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PART III: THE PRACTICE OF PRAYER
CHAPTER 18
MINISTERING TO MAN
(INTERCESSION)
Introduction.
In this chapter, we will deal with praying for other people.
The Lord calls some believers as intercessors who pray for others
as a ministry. However, all believers are commanded to pray for
others:
I exhort therefore, that, first of all,
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and
giving of thanks, be made for all men; For
kings, and for all that are in authority;
that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life
in all godliness and honesty. For this is
good and acceptable in the sight of God our
Saviour; Who will have all men to be saved,
and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
(1 Timothy 1:4).
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord,
and in the power of his might. Put on the
whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
stand against the wiles of the devil. For we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places. Wherefore take unto you the whole
armour of God, that ye may be able to
withstand in the evil day, and having done
all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your
loins girt about with truth, and having on
the breastplate of righteousness; And your
feet shod with the preparation of the gospel
of peace; Above all, taking the shield of
faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench
all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take
the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the
Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying
always with all prayer and supplication in
the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all saints;
(Ephesians 6:10-18).
The Master Intercessor
Jesus is our example par excellence in the ministry of
intercession. His work was prophesied by the Prophet Isaiah:
Who hath believed our report? and to whom is
the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall
grow up before him as a tender plant, and as
a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form
nor comeliness; and when we shall see him,
there is no beauty that we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of men; a man of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we
hid as it were our faces from him; he was
despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he
hath borne our griefs, and carried our
sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was
wounded for our transgressions, he was
bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement
of our peace was upon him; and with his
stripes we are healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray; we have turned every one to
his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed,
and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his
mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers
is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. He was
taken from prison and from judgment: and who
shall declare his generation? for he was cut
off out of the land of the living: for the
transgression of my people was he stricken.
And he made his grave with the wicked, and
with the rich in his death; because he had
done no violence, neither was any deceit in
his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise
him; he hath put him to grief: when thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he
shall see his seed, he shall prolong his
days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall
prosper in his hand. He shall see of the
travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied:
by his knowledge shall my righteous servant
justify many; for he shall bear their
iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide
the spoil with the strong; because he hath
poured out his soul unto death: and he was
numbered with the transgressors; and he bare
the sin of many, and made intercession for
the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:1-12).
Greek scholar Derek Prince comments on Jesus' intercession:
There are four things recorded there of Jesus.
First, HE POURED OUT HIS SOUL UNTO DEATH. Leviticus
17:11 says that the soul of all flesh is in the blood,
so Jesus poured out His soul unto death when He poured
out His blood. Second, HE WAS NUMBERED WITH THE
TRANSGRESSORS; He was crucified with the two thieves.
Third, HE BARE THE SIN OF MANY; He became the sin
offering for us all. Fourth, HE MADE INTERCESSION FOR
THE TRANSGRESSORS; He did this from the cross when He
said, "Father, forgive them , for they know not what
they do." He was saying, "The judgment that is due to
them, let it come upon Me." And it did. (Derek
Prince, "Standing in the Gap," NEW WINE, February 1980,
p. 9).
While on earth, Jesus prayed for people. An example is his
prayer for Peter:
And the Lord said, Simon [Peter], Simon,
behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that
he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed
for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when
thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
(Luke 22:31-32).
His ministry of intercession has never stopped. He continues to
pray for us:
Wherefore he [Jesus] is able also to save
them to the uttermost that come unto God by
him, seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for them. (Hebrews 7:25).
If we do a study of the life and ministry of
Jesus, we arrive at a rather interesting comparison: He
spent thirty years in obscurity, in perfect family
life; three and one-half years in dramatic public
ministry; and nearly two thousand years in
intercession, unseen by the natural eye. Ever since He
ascended He has been interceding for us before the
Father. (Derek Prince, "Standing in the Gap," NEW
WINE, February 1980, p. 9.).
Abraham's Intercession.
