Dr. Ron Sumners
April 2, 2006
If we truly love people, we will desire for them far more than it is in our power to give them, and this will lead us to prayer. Intercession is a way of loving others.
When we move from petition to intercession, we are shifting our center of gravity from our needs to the needs and concerns of others. Intercessory Prayer is selfless prayer, even self-giving prayer.
In the ongoing work of the Kingdom of God, nothing is more important than Intercessory Prayer. People today desperately need the help that we can give them. Marriages are being shattered. Children are being destroyed. Individuals are living lives of quiet desperation, without purpose or future. And we can make a difference if we learn to pray on their behalf.
Intercessory Prayer is a priestly ministry, and one of the most challenging teachings in the New Testament is the priesthood of all Christians. As priests, appointed and anointed by God, we have the honor of going before the Most-High God on behalf of others. This is not optional; it is a sacred obligation and a precious privilege of all who call themselves Christians.
Moses was one of the world's greatest intercessors, and one particular incident in his life provides a magnificent model for us in our continuing work of intercession. On this occasion the Amalekites had engaged the children of Israel in battle (Exodus 17:8-13). The military strategy of Moses was strange and powerful. He had Joshua lead the army into the valley to fight the battle.
Moses went to the top of a hill overlooking the battleground with his two lieutenants, Aaron and Hur. While Joshua engaged in physical combat, Moses engaged in spiritual combat by raising hands of prayer over the battle. Aaron and Hur had to help him hold his arms up until the sunset.
Joshua was the commander who won the battle that day. He was the person in the thick of combat. But Moses and Aaron and Hur played their role in the victory. Joshua was needed to lead the charge. Moses was needed to intercede on behalf of the children of Israel. Aaron and Hur were needed to assist Moses when he grew weary.
What Moses and Aaron and Hur did on that day is the work that all of us are called to do. We are not all asked to be public leaders, but all of us are to be engaged in Intercessory Prayer. As P.T. Forsyth reminds us, "The deeper we go down into the valley of decision the higher we must rise ... into the mount of prayer, and we must hold up the hands of those whose chief concern is to prevail with God."
We are not left alone in this interceding work of ours. Our prayers of intercession are backed up and reinforced by the eternal Intercessor, Jesus Christ. Paul assures us that it is "Jesus Christ, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who intercedes for us" (Romans 8:34). As if to intensify the truth of this, the writer of Hebrews declares Jesus as an eternal priest after the order of Melchizedek who, "always lives to make intercession" (Hebrews 7:25).
In the Upper Room discourse, Jesus made it unmistakably clear to his disciples that his going to the Father would catapult them into a new dimension of prayer. He explained to his disciples that he was in the Father and the Father was in him, that he was going to the Father in order to prepare a place for them, that they would be enabled to do greater works because he was going to the Father, but they would not be left orphaned but the Spirit of Truth would come to guide them, that they would abide in him as branches abide in the vine, that he would do anything they asked in his name.
What is it about Jesus going to the Father that so radically changes the equation? Why would that make such a difference in their prayer experience. The new dimension is this: Jesus entered his eternal work as Intercessor before the throne of God, and, as a result, we are enabled to pray for others with an entirely new authority.
What I am trying to say is that our ministry of intercession is made possible only because of Christ's continuing ministry of intercession. It is a wonderful truth to know that we are saved by faith alone, that there is nothing we can do to make ourselves acceptable to God. Likewise, we pray by faith alone - Jesus Christ our eternal Intercessor is responsible for our prayer life.
By ourselves we have no access to the throne of heaven. It would be like ants speaking to humans. We need an interpreter, an intermediary, a go-between. That is what Jesus does for us in his role as eternal Intercessor. Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 2:5, "There is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." He opens the door and grants us access to God. Even more, he straightens out and cleanses our feeble, misguided intercessions and makes them acceptable before a holy God. Even more still, his prayers sustain our desires to pray, urging us on and giving us hope of being heard. The sight of Jesus in his heavenly intercession gives us strength to pray in his name.
I would like to make a few comments about praying in the name of Jesus because I think that it is greatly misunderstood. We are urged in the Gospels to pray in this way. And we are promised wonderful things when we pray in the name of Jesus.
How do we pray in Jesus’ name? Any thoughtful person knows that this means far more than just tacking the syllables "Je-sus" to the end of a prayer. I think it means at least two things.
