A call for intercessors: Is 62:1, 6-7

“For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not keep quiet, until her righteousness goes forth like brightness, and her salvation like a torch that is burning… On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have appointed watchmen; all day and all night they will never keep silent. You who remind the LORD, take no rest for yourselves; and give Him no rest until He establishes and makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.” (Isaiah 62:1, 6-7)

God’s admonition is clear; we are not to cease praying for the church. We are not to pray our own desires, but pray that God’s purposes would be fulfilled. “Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10) God’s will and purpose are already established in heaven. God wants us to pray it out of heaven and onto the earth. We are to pray that God’s will and kingdom would be established on Earth as it is already established in heaven. Our prayers are not done until we all are fully established in God’s will and purpose.

Intersession means sacrifice. A heart of intersession will not be found by those who pursue personal comfort. Intercessors are not found among those given over to a life of ease. Intersession takes sacrifice. Jesus often spent many hours alone in prayer and intersession. Jesus was often up early and up late spending time with His Father. Those who desire pleasures will never know the joy, or the burden, of intersession. “Epaphras, who is one of your number, a bondslave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greetings, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.” (Colossians 4:12) Epaphras was committed to the welfare of his brethren back home. He labored unceasingly in praying for them, asking God to strengthen them that they might stand squarely in the perfect will of God. The church still needs intercessors like Epaphras.

Intersession means watching. Intersession is more than delivering our “prayer list” to God. Intersession is not an attempt to pray our will into existence. Intersession is watching, listening, and responding in the Holy Spirit. “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.” (Ephesians 6:18) Intersession begins by listening to hear and watching to see what God desires to reveal to us. We bring God’s people before Him and ask what He wants to show us concerning them. Once God reveals His heart, mind, and will for His people, then we can begin to pray into those things. This is the progression of the Lord: God shows us what He wants to do, we pray and intercede that God’s will would be done, and God responds to our prayers and accomplishes His will on Earth. Intersession is participating in what God wants to accomplish. We cannot intercede if we never spend the time to first hear God and to know His will and His mind.

David Robison