Abraham is our spiritual father and an excellent example of
faith in God. He had a very close walk with the Lord. Here is
the biblical narrative of his intercession for the wicked cities
of Sodom and Gomorrah:
And the LORD said, Shall I hide from Abraham
that thing which I do; Seeing that Abraham
shall surely become a great and mighty
nation, and all the nations of the earth
shall be blessed in him? For I know him,
that he will command his children and his
household after him, and they shall keep the
way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment;
that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that
which he hath spoken of him. And the LORD
said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah
is great, and because their sin is very
grievous; I will go down now, and see
whether they have done altogether according
to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and
if not, I will know. And the men turned
their faces from thence, and went toward
Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD.
And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou
also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Peradventure there be fifty righteous within
the city: wilt thou also destroy and not
spare the place for the fifty righteous that
are therein? That be far from thee to do
after this manner, to slay the righteous with
the wicked: and that the righteous should be
as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall
not the Judge of all the earth do right? And
the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty
righteous within the city, then I will spare
all the place for their sakes. And Abraham
answered and said, Behold now, I have taken
upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but
dust and ashes: Peradventure there shall
lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou
destroy all the city for lack of five? And he
said, If I find there forty and five, I will
not destroy it. And he spake unto him yet
again, and said, Peradventure there shall be
forty found there. And he said, I will not do
it for forty's sake. And he said unto him,
Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will
speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be
found there. And he said, I will not do it,
if I find thirty there. And he said, Behold
now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the
Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty
found there. And he said, I will not destroy
it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh let
not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet
but this once: Peradventure ten shall be
found there. And he said, I will not destroy
it for ten's sake. And the LORD went his
way, as soon as he had left communing with
Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.
(Genesis 18:17-33).
Abraham's nephew Lot was living in Sodom. Abraham would
naturally be interested in the welfare of his nephew. God did
deliver Lot and his daughters from Sodom. However, Sodom was
destroyed because there were not 10 righteous people there out of
an estimated 10,000! God would not have destroyed the city if
there had been .1 percent who served God!
Moses' Intercession
The incident takes place after the lord had led Israel out
of Egyptian bondage. Moses had ascended Mount Sinai to receive
the Ten Commandments from God. However, Israel became impatient
and became engaged in idol worship and immorality:
And the LORD said unto Moses, Go, get thee
down; for thy people, which thou broughtest
out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted
themselves: They have turned aside quickly
out of the way which I commanded them: they
have made them a molten calf, and have
worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto,
and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which
have brought thee up out of the land of
Egypt. And the LORD said unto Moses, I have
seen this people, and, behold, it is a
stiffnecked people: Now therefore let me
alone, that my wrath may wax hot against
them, and that I may consume them: and I will
make of thee a great nation. And Moses
besought the LORD his God, and said, LORD,
why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy
people, which thou hast brought forth out of
the land of Egypt with great power, and with
a mighty hand? Wherefore should the
Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he
bring them out, to slay them in the
mountains, and to consume them from the face
of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and
repent of this evil against thy people.
Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy
servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own
self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply
your seed as the stars of heaven, and all
this land that I have spoken of will I give
unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for
ever. And the LORD repented of the evil
which he thought to do unto his people.
(Exodus 32:7-14).
All of Israel was not destroyed because of Moses' intercession.
God had placed a love for Israel in the heart of Moses.
This is evident in Moses later intercession:
Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin--;and
if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book
which thou hast written. (Exodus 32:32).
This same love for Israel is evident in the heart of the
Apostle Paul:
I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my
conscience also bearing me witness in the
Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and
continual sorrow in my heart. For I could
wish that myself were accursed from Christ
for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the
flesh: Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth
the adoption, and the glory, and the
covenants, and the giving of the law, and the
service of God, and the promises; (Romans
9:1-4).
The phrase "accursed from Christ" is very strong language and
means to be eternally separated from God. No human being has
that kind of love unless the Author of Love lives in his heart!
