A talk
presented by Elechi Udochi Alegua to the Prayer
Unit of The Anglican Students Fellowship, Rivers State University Branch
on Thursday 8th June, 2017 at the fellowship
worship center
Introduction:
An intercessor is a person who by calling or by nature
chooses to be a mediator on behalf of those who cannot intervene for
themselves. They make requests, plead, beg, counsel, discuss, risk, sacrifice,
and make war on issues relating to the weaker ones, and thus they have an
impact on the final outcomes for those they serve.
There is a difference between a person who is
called an intercessor and a person who prays. Any person can pray, but
not all praying people are intercessors. The differences of an
intercessor are subtle, they are hidden in the life and heart behind the
prayer. There are many examples of intercessors in the Bible, and they walked
with the favor to impact and change God’s heart. Consider the following role
models and their characteristics:
Moses was willing to be blotted out of God’s book.
(Ex 32:32).
1.
Abraham was willing to suffer
God’s possible displeasure by negotiating Him down to 10 godly men in Sodom
& Gomorrah. (Genesis 18:22)
2.
When king David disobeyed by
taking a census, he was willing to be destroyed in order to seek safety for his
people. (1 Chron 21:17).
3.
Daniel was willing to talk with
God when He was very angry. (Dan 9:16).
4.
Jesus was willing to become sin
and lay down His life so that others could find forgiveness. (Isa 53:12).
5.
The Centurion was willing to
approach authority as well as subject himself to it. (Matt 8:5).
6.
Martha dared to risk her
friendship with Jesus to challenge His decision of delay. (John 11:21-22)
7.
A father risked public exposure,
fear of man’s opinions, and disappointment for the sake of interceding for his
possessed son. (Mark 9:17).
8.
The Nobleman risked his
self-sufficient pride. He could not help his son but he knew who could. He also
risked public exposure and reputation. (John 4:49).
9.
Stephen was willing to face the
murderous rage of a crowd and asked God to forgive them. (Acts 7:59)
10.
Esther was willing to perish at
risk of defending her people to the king. At the very least she was willing to
face a life of ill-favor, isolation and banishment from the king’s court.
(Esther 4:16).
11.
David as a young boy was willing
to face death from Goliath for the sake of Israel. At the very least he was
willing to face humiliation, failure and defeat. (1 Sam 17:37)
THE FUNCTIONS OF AN INTERCESSOR
Ø
TO BOLDLY DEFEND
Each of the above role models defended with boldness.
This does not necessarily mean they had naturally bold personalities. Watch a
mother or father bird when a threat comes too close to their nest! God has
placed within His creation an instinct to defend the young. An intercessor’s heart comes to the surface
when they perceive a threat. (Heb 4:16)
Ø
TO VOLUNTEER
One of the marks of an intercessor is a willingness to do
something. A volunteer is someone who is not necessarily asked, rather he/she
steps forward in order to accomplish something. Jesus said there is no greater
love than to lay down one’s life for his friends. (John 15:13).
THE HEART OF AN INTERCESSOR
ü
MERCY
As in the above list, intercessors stand in the gap for
another, seeking mercy instead of judgment, life over death. They are willing
to face a risk and sacrifice in order to obtain mercy. (James 2:13)
ü
HUMILITY & SERVICE
In each one of these cases, these powerful intercessors
wanted to serve those they were interceding for. Their willingness to serve
resulted in humility, laying down that which they highly esteemed. (Matt 23:11)
QUALITIES OF AN INTERCESSOR
1.
Dedication:
An
intercessor must be committed to CHRIST,
to others and to the task of intercession. There simply is no substitute for
dedication. As Phillips Brooks once said, "If
man is man and God is God, to live without prayer is not merely an awful thing;
it is an infinitely foolish thing."
2.
Reliability:
It's not our
ability that God looks for, but our availability. Paul Daniel Rader once said:
"If you can beat the devil in the matter of regular daily prayer, you can
beat him anywhere. If he can beat you there, he can possibly beat you anywhere."
Or as a country preacher once said, "If your day is hemmed with prayer,
it's less likely to come unraveled."
3.
Integrity:
Psalm
26:11-12: "But I lead a blameless life; redeem me and be merciful to me.
My feet stand on level ground; in the great assembly I will praise the
Lord."
"My
paraphrase would read: 'In all my public trust I will walk uprightly and pay
strict attention to truth, honesty, justice and mercy. I will not plan evil
schemes or use myself to promote my own cause. I will be true to the integrity
of the Word. I will live a moral life in private and in public. I stand firmly
on principles of proper conduct, and I will not turn aside.'"
4.
Objectivity
and empathy:
Objectivity
and empathy are tricky. Both are necessary, but they must be kept in balance.
If we are
empathetic intercessors who cannot find objectivity in prayer, we will soon be
consumed emotionally and ultimately overwhelmed with the prayer needs we bear.
Remember the words of the old song "Leave It There" by
Charles Albert Tindley: "Take your burden to the Lord and leave it
there."
On the other
hand, if we are objective intercessors without empathy, who cannot feel the
needs of those for whom we have been commissioned to pray, our prayer life will
grow stale and eventually dry up.
5.
Kind:
Kindness is
a necessary commodity for the intercessor (advocate)
Do we carry
with us the oil of human kindness?
6.
Discipline:
The
intercessor will not be successful without applying discipline to his or her
work of intercession. Romans 5:3-5, "Tribulation produces perseverance ...
character ... hope" (NKJV). Is not the discipline of life, so hard to bear
sometimes, just a beating out of the bubbles of pride and self-will, so the
Master may form a vessel of earth to hold heavenly treasures?
CONCLUSION
I believe
that God is calling the Church today to a whole new level of intercession. We
are seeing God do amazing things around the world because we are learning to
intercede for the lost. We are learning to intercede for whole nations. God has
shown us clearly that prayer is the frontline strategy for reaching sinners,
for breaking down barriers to presenting the Gospel, and for planting churches.
It is astonishing what God is doing as we obediently pray His will into the
lives of others.
We need to understand the truth of God’s Word that is clearly apparent from the
Old Testament through the New Testament, where Jesus is spending His time as an
intercessor: there is nothing more powerful in the kingdom of God than
intercessory prayer. God is calling His people to pray. All Christians are
exhorted to pray for others and to watch God work in astonishing, astounding
ways. Some people are better at it than others. There are some people whose
main spiritual gift is intercession. But we are all called to be intercessors
and to make a difference in the world through intercessory prayer.
Most of us do not look at ourselves as "world-changers." We do not
see ourselves as having the power or influence to change the direction of
nations. As Christians, however, we affirm the power of God to impact the
nations. That power is released through the prayers of people just like you and
me. Would you make a commitment today to change your world? Take a step in
prayer. Begin to pray more for the people around you, as well as for world
leaders and the flow of world events. Bring the amazing power of God to bear
upon this world and see what our awesome God will do!