms they were never meant to touch, opening doors to serious attack. John Paul Jackson wrote a helpful book called *Needless Casualties of War* that addresses this. Read it. The blood of Jesus gets our prayers into the ear of heaven. One little old lady in a tiny apartment praying a simple prayer has the attention of God. Altitude does not help. Special techniques do not help. Keep it simple and biblical.
**How to Pray for Unsaved Loved Ones**
God is not the problem. He wants them saved. He has already done everything in His power before the foundation of the world. He sent Jesus. Begging God to save someone is a waste of time.
What is really going on? First, there is satanic opposition. As written in 2 Corinthians 4:4, “whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.” In intercession we deal with that blinding.
Second, there is the person’s heart. We cannot force anyone to get saved, yet God can soften a heart.
Third, people get saved by hearing the gospel. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. An effective prayer is, “Lord, send labourers across their path. Put the right people in front of them with the right word in season.”
Norvel Hayes tells the story of his daughter who was living far from God. He prayed for years with little result. One day the Lord told him that if he kept praying the way he was praying, she would go to hell. The Lord showed him to call her saved—to believe it was already done, not that it would one day happen. Every time he thought of her he thanked God that she was a woman of God, full of the Holy Spirit, serving the Lord. He called those things which do not exist as though they did. Within weeks her life turned around. As written in Romans 4:17, God “calls those things which do not exist as though they did.”
**How to Pray for Someone Else’s Healing**
Every situation is different. At times it is straightforward. I have laid hands on people and seen instant results. Yet the best preparation is to get before the Lord and come to the place where you truly believe in your own heart that the person is healed—not merely saying the words, but knowing that you know.
Look through the Gospels. Jesus rarely prayed for healing the way we often think of prayer. He spoke. He fellowshipped with the Father, then commanded. Spending time with the Lord until faith is settled in your heart is more effective than many long prayers.
At times the Lord will say, “Release them into My hands.” Smith Wigglesworth raised his wife from the dead, yet she told him she was going to be with Jesus and asked him to let her go. He did, with tears. This is not a statement that healing is not God’s will. It is simply recognising that sometimes a person is not in a place to receive, or does not want to. Asking the Lord how you should pray is itself a powerful form of intercession.
**Righteousness and Answered Prayer**
With the heart man believes. As written in Romans 10:10, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” We believe with the heart unto healing, unto the baptism in the Holy Spirit, unto answered prayer. We do not believe merely with the head.
When there is sin, shame or condemnation in the heart, confidence toward God is hindered. The apostle John wrote that if our heart condemns us, we cannot have confidence toward God. The thing hindering many believers is not a lack of faith techniques. It is a lack of righteousness consciousness—shame, sin-consciousness, the voice of the accuser.
We should live clean lives. Yet even the best behaviour does not declare us righteous. The blood of Jesus has already done that. What we must do is declare ourselves righteous. Plead the blood. Every day say, “I am the righteousness of God in Christ. The blood of Jesus continually cleanses me from all sin. I walk in the light as He is in the light.” Righteousness cleanses the heart of the baggage that blocks confidence. The name of Jesus gets the prayer answered. Righteousness clears the channel.
**Prayer and Spiritual Warfare**
The Bible does teach spiritual warfare. We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers. We cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Most of that warfare takes place one inch below your nose—in the thoughts and words you choose when tempted to complain, fear or contradict God’s word.
There is a teaching that resurfaces every decade or so encouraging long sessions of screaming at demons and binding territorial spirits. I was involved in some of that years ago. Much of it is unhelpful. Spiritual warfare is far less about addressing Satan all night and far more about doing what Jesus did in the wilderness: “It is written.”
As written in Psalm 149:6-9, “Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, And a two-edged sword in their hand… to execute on them the written judgment—This honor have all His saints.” When we come before the Lord, ignore Him and talk only to demons, we edge toward dangerous ground. When we fill our mouths with praise and the word of God, Satan is defeated. Raise a hallelujah in the middle of the trial, the diagnosis, the pressure. That is spiritual warfare. It is not prayer addressed to the enemy. It is you standing on what is written.
Keep intercession simple. Keep it biblical. Pray for others from a place of righteousness, with the word of God in your mouth and praise on your lips. Watch what the Lord will do.
Selah.
**Scriptures for Study**
2 Corinthians 4:4, Romans 4:17, Romans 10:10, 1 John 3:21-22, Psalm 149:6-9, Ephesians 6:12, 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, Mark 11:23-24, Matthew 9:22, Acts 16:25, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 John 1:7, Hebrews 4:16, James 5:16, 1 Timothy 2:1, Romans 10:17, Luke 10:2, John 6:44, Isaiah 55:11, Jeremiah 1:12, Revelation 12:11, Psalm 103:1-5, Mark 5:34, Matthew 8:16-17, 1 Peter 2:24
**10 Questions for Reflection**
1. Have I added unbiblical ideas or special “offices” to the simple call to pray for others?
2. In what ways might my intercession for unsaved loved ones still treat God as the reluctant party?
3. Am I calling things that are not as though they are, or merely hoping they will one day be?
4. Before I pray for someone’s healing, have I spent time with the Lord until faith is settled in my heart?
5. Is there any situation where the Lord is asking me to release a person into His hands?
6. Does condemnation or shame still hinder my confidence when I pray?
7. How regularly do I declare that I am the righteousness of God in Christ?
8. Where has my understanding of spiritual warfare focused more on screaming at demons than on the Word and praise?
9. Am I fighting most of my battles one inch below my nose—in my thoughts and words?
10. What one simple change in the way I intercede will I put into practice?
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