intercessory prayer

Following the pattern set in James 5, it seems very natural to follow confessional prayer with a time of intercessory prayer—with one caveat. After a time of confession, it is vitally important to pray to be filled and receive the Holy Spirit by faith. Jesus said to his disciples, “When an unclean spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in a live there.” (Matt. 12:43-5). What Jesus says there is that when the kingdom of God has come upon you, your spiritual house is “swept clean and put in order.” But, Jesus points out, if your spiritual house is clean but unoccupied by his Holy Spirit, you will end up far worse than when the cleaning process begun. So, it is appropriate that following your time of confession [when your spiritual house is swept clean and put in order] that you pray for the filling and receiving of the Holy Spirit, so that you are equipped to intercede on others behalf.

One definition of the word “intercede” is to act on behalf of another person. While that is a good starting place, Methodist preacher, Walter Wink once wrote, “When we pray we are not sending a letter to a celestial White House, where it is sorted among piles of others. We are engaged, rather, in an act of co-creation...History belongs to the intercessors, who believe the future into being.” So there is this sense that intercessory prayer is more than speaking to God on someone’s behalf. It’s an act of co-creation with the Holy Spirit , who intercedes on our behalf [see Romans 8:26]. It’s beautiful to me to think that when we pray we are co-creators with God in changing history.

Though God unfolds his plan throughout history according to his will, people aggressively prayed about it. Paul instructed the early church to devote themselves to prayer and to pray unceasingly (cf. Col. 4:2; 1 Thess. 5:17). Despite the difficulty surrounding trying to comprehend how prayer works with the constancy of God, God enjoys changing his plans because of prayers. Walter Wink suggests that Christians are co-creators with God and history changes as a result of effective prayer. In another example from Scripture, Paul admonishes Timothy to pray and intercede on behalf of everyone—including kings and all those in authoritative positions so that all “may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. (1 Tim. 2:2).

I’d like to close with a prayer Jesus prayed for his disciples. He prayed, “Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one.” Friends, may Jesus’ prayer be our unified prayer as we tap into the awesome power of prayer and continue to make history together. Amen.