First, to pray in the name of Jesus means to pray in full assurance of the great work Christ accomplished in his life, by his death, through his resurrection, and by means of his continuing reign at the right hand of God the Father. Donald Bloesch writes:
“To pray in the name of Christ means to pray in the
Awareness that our prayers have no worthiness or
effectiveness apart from his atoning sacrifice and
redemptive mediation. It means to appeal to the blood
of Christ as the source of power for the life of prayer.
It means to acknowledge our complete helplessness
apart from his mediation and intercession. To pray
in his name means that we recognize that our prayers
cannot penetrate the tribunal of God unless they are
presented to the Father by the Son, our Savior and Redeemer.”
A second thing about praying in the name of Jesus is that we are praying in accord with the way and nature of Christ. It means that we are making the kinds of intercessions he would make if he were among us in the flesh. We are his ambassadors, commissioned by him. We have been given his name to use with his full authority. Therefore, the content and the character of our praying must be in unity with his nature.
When Simon Magus asked to have the power to lay hands on people so they could receive the Spirit, he was wanting to use the power of God for his own ends (Acts 8:14-24). He was not praying in Jesus' name, and Peter, recognizing this, rebuked Simon for it. The seven sons of the Jewish High Priest, Sceva, had seen Paul cast out demons in the name of Jesus, and so they gave it a try, saying, "I command you by the Jesus that Paul proclaims." But the evil spirit replied to them, "Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?" Even though they used the proper formula, they were not praying out of the life and power of Jesus, and so they failed. Luke tells us that the evil spirit leaped out on the seven pseudo exorcists and overpowered them, and they ran out of the house naked and wounded. (Acts 19:11-16).
Jesus said, "If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you" (John 15:7). This "abide in me" is the all-inclusive condition for effective intercession. It is the key for prayer in the name of Jesus. We learn to become like the branch, which receives life from the vine. Jesus said, "Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me" (John 15:4). Nothing is more important to a life of prayer than learning how to become a branch.
As we live this way, we distinguish the voice to the true Shepherd from that of religious hucksters in the same way that a professional jeweler distinguishes a diamond from a well-made counterfeit. When we have been around the genuine article long enough, the cheap and the shoddy become obvious.
When we have immersed ourselves long enough in the way of Christ, we can smell the Gospel! We will know what Jesus would do the same way that a couple married for years can complete each other’s sentences. They know what each other think and feel. With Christ we know even as we are known. This is how to pray in Jesus' name!
Praying for others through Intercessory Prayer is called: supplication. It means to ask with earnestness, intensity, and perseverance. It is a declaration that we are serious about the needs of others. We present our supplication to God knowing that he will hear and answer. John Calvin writes, "We must repeat the same supplication not twice or three times only, but as often as we have need, a hundred and a thousand times ... We must never be weary in waiting for God's help."
That is an important teaching to hear because we live in a generation that runs from commitment. One of the old cardinal values was fortitude, but where do we find such courageous staying power today? We must admit that it is in short supply. Jesus, however, makes it foundational to real effectiveness in Intercessory Prayer.
Intercession is done individually and corporately. Jesus promises to be present in power whenever the community of faith is gathered in his name (Matt. 18:20). When enough faith, hope and love are found in any given community, the blessings are multiplied, for then organized, corporate, intercessory prayer is possible.
Jesus declared in Luke 19:46, "My house shall be a house of prayer." I long to see Meadow Brook Baptist Church become a true house of prayer! I know that you would too. All too often, however, churches are places for anything and everything except prayer. True, we need to have business meetings and our committee meetings and our Bible studies and special interest groups and worship services, but if the fire is not hot in the center, these things are only ashes in our hands!
In the seventeenth century Jonathan Edwards wrote a little book with a big title: A Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of All God's People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ's Kingdom on Earth, Pursuant to Scripture Promises and Prophesies Concerning the Last Time. Edwards understood what was needed so well. We must have both "explicit agreement" and "visible union" for this kind of prayer to go forward. It is not an easy combination to come by, but when it occurs, extraordinary prayer happens.
God desires to bring individuals and families into saving faith. It is God's desire to bring people off addictions to drugs, sex, money, alcohol, and status. It is God's desire to deliver people from racism, sexism, and consumerism. It is God's desire to harvest cities, bringing whole communities into the Kingdom. Organized, corporate, intercessory prayer is a crucial means for the fulfillment of those yearnings in the heart of God.
Gracious Holy Spirit, so much of my life seems to revolve around my interests and my welfare. I would like to live just one day in which everything I did benefited someone besides myself. Perhaps prayer for others is a starting point. Help me to do so without any need for praise or reward. - Amen.
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