Intercessory Prayer

Fay Smart
 What is Intercessory Prayer?
• Intercession is petition, or entreaty, on behalf
of another. There are always three persons
involved: the one who has a need, the one
who has power to meet that need, and the
one who has contact with both.
 Who becomes the Middleman?
• The Intercessor is the middleman, a go-
between, one who knows both the needy one
the source of supply, and who can lay a hand
on both.
 Biblical Examples of Intercessory
prayer!
• Queen Esther used her privileged position to
win deliverance for her people. She
challenged, “Who knows but that you have
come to royal position for such a time as
this?” Esther 4:14.
Did she become a true Intercessor?
• Esther was a true intercessor, standing
between a condemned people and the king
who had power to help them. She could do so
only because she had favor with the king and
was greatly concerned for her people.
 What about Abraham?
• Abraham stood before the Lord and pleaded
that Sodom might be spared. Genesis 18:16-
33.
 What about Moses?
• Moses interceded for Israel after their sin in
making and worshipping the golden calf.
Exodus 32: 31, 32.
 What about Paul?
• Paul prayed often for his converts and for the
young churches. See Philippians 1:9;
Colossians 1:9; 2 Thessalonians 1:11 and many
more.
Did the churches involve themselves in
Intercessory prayers?
• In Acts 12 we see the church at prayer in
behalf of Peter who was in prison, Acts 12:5.
So effective were the believers’ prayers that all
the power of Rome was useless, and Peter
was released.
 Did Jesus participate in Intercessory
prayer?
• Our greatest example, and our incentive to
prayer, is the Lord Jesus Himself. Again and
again in the Gospels we see Him engaged in
prayer. He said to Peter, “I have prayed for
thee, that thy faith fail not,” Luke 22:32.
What did Jesus say to His father about
His followers?
• He said to His Father concerning His followers,
“I pray for them; I pray not for the world, but
for them which Thou hast given me… Neither
pray I for these alone, but for them also which
shall believe on me through their word,” John
17:9, 20.
 Did Peter get blessed and those Jesus
prayed?
• How blessed was Peter—and all the others for
whom Christ prayed while on earth. And we,
too, are blessed, for He is still the great
intercessor. “Christ … is even at the right hand
of God, who makes intercession for us,”
Romans 8:
 What counsel does Paul reveal about
Jesus’ Intercessory prayers?
• “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the
uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing
He ever lives to make intercession for them,”
Hebrews 7:25. He constantly makes
intercession for us, continually taking our
needs to God. Every blessing we receive from
God comes through Christ’s intercession.
 What is the Purpose of Intercessory
prayer?
• Intercessory prayer is God’s chosen means for
accomplishing His will on earth. In His
sovereign will He has already purposed what
is good and right, but He wants our
cooperation! God has taken us into
partnership with Himself, and prayer is the
means of God uses to accomplish what He
wants. Therefore prayer should be the main
business of each Christian and of every
church.
 Why does God establish prayer?
• The French philosopher Pascal wrote that God
has established prayer “to communicate to His
creatures the dignity of causality.” In other
words, God dignifies us by allowing us,
through our prayers, to help things happen.
 What happens through our prayers?
• Through our prayers the will of God is
accomplished. We are not mere puppets—or
pawns manipulated on a chessboard. We are
not the helpless victims of Fate. The humblest
child of God can have an impact on world
events! How? By finding out how God is
moving—what is His will and purpose—and
working with Him through our prayers.
 Who can be an intercessor?
• Every Christian can, and should, be an
intercessor. Most of us pray regularly for dear
friends, “Bless Jack and Mary…” But is this
true intercession? Can it be called
intercession when there is so little
earnestness and urgency?
• Perhaps the mark of the true intercessor is his
intense desire to get something from God to
meet the needs of others.
 How did Nehemiah pray for others?
• Nehemiah wrote: “I wept and mourned…and
fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,”
Nehemiah 1:4.
 What about Daniel, how did he pray
for others?
• Daniel cried out, “O Lord, hear; O Lord,
forgive, O Lord, hearken and do…” (Daniel
9:19).
 What did James write about
intercessory prayers?
• James wrote about, “effectual, fervent prayer,”
James 5:16. Is there real fervency in our
prayers for others?
 Is it natural to pray for others?
• Intercession is not something that we do
naturally; it must be learned. It’s costly, too,
in time and effort. It means giving of
ourselves for others. Paul wrote to the
Colossians that Epaphras was “always laboring
(or striving) fervently for you in prayer,”
Colossians 4:12.
 Does an Intercessor bring simple
prayers to God?
• The intercessor doesn’t just bring a simple
petition to God—he supports his case with
reasons, arguments and appeals, reminding
God of what He has done in the past, and of
the promises in His Word. God loves to be
reminded in this way.
