KEY SCRIPTURE: Joh 11:3 KJV Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick”.

An intercessor is one who represents others before God in making requests on their behalf. Intercession is one of the highest forms of prayer because it gets God to act in the lives of those who may not be in the position to pray for themselves or can pray for themselves, but Satan through his deception has turned the hearts of such people from God. Intercession is also a means of making prayer seeds that, although one sow on behalf of others, will multiply for the one praying to harvest results from the prayer he or she made. Intercession is not a one-sided prayer but has a dual effect.

Praying is God’s ordained means of intervening in man’s affairs. Although God is the creator of all things, he has placed the right to rule this earth in man’s hands (Gen. 1:26-28). God who acknowledges legalities will only interfere in man’s affairs if the man out of his will invites Him. Until God is invited to operate on the earth, He would seldom do anything on the earth.

This is the reason Jesus taught in Luke 18:1 that “men ought always to pray and not to faint.”

In the story of our key scripture, Mary and Martha, who are the sisters of Lazarus who was grievously sick, sent a message to Jesus about the condition of their brother. They sent a straight-to-the-point request: “Lazarus, the one you love is sick.” Many prayers are only complaints or utterances of unbelief. An example of a request of unbelief is when Jesus was sleeping in a boat that was assailed by winds and tempests. The disciples woke the Lord up and said, “Lord careth thou not that we perish’. Matt 4;38′ They had concluded that the Lord did not care about their safety and that they were going to perish. This was a request of unbelief. The sisters of Lazarus did not complain that way. Their request expressed a great degree of confidence in the Lord.  Intercession must be made in faith, not in unbelief. They also expressed their concern for their sick brother.  They had love for him.

Every intercession must have this element of love. It is that love that makes the prayer a heartfelt one. Remember that every heartfelt prayer is dynamic in its working, and also makes tremendous power available. James 5:16-17.

PRAYER

I pray on behalf of all Christians to take up this role of interceding on behalf of all those who are in all kinds of situations that need God’s intervention, yet they can’t help themselves. I pray that children of God will lovingly stand in the gap for the many under Satan’s rule or influence.

FURTHER STUDIES

1Ti 2:1 KJV” 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”.

Col 4:12 KJV” Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God”.