House of Faith Ministries

making intercession for us.

 

What are the mysteries of intercession and why is it that it is so very much required? In this lesson we are going to try to unravel some of the mysteries related to intercession, in the hope that we can get some insight into this ministry that is so vital to our everyday lives, in the hope that it would encourage us to intercede on a daily basis.

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Matthew 6:9-10 “In this manner, therefore, pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.’” 

 

To understand intercession is to understand why the will of God is not being done on the earth as it is in heaven; we need to know that the authority to rule over the earthly realm was given to Adam, to man and his descendants, Satan usurped that authority from man through deception and introduced chaos into the earthly realm. Since that time there has always been a battle between good and evil here on the earth.

 

Jesus came and destroyed Satan’s power to inflict chaos upon the earth and returned earthly authority back into the hands of godly man.

 

Luke 10:19 “Behold, I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.”

 

Intercession is asking God to do His good will here on the earth on behalf, and for the good of all mankind. Since the authority has been returned back to us, when we see chaos ruling, it is because someone is failing to ask God to intervene in that situation. We may ask, why doesn’t God remove the chaos and bring to us His peace? Since God gave authority to man to rule over the earthly realm, God will not interfere into the affairs of man uninvited. That is what intercession is pure and simple, recognizing that we fail due to our fallen nature, to bring the goodness of God by ourselves into the earthly realm. We need His help!

 

Luke 18:1 “Then He spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.”

 

In the parable that followed Jesus spoke about a widow that was not strong enough to take on her adversary by herself. The widow in the parable typifies mankind in our fallen human nature. The judge in the parable did not care about her need for justice, but due to her importunity, a type for consistency in prayer, the judge granted the widow her request. Then Jesus adds:

 

Luke 18:7 “And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them?

 

Men are always to pray and not lose heart: This brings us to the first aspect of intercession.

 

Intercession is a Battle: A spiritual battle that requires a battle plan.

 

Once we understand that God will not intervene in human affairs unless we ask Him to, and we know that it is His will, not ours, that He wants to bring into the mix, then we need to know what His will is in regards to the situation that we are asking His intervention for, so that we can pray in accordance with His will for that situation. If we do not, then the chaos will continue, for He aims for His will to be done not ours.

 

Battle on behalf of mankind: God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

 

Our daily intercession should follow, as in regards to our prayers on behalf of mankind, first the family and the family structure.

 

1 Timothy 5:8 “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”

 

These are pretty strong words that Paul speaks, that is because God is after the family structure; the family that prays together not only stays together but has a powerful influence in all that surrounds them. Is called the power of agreement as in a married couple interceding together on behalf of their entire families that became connected to one another through them entering into holy matrimony.

 

That is why the institution of marriage is under such a heavy attack right now from those who want to redefine it. Their demonic aim is to corrupt the power of this marital institution to intercede together on behalf of both families by introducing dividing controversies into the family unit, thereby their power of intercession is neutralized.

 

So that intercession should be made first on behalf of the household and beginning with the head of the household. Daily intercession should be made on behalf of parents, grand parents, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, our siblings, their siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, and for the families that they are interconnected with as well. God will use your prayer for some distant family member that you do not even know to save them from hell; remember that God is not willing that any of them should perish and be lost forever, but He will not act on their behalf by imposing His own will upon them unless someone prays for their salvation, which is God’s will for them.

 

Many years ago, one of my nephews found himself, after going forward on an altar call, in front of an evangelist that told him that the reason he had answered the call was because his uncle was praying for him. This blew his mind for he knew that I was the only saved uncle that he had, he called us to ask, and we told him, yes we pray daily for our nieces and nephews and aunts and uncles and cousins. This was a confirmation to us way back then, that God always hears our prayers.

 

1 Timothy 2:1-4 “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

 

Secondly, we need to pray for the men and women that are part of the governmental structures that rule society, both secular and religious institutions. So that we need to pray on a daily basis for the churches and the elders of the churches, for the schools, the principles, the teachers, those who prepare the curriculum that the teachers teach, we are not to leave any of that to the will of the enemy. The fruit of the womb is His reward, let our children be invested with the knowledge of the truth, after all they belong to the God of Truth.