A Call for Intercessors
A sad condition existed in Ezekiel's day. There was no one
to intercede for the wicked:
And the word of the LORD came unto me,
saying, Son of man, say unto her, Thou art
the land that is not cleansed, nor rained
upon in the day of indignation. There is a
conspiracy of her prophets in the midst
thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the
prey; they have devoured souls; they have
taken the treasure and precious things; they
have made her many widows in the midst
thereof. Her priests have violated my law,
and have profaned mine holy things: they have
put no difference between the holy and
profane, neither have they shewed difference
between the unclean and the clean, and have
hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am
profaned among them. Her princes in the
midst thereof are like wolves ravening the
prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to
get dishonest gain. And her prophets have
daubed them with untempered mortar, seeing
vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying,
Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath
not spoken. The people of the land have used
oppression, and exercised robbery, and have
vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have
oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I
sought for a man among them, that should make
up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me
for the land, that I should not destroy it:
but I found none. Therefore have I poured
out mine indignation upon them; I have
consumed them with the fire of my wrath:
their own way have I recompensed upon their
heads, saith the Lord GOD. (Ezekiel 22:23-
31).
Derek Prince comments on this degenerate segment of the history
of Israel:
All sections of the population had utterly failed-
-prophets, priests, princes, people. Each of these
stands for a certain element in society. The
"prophets" are those responsible to bring a message
direct from God. The "priests" are the leaders of
institutional religion. The "princes" are the secular
rulers. The "people" are the rest of the population,
the common people. The order in which these four
elements are listed is significant. The process of
decay began with the spiritual leadership; then the
secular government was corrupted; finally the whole
nation was affected. (This has been the order in
modern America and many other nations.) (Derek Prince,
"Standing in the Gap," NEW WINE, February 1980, p.
13.).
Intercession Against
the Invisible Evil Empire
Daniel gives us insight concerning the evil forces
manipulating governments:
In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a
thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name
was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was
true, but the time appointed was long: and he
understood the thing, and had understanding
of the vision. In those days I Daniel was
mourning three full weeks. I ate no pleasant
bread, neither came flesh nor wine in my
mouth, neither did I anoint myself at all,
till three whole weeks were fulfilled. And
in the four and twentieth day of the first
month, as I was by the side of the great
river, which is Hiddekel; Then I lifted up
mine eyes, and looked, and behold a certain
man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded
with fine gold of Uphaz: His body also was
like the beryl, and his face as the
appearance of lightning, and his eyes as
lamps of fire, and his arms and his feet like
in colour to polished brass, and the voice of
his words like the voice of a multitude. And
I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men
that were with me saw not the vision; but a
great quaking fell upon them, so that they
fled to hide themselves. Therefore I was
left alone, and saw this great vision, and
there remained no strength in me: for my
comeliness was turned in me into corruption,
and I retained no strength. Yet heard I the
voice of his words: and when I heard the
voice of his words, then was I in a deep
sleep on my face, and my face toward the
ground. And, behold, an hand touched me,
which set me upon my knees and upon the palms
of my hands. And he said unto me, O Daniel,
a man greatly beloved, understand the words
that I speak unto thee, and stand upright:
for unto thee am I now sent. And when he had
spoken this word unto me, I stood trembling.
Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for
from the first day that thou didst set thine
heart to understand, and to chasten thyself
before thy God, thy words were heard, and I
am come for thy words. But the prince of the
kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty
days: but, lo, Michael, one of the chief
princes, came to help me; and I remained
there with the kings of Persia. Now I am
come to make thee understand what shall
befall thy people in the latter days: for yet
the vision is for many days. And when he had
spoken such words unto me, I set my face
toward the ground, and I became dumb. And,
behold, one like the similitude of the sons
of men touched my lips: then I opened my
mouth, and spake, and said unto him that
stood before me, O my lord, by the vision my
sorrows are turned upon me, and I have
retained no strength. For how can the
servant of this my lord talk with this my
lord? for as for me, straightway there
remained no strength in me, neither is there
breath left in me. Then there came again and
touched me one like the appearance of a man,
and he strengthened me, And said, O man
greatly beloved, fear not: peace be unto
thee, be strong, yea, be strong. And when he
had spoken unto me, I was strengthened, and
said, Let my lord speak; for thou hast
strengthened me. Then said he, Knowest thou
wherefore I come unto thee? and now will I
return to fight with the prince of Persia:
and when I am gone forth, lo, the prince of
Grecia shall come. But I will shew thee that
which is noted in the scripture of truth: and
there is none that holdeth with me in these
things, but Michael your prince. (Daniel
10:1-21).
