Intercession: August 22, 2013

TODAY’S WORD FOR THURSDAY AUGUST 22, 2013.

INTERCESSION

DEFINITION:  

Prayer offered in behalf of others; to plead, or mediate on behalf of someone.

SCRIPTURE:

This is the way you should bless the children of Israel. Say to them: The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.  Numbers 6: 23-26

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of the faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. James 5: 14-15.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

When people hear that we have six children they often ask, "How did you do it?" The answer is PRAYER. We prayed every day not only for them but with them. God can do what we cannot do in the hearts of our children. We prayed daily and followed His leading and taught them His Words and let Him do the rest.

The scriptures give us several purposes of prayer (intercession) that we should adhere to when we pray on behalf of others. We are to seek intercession for healing, to avert judgment, for deliverance, to give blessings, to obtain restoration and to encourage repentance.

Moses often had to intercede for his people on the long hard journey to their Promised Land. The people did not make it easy for Moses to lead them. They complained about food, they complained about the water, they complained about the leadership of Moses and they even complained about God. (Does this sound a little like complaints you receive from your children?)

In Numbers 21, God brought punishment in the form of fiery serpents. When the serpent bit them the person died. "Therefore the people came to Moses and said, 'we have sinned, for we have spoken against God and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us'" So Moses prayed for them. God did spare the people from the serpents because of the intercession of Moses for them.

The verses above from Numbers are the blessing we read about when the Lord spoke to Moses which Moses and the priests were to pray to bless the Children of Israel. God will not bless sinful men but He blesses all those who have accepted Christ as their Savior. Christ is the source of all blessings through the intercession He has given us, with the cross being the means.

In the verses above from James we are instructed to go to the pastors/elders in the church so that they might be an intercessor for our specific needs such as an illness. God then gives us a wonderful promise that our faith will save the sick and the Lord will raise us up.

When we offer intercession for others and pray for others we must, according to the scriptures, plead on behalf of who we are praying for, be specific as to the needs that we are praying for, and then we are to pray earnestly in faith believing we will have victory.

As parents who are believers, we have a responsibility to make intercession for our children. We must pray not only that the Lord will bring them to repentance and salvation, but that the Lord will protect them from evil and guide their steps and that God would bless them.   

The uniqueness of our relationship with Jesus is that as believers we have Jesus as our intercessor between us and God. This is why we pray in Jesus name when we pray. Do you have the confidence that we have that when you pray to God you have Jesus as your intercessor between you and God?

Believers should never have to feel alone in their suffering and distress. They should be able to count on fellow believers for prayer and support. The believer’s most powerful resource is intercessory prayer. Our prayers are part of God’s healing process. One of the most caring things we can do for someone is to pray for them. In James 5:16, James tells us “The prayer of the righteous man is powerful and effective.” Is there someone who needs you to pray for them and make intercession for?

LEARNING:

Our memory verse for this week is found in John 20:21.

Peace be with you, as the Father has sent Me I also send you.

PRAYER:

Thank You that You are my intercessor so I can talk to God. As I read the Bible and pray daily through You, help me to understand Your Word so that I may know how to be that intercessor that others may need in their time of need.