Requirements for Effectual Prayer!
• 1. The first requirement concerns the motive
for our prayer—is it selfish, bound up in
ourselves and our loved ones, or do we desire
this thing so that God may be gloried. The
glory of our Father must be the aim of our
prayers, John 14:4.
 Effectual Prayers cont.
• 2. Our prayer is to be offered “in the name of
Jesus.” The Lord told His disciples,
“Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will
I do, that the Father may be glorified in the
Son,” John 14:13.
 Effectual prayers cont.
• 3. Effectual prayer must be “according to the
will of God,” 1 John 5:14,15. Too often we
rush into prayer without sufficient thought.
We have the promise of the Spirit’s help
(Romans 8:26) and of wisdom from God
(James 1:5). We must take time to learn what
the will of God really is, through patient study
of His Word, learning of His nature and
character and of His past dealing with men.
 Why don’t we pray more?
• 1. Probably the chief reason for our lack of
prayer is laziness. The flesh rebels against any
spiritual exercise and makes countless excuses
to avoid it. Only a real love and concern for
others will move us to make the sacrifice of
giving time for earnest and persevering prayer.
We need to discipline ourselves until such
prayer becomes a habit.
 Pray more cont.
• 2. We think we’re too busy to pray—that
other “duties” would be neglected if we took
the time for prayer. The way to keep prayer
from being crowded out by other duties is to
realize its true and great value. What we
consider of first importance we’ll succeed in
finding time for. Often the busiest Christians
pray the most, and take more time for prayer
on their busiest days.
 Pray more cont.
• 3. We don’t have a sufficient sense of our
absolute dependence on God, and of our own
impotence without Him. The Lord said,
“Without me, ye can do nothing,” John 15:5.
A true sense of helplessness would drive us to
prayer.
 Pray more cont.
• 4. We get discouraged when it seems that our
prayers are not answered, and we stop
praying. It is possible to pray ineffectively.
Our response to this should not be to stop
praying, but to inquire what is keeping our
prayers from being effective.
 What hinders effectual prayer?
• 1. Any sin in our lives—anything that cuts our
connection with God—will be a hindrance,
just as a blockage in a garden hose prevents
the flow of water. David wrote, “If I regard
iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear
me,” Psalm 66:18. We must come into God’s
presence with “clean hands and a pure heart,”
Psalm 24:4.
 Hindering Effectual prayer cont.
• 2. Praying with a wrong motive, seeking
selfish desires, will be ineffective. “Ye ask and
receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may
consume it upon your lusts (pleasures),”
James 4:3. We need to examine honestly our
real desires and motives.
 Hindering effectual cont.
• 3. Sometime we pray in unbelief—not really
believing that God can, or will, answer that
particular need. It seems so unlikely that the one
we’re praying for could ever be saved, but is
anything too hard for God? Luke 1:37. James tells
us that we must “ask in faith, nothing wavering,
for he that waveres is like a wave of the sea
driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that
man think that he shall receive anything of the
Lord,” James 1:6.7.
 Hindering effectual cont.
• 4. Just as a child may ask his parents for
something that is not good for him, so we
sometimes pray foolishly, asking in our
ignorance for something that our loving
Father in His wisdom will not grant.
 Hindering effectual cont.
• 5. It is all too possible for our prayers to
become a mere formality, a matter of word
without the heart. Our minds may wander
even while our lips say the familiar words.
We’re just “saying prayers,” not really praying
with the understanding.
 Hindering effectual cont.
• 6. Then there is the opposition of Satan, who
would, if he could, keep us from praying at all.
He knows, even if we do not, the tremendous
spiritual power that may be released by
prayer. Satan’s opposition is illustrated for us
in Daniel 10:12-14.
 Does the Bible encourage us to pray!
• 1. “Pray without ceasing’” 1 Thessalonians
5:17.
• 2. “Men ought always to pray,” Luke 18:1.
• 3. “Praying always,” Ephesians 6:18.
• 4. “Continuing instant in prayer,” Romans
12:12.
• 5. “Pray for one another,” James 5:16.
 Paul requested believers to pray for
him!
• The Apostle Paul showed his appreciation for
intercessory prayer by requesting that the
believers should pray for him. See Romans
15:30; 2 Thessalonians 3:1; 2 Corinthians 1:11;
Colossians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 5:25.
 God promises to answer our prayers!
• Not only are we exhorted to pray, but we are
given every encouragement by the promises
of God that He will answer prayer. “Ask, and it
shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find;
knock, and it shall be opened to you, Matthew
7:7,8. “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask
in prayer, believing, ye shall receive,” Matthew
21:22.