Daniel, a man of prayer, had been praying and fasting for 21
days. The Lord had sent an angel the first day that Daniel began
to pray and seek the Lord, but he had been delayed because of a
battle with the Prince of Persia, a fallen spirit being who was
controlling the physical leader of Persia. (An angel is an
uncorrupted spirit being who serves the Lord as a messenger).
(Michael is the good angel who fights for Israel).
WE MUST DO OUR PART IN PULLING DOWN THE STRONGHOLDS OF SATAN.
What is our part in the battles that are fought between the good
and bad angels? Paul states that,
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood,
but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high
places. (Ephesians 6:12).
The truth is that we are no match for Satan and his demons
(fallen angels). However, Jesus has given us authority over
them. We exercise that authority either speaking directly to
them or praying against them as we are led by the Holy Spirit.
Then God himself or his good angels do the actual battle.
Evil spirits may control individuals or whole nations
through individuals.
First, we must put on the armor of God and never take it off
(see the scripture at the beginning of this chapter).
Second, we must confess and forsake all known sin. Paul
tells us not to give place to Satan:
And that ye put on the new man, which after
God is created in righteousness and true
holiness. Wherefore putting away lying,
speak every man truth with his neighbour: for
we are members one of another. Be ye angry,
and sin not: let not the sun go down upon
your wrath: Neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more: but rather
let him labour, working with his hands the
thing which is good, that he may have to give
to him that needeth. Let no corrupt
communication proceed out of your mouth, but
that which is good to the use of edifying,
that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
And grieve not the holy Spirit of God,
whereby ye are sealed unto the day of
redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath,
and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be
put away from you, with all malice: And be
ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God for
Christ's sake hath forgiven you. (Ephesians
4:24-32).
Third, we must know the Word of God and pray in line with
God's will as revealed by his Word.
Fourth, we must use the weapons of spiritual warfare that he
has given us: (1) the Word of God; (2) the blood of Jesus and
(3) the name of Jesus.
Fifth, we must use the carriers of the weapons: (1) prayer;
(2) preaching; (3) profession (confession); and (4) praise.
PRAYER IS A POWERFUL CARRIER. First, ask the Lord for a
spiritual breakthrough in your area of concern. It may be for an
individual, a church, a city, a nation, etc.
Second, pray mostly in the Holy Spirit. (See Chapter 22).
Third, Pray for the growth and sanctification of believers
in the areas for which you are interceding:
My little children, of whom I travail in
birth again until Christ be formed in you,
(Galatians 4:19).
While teaching at International Bible College in San
Antonio, a group of us were interceding for the San Antonio area.
San Antonio had a long history of being a hard place for
ministry. Billy Sunday said, "The only difference between San
Antonio and hell is that San Antonio has a river running through
it!"
As I was praying, I saw a mental picture of the skyline of
San Antonio and it was covered by blackness. Then a wedge of
bright stars penetrated the blackness. In the final scene, stars
were in an arc over the skyline of San Antonio. This vision
meant that San Antonio was dominated by evil spirits, but because
of the intercession of Christians, God was able to send his good
angels to dethrone the evil rulers in heavenly places. San
Antonio was destined to be ruled by God's power now.
Conclusion
Will believers respond to the Spirit of God to intercede for
individuals, our nation, and our world?
There is no higher calling than that of an
intercessor. .... Man will not see you because you
will be out of his sight...; but in the Kingdom of God
your life will count for time and for eternity. (Derek
Prince, "Standing in the Gap," NEW WINE, February 1980,
P. 13).
END
