What Does It Mean To Have The Gift Intercession?
While we learn so much from examples of intercession in the Bible, the gift of intercession is alive and well in our lives today. We sat down with a gifted intercessor, and asked her a few questions to gain some insight into what it’s like to be called as an intercessor.
Q: How would you define intercession?
A: Intercession is the Holy Spirit inviting us into partnership with His spirit to see something accomplished. The beautiful thing is that He doesn't need our help, but invites us to be apart. He invites us into the secret place of His presence. It is in this place where we can join our faith with what He is doing and experience His faithfulness and the tenderness of His heart in an indescribable way.
Q: When did you first feel called to be an intercessor?
A: When I was young, one of my cousins was going through a very difficult time. He was struggling with substance challenges and the beginning of what would turn out to be mental illness. I remember I was around 13 years old and wanted so badly to help him in some way. He lived on the east coast and I lived on the west coast. I remember my mom saying to pray for him. And I remember thinking, what will that do? Then I found the scripture in James 5:16 that says, “The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.”
I remember thinking that I would see if that worked. I prayed for my cousin daily. Sometimes big elaborate prayers, but usually just asking God to help him.
I saw him a couple years later at a conference when I was walking through the hotel lobby. He was with another man and they were praying. When they finished I saw him hug the man and look so supremely happy! I found out later that it was at this moment he had gotten radically saved and instantaneously healed from his addictions.
I believe the Lord made sure I saw that so I would know that scripture was true. Since then He has let me see the answers to my prayers so many times. Each time, it is truly amazing.
Q: How have you been impacted by intercession?
A: One time I was walking into my house and felt the Holy Spirit impress upon me to pray. I felt a sense of urgency and so I began praying. I prayed hard for about 30 minutes and then felt that was all I was supposed to do. 5 minutes after I stopped praying, I got a call from my mom. She said that my sister had fallen through a roof 15 minutes before and was being rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. She had fallen a story and a half but walked away from it with no major injuries.
This sense of urgent prayer has happened a couple times, and every time I find out that God did something miraculous.
I have also been on the receiving end of this. I was going through a moment of deep struggle when a person who is an acquaintance of mine, but with whom I have very little contact, sent me a message saying that they were praying for me. And in that moment I felt such a keen sense of not being alone.
Q: How do you intercede?
A: There are different types of intercession. The first type is something that we all do. You pray for someone or something and you are specific. For example, you may pray for your friend to get a new job, for protection for your kids as they go about life, for your significant other to have a good day at work, etc. You might pray this a few days in a row.
A second type of intercession is where you make a conscious effort to lift up a certain situation, person, and/or people. This is continuous and happens more than just a couple of times. This is a daily or sometimes hourly action of supplication for what you are interceding for. This can last days to years and doesn't come from a determination in your own will or some kind of personal strength — it just bubbles up in your spirit and you respond.
The third type of intercession is one that I would call deep intercession. You usually feel a deep and powerful sense of "Pray now.” There is an urgency to it. This urgency is not a panic but a strong sense that you need to join your faith with the Holy Spirit and pray. With this type, you usually don't know what you are praying for. This is where praying in tongues has a deep use.
Romans 8:26 says, “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us “with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.” As you unleash the power of the Holy Spirit through your mouth, you are praying the perfect will of God.
Just as there is a certainty in your soul that you need to begin, you feel the Holy Spirit tell you that you are finished. It is one of the greatest experiences in the world. Sometimes you never know what you were praying for, other times you find out and you feel the Holy Spirit tell you, "That's what you were praying for,” and it’s exciting!
When looking at these responses, we gain a deeper understanding of how intercession works as a gifting and why it is so necessary. Intercession is not just praying for your own desires, but for the desires of God’s own heart as we partner our faith with His will. It is a beautiful willingness to constantly be sensitive to the beckoning of the Holy Spirit. Intercessors are silent soldiers, never off-duty, always at the ready, and always finding joy in the fellowship of prayer.
Image by Chris Meads via Unsplash