Intercessory Prayer
…men always ought to pray and not lose heart. —Luke 18:1
You cannot truly intercede through
prayer if you do not believe in the reality of redemption. Instead, you will
simply be turning intercession into useless sympathy for others, which will
serve only to increase the contentment they have for remaining out of touch
with God. True intercession involves bringing the person, or the circumstance
that seems to be crashing in on you, before God, until you are changed by His
attitude toward that person or circumstance. Intercession means to “fill up…[with] what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ”
(Colossians 1:24), and this is precisely why there are so few intercessors.
People describe intercession by saying, “It is putting yourself
in someone else’s place.” That is not true! Intercession is putting yourself in God’s place; it is having His mind and His
perspective.
As an intercessor, be careful not to
seek too much information from God regarding the situation you are praying
about, because you may be overwhelmed. If you know too much, more than God has
ordained for you to know, you can’t pray; the circumstances of the people
become so overpowering that you are no longer able to get to the underlying
truth.
Our work is to be in such close
contact with God that we may have His mind about everything, but we shirk that
responsibility by substituting doing for interceding. And yet intercession is
the only thing that has no drawbacks, because it keeps our relationship
completely open with God.
What we must avoid in intercession
is praying for someone to be simply “patched up.” We must pray that person
completely through into contact with the very life of God. Think of the number
of people God has brought across our path, only to see us drop them! When we
pray on the basis of redemption, God creates something He can create in no
other way than through intercessory prayer.
(Taken from Oswald Chambers – “My Utmost for His
Highest” December 13)