The Most Powerful Ministry of All – Intercession

Many people feel called to the ministry because they have a deep desire to change the world for Gods Glory. Many feel so thankful after receiving salvation and being set free from sin they feel driven to share this beautiful life changing experience with others. Ministry takes many forms and each is important, yet one stands out as most powerful to me. It is the ministry Jesus Christ is active in at this very moment as our heavenly priest, he is interceding on our behalf with God The Father, night and day.

Intercessory prayer for me is defined as praying for or against something until it lines up with God’s Will. How do you know God’s Will? Gods Will is detailed in Gods Word. Everyday we experience people, places or things that are not in line with God’s Will or Word and often they will spiritually burden us. Can you think of things you have seen or heard perhaps on the news and it just bothered you on a deep level? This is when intercession is called into action. Your here for a reason and it’s not to look the other way, it’s to pray. Write it down, and go to war over it praying for or against it until it lines up with God’s Will.

Prayer is powerful. You as a Christian have a responsibility to stand in the gap for those around you. God has strategically placed you where you are at and surrounded you with the exact people who need your prayers most. This ministry might not place you in the pulpit but it will definitely place you on the frontlines in the spiritual realm. You are standing in the gap for the lost, lifting up the hurt and burdened, and changing the world in everlasting powerful ways.

It’s a humble ministry. It brings no fame or recognition in this world. You won’t be called to speak at conferences or have your face on books, flyers or billboards here on earth. In fact, no one here on earth may even know who you are or what you are doing, but in heaven your Father knows and your reward is there. It is the most important, powerful and Christ like of all ministries.

The burdens that are on our hearts are full of purpose. It is not by chance that our spirit is grieved, it is by divine design. It is not so that we can grumble and complain or feel helpless or overwhelmed. It is for one purpose, it is our battle cry, that burden calls us to war on behalf of the person, place or thing that produces that inner groaning. That groaning comes from experiencing a situation that is outside of Gods Will.

To recap… How do we know God’s Will? We know God’s Will by knowing Gods Word. And when we see, hear or experience something that is counteractive to God’s Word it will grieve our spirit. The Holy Spirit quickens our soul, and that feeling should be harnessed into a call to action to pray for or against whatever it is until it lines up with God’s Word & ultimately God’s Will because the two are synonymous.

There are millions of people out here that have no one praying for them! They need you! Chances are you received salvation only because someone else was praying in intercession for you, a grandma or a mother hit her knees and prayed that you would come to Christ. Imagine having no one standing in the gap for you. When you encounter people who have not found Christ, write their names down and place them in your Bible and pray for them daily.

This is the real backbone of ministry, prayer. This is not only how people get saved but how entire countries are being won for the Kingdom of God. For decades prayer warriors have been saturating countries like China, Russia, N. Korea and the many countries of the Middle East in prayer and slowly the Gospel has infiltrated these regions. But without prayer of saints all over the World it would never have happened.

This is the frontlines of our Warfare. On our knees in our private prayer rooms lifting up our personal world to the ever listening ear and heart of the Lord and he is ever making intercession to the Father on our behalf. Having an intercession ministry means you will be diligently fervent in your prayer life. You are astutely aware of your environment and always adding to your list of prayer requests. You are involved in the true trenches of the spiritual war we are engaged in here on earth. You are awake early in the morning, or manning the watchtower late into the night, lifting up the burdens of your heart.

The world may not know you, but the Lord definitely does, he hears your voice and sees your face often and he is pleased by your obedience and heart of selfless service. Intercession mirrors the heart of Christ. This ministry has no start up costs, it has no operating costs what so ever in fact, but it is POWERFULLY EFFECTIVE. It is invaluable to the people you pray for and it ripples out into making very real, very big changes in the world.

Jesus sets the standard in intercession…

John 17:9-24

“I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but of those whom You have given Me; for they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. “I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled. “But now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. “I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. “I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. “Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. “As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. “For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth. “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

1 Timothy 2:1-2 – First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

James 5:16 – Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. 

Ephesians 6:18 – With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,

1 Samuel 12:23 – Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you; but I will instruct you in the good and right way.

Daniel exemplifies intercession below…

Daniel 9:3-19

So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes. I prayed to the LORD my God and confessed and said, “Alas, O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. “Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land. “Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day–to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. “Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. “To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; nor have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in His teachings which He set before us through His servants the prophets. “Indeed all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. “Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity; for under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. “As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. “Therefore the LORD has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the LORD our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice. “And now, O Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day–we have sinned, we have been wicked. “O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your cityJerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us. “So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant and to his supplications, and for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. “O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. “O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name