 

Let us pray for the lawmakers and those who are in charge of executing the laws that the legislators pass. Let us pray for the judges that rule on what laws are just and which are not. Our prayer on their behalf should be based on what is God’s best for those over whom they rule. If the rules that they pass and enforce go against what is God’s best for the people they have rule over, then our intercession for them will be for God’s conviction of what is right and wrong to be revealed to them. If God opens their eyes to see the evil that their ruling is bringing upon the people, then hopefully they will repent and do the right thing on behalf of those over whom they have the power to rule.

 

3 John 2 “Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers.”

 

Thirdly we need so seek our own personal time of intimacy with Jesus. True intercession is born out of a heart that has an intimate relationship with the heart of Jesus. When His heart becomes one with our heart, our intercession for those things which touch His heart will be the more powerful; when our desire becomes one with His desire, there is a powerful and unstoppable force that is released as we become one with Him in His will for us.

 

Ephesians 4:3 “Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

 

Fourthly there is a place in the heavenly realm where those whose hearts have touched Jesus’ heart meet. This is a real place, more real than any reality that we’ve ever experienced here on earth.

 

You will find people there whose prayer originates from many distant lands, somehow they form a spiritual connection and come together in the bond of peace, while in their efforts to ascend into the hill of the Lord and touch the heart of God. They begin their journey with a simple desire for interceding on behalf of what is in the heart of Jesus at that time. Somehow they all interconnect, they arrived into what is called the unity of the Spirit, when suddenly the Holy Spirit takes them to the base of what is called the hill of the Lord.

 

Once there, they are able to commune one with another in complete trust, being aware of the other intercessors humanity and purpose. You can hear their thoughts and communicate your feelings to them through the same process. To reach the top of the hill of the Lord is the goal, so they press tightly together with one another in order to attain the purpose for which their Lord brought them there.

 

Not all make it to the top at first, for it is a process. And it is that process the reason why I am sharing this aspect of intercession with you right now.

 

Psalm 24:3-4 “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted up his soul to an idol, nor sworn deceitfully.”

 

This Psalm is a Messianic Psalm, meaning that it applies to Jesus, since Jesus is the only perfect human who could fulfilled the requirements stated in the Psalm. But when the intercessors heart becomes one with Jesus’ heart, a pure heart, that is when the intercessor is brought into the base of the hill of the Lord and ascend into the desires of God’s heart.

 

In order for this pureness of heart to take effect, there has to be a cleanness of hands. Idolatries are the issue here, idolatry is the worship of a substitute god, usually the worship of self, or selfish ambitions, all of which defiles the human heart. We can pray the will of God and be in an idolatrous condition, but we can never pray the heart of God in such an idolatrous state, for idolatry is what keeps us from knowing His heart. Hence the ultimate goal of an intercessor should be to rid themselves of all traces of idolatry within their hearts in order to attained the heart of God. You have to begin with the truth, by being true to yourself, truth is the only thing that can make you free.

 

The word sworn, as in sworn deceitfully, literally means to seven oneself, so that it has to do with a custom or ritual, some practice that takes place on regular intervals, a custom that is based on the perversion of the truth, that in reality is idolatry. Such traditional practices will be the hardest of all things to get rid of in your Christian life, because such practices are deeply embedded into modern day Christian liturgy.

 

Truth leads us into the will of God, which in turn leads us into the truth of the purpose of God, which in turn takes us into the very heart of God.

 

John 12:32 “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.”

 

If the goal of intercession is to bring to the earth what is God’s will in heaven, so that God’s purpose for the inhabitants of the earth can be accomplished, and if the best way to accomplish that ministry is to have the very heart of God within our hearts, is it not then necessary that Jesus be lifted up from the earth? You see, if we are proclaiming Jesus’ heart to the world, how can we do so effectively if we ourselves are soiled with the very earthly customs that profane His holy name, since we still have regard for those customs and patronized them?

 

The devil is no match for the name of Jesus, all a believer has to do is to proclaim that precious name of Jesus, and no matter what his circumstances are, Jesus will answer him. But if we are swearing deceitfully by profaning the name that is above every name, by equating His holy name with some ancient pagan festival festering with idolatry, then the devil will not fear those who profane Jesus’ holy name, for by doing so they have placed themselves into the bottom of the heap of rubbish that hell itself is built on.

 

John 12:26 “If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”

 

Who may ascend the hill of the Lord? The true servants that follow Jesus, for those who follow Jesus are with Jesus where He is, and Jesus is on the top of the hill of the Lord. What a privilege it is to make intercession on behalf of the saints in the very presence of His Majesty on High.