Intercession: A Road Map
What, more on intercession?! We already have Hubs and intercession on missions. And as for a road map, don’t we all use sat nav these days? What is intercession?
Looking first at what intercession is, there is a difference between working through something with the Lord and the arrow prayers of specific - usually time-limited - needs. Intercession is but one of the “all kinds of prayers and requests” noted in Ephesians 6:18. It includes worship and adoration; thanksgiving; and petition but focuses largely on standing in the gap between the Lord and a person or situation. “Inter” implies “between”, while “cede” suggests giving up one’s rights to or possession of something. In many ways, an intercessor gives up their own so-called wisdom as to how the Lord might act and serves as a conduit or channel to present needs to the Lord and his responses to earth. This is a rather humbler position for the intercessor than the taunts of grandeur from some who see intercessors as claiming “a hot line to God”.
Humility is indeed key. Whenever I think I understand the ways of God, he seems to increase the challenge, constantly calling me back to full dependence on him. A recent example of this was my question to him as to how to pray in a situation. I woke up the following morning with a word in my mind. I had no idea what the word meant, and the dictionary did not help. I got some understanding from Wikipedia(!) and then some more from a prayer partner and I started to tease out its meaning.
A biblical example of intercession is found in Genesis 18, where Abraham pleaded with God for the righteous in Sodom, obtaining the Lord’s word that he would not destroy the city, even if only ten righteous people were found there. Surely potential encouragement for small struggling Christian communities in hostile settings across the world.
Hearing the Lord
If intercession is largely praying back to the Lord what he has revealed to be his purpose for a particular situation, how do we both find out what that is and proceed with any certainty that it is really the Lord’s way forward?
Many people lack confidence in hearing the Lord. Stories of unanswered prayers abound, with people sometimes feeling that the word that they received from the Lord was simply their own wishful thinking. Timing is a huge issue as the Lord often brings us to the end of our own resources or understanding before he moves in a situation. It is sometimes at the point of desperation, when we are totally “prayed out”, with no words left, unable even to pray in the Spirit with “groanings which cannot be uttered”, (Romans 8:26) that he takes over. At other times, intercession can move more quickly.
Hearing from the Lord is different for each of us. Some of us are more visual than others, some more word based. Examples of how he speaks include: a scripture highlighted to us; a song, spiritual or otherwise; a word coming into our minds; something that we see, a bit like Jesus and the fig tree in Matthew 21:18ff; a change in the weather which comes seemingly “out of the blue”; a chance meeting with someone; a memory resurfacing; dreams; someone’s writing or preaching; as well as in all sorts of other ways.
One difficulty in discerning that this is the Lord speaking comes out of our own make-up. We are created spirit, soul and body. It is our spirit that communicates with the Holy Spirit. The “voice” can therefore sound like our own rather than coming from the Holy Spirit.
One of my experiences in this area was driving back from a training event with my husband and a friend. On the way, I heard the Lord say, “I want you to be less sensible”. When I mentioned this to the others, they found it highly amusing, possibly thinking that I was already doing things that did not seem “sensible”, for example the journey of 500 miles from northern Scotland to the Midlands that we were then undertaking. As I tried to understand this, I began to pause when an idea came into my mind, before dismissing it as totally impossible. As a result, I have done and said things which at first seemed ridiculous but were actually feasible, if I only allowed the Lord to open the way, rather than trying to work it out myself.
As we grow in relationships with friends and family, we know more about what the other thinks and feels. After a lengthy marriage, my husband and I generally know what each other thinks. However, we still need to communicate and be open to changes in our perceptions. This is like our relationship with the Lord. We know that as “sheep” we hear his voice. (John 10: 14-16) However, we do need to listen to it. We also know the oldest temptation known to man is to question, “Has God said…/Did he really mean…?” (Genesis 3: 4-5)
While we may want information from the Lord written in large red letters for everyone to see, he often communicates in subtle ways that we can easily miss. It is almost as if the Lord is asking whether we really want to hear from him.
It is always possible to get it wrong. I have a physical hearing deficit and have sometimes responded to what I thought someone said, rather than what they really said. We need to test what we hear. Does it accord with the weight of scripture, by which I mean the overall message, not an individual word taken out of context? Does it point to Jesus being Lord? Is it in line with other things we have been hearing? The Lord can give completely new direction. However, what we hear is often confirmation of what we already know from other sources. Do others resonate with what we have heard? Does it come with love and kindness; with our experiencing his peace?
Interpreting and applying
As if this is not enough, hearing from the Lord is only one part of the intercessory process. The word given is the revelation from God. This needs interpreting, applying and communicating.
By interpreting and applying, I mean considering what something means and praying for understanding. A word will often relate to the hearer’s experience. If a word contains reference to a dog, for example, the hearer’s response will depend on whether dogs were a happy part of their background or a source of danger. On mission, cultural differences are also relevant.
Application requires prayerful consideration. We may assume that a word relates to something we are praying for, or to the person who received the word. God is usually working on multiple levels at once. Thus, a word can be for the individual, a wider group or even for a regional or national application.
Interpretation and application do not need to be forced. The Lord will reveal what he wants to say. It can be helpful to record our “prayer journey” as it unfolds.
Communicating a word relates to whether we force revelation on others or offer what we have heard in humility and love, to be weighed as part of the whole.
Something for everyone
So, is all this just hard work and only for those with time and energy to spare? We can all seek revelation for ourselves and those for whom we pray most often, while many others are called to pray for missions or other matters.
If this has whetted your appetite for more, why not contact Tristan to explore joining an Intercession Hub? Praying with others is often really encouraging. If you do not have others close to you moving in deeper intercession, a discussion with Tristan might link you to others. There are Hubs operating online, which may be appropriate for you. Sometimes we need to travel to link with appropriate others, even if this is not our first choice. My 1000-mile round trips to northern Scotland for training in the prophetic were far from convenient but had a huge impact on me going deeper in intercession. Indeed, the first time I attended was a miracle. I had had significant surgery less than a year earlier and was far from sure I could manage the journey. Over the last 100 miles, on the way up, I had to stop the car repeatedly to ensure I had the concentration to finish the journey.
The late John Paul Jackson, who taught on Hearing God, used to say that “what we focus on, we move towards”. The Lord meets us as we step out of our comfort zone and head out on the ‘Road Less Travelled’.
On Mission
I close with an example from a recent mission. As a team we were interceding in advance of a Healing the Land conference. We met with national intercessors and had been given information about abortion in the nation. We prayed into this and identified a demonic entity involved. We then had to decide how to proceed. Did we have the authority to pray for this? Should we wait and pray with national pastors at the forthcoming conference? A supporter sent in a word to say that he had seen a set of traffic lights on green. The turning to the left was congested, the one to the right was clear. He then added, “take the unburdened route”. The interpretation of part of this was straightforward, the lights were green, and we needed to take the right turning which was clear. The word ‘right’ could mean to the right hand or correct but either way was more attractive than the congested left turn.
My problem with all of this was the phrase “unburdened route”. I had not heard the term before. Unburdened to me was the action of having laid down one’s burden. This made us pause and seek the Lord. My sense was that we were being told to move ahead in prayer, but we needed to be sure of this. Getting it wrong could mean enemy backlash on both us and the upcoming conference. We could not risk such disruption of a God-ordained event.
As we prayed, we agreed that another word “now is the time” applied. It could have referred to the conference but in this context, we were seeking guidance as to when and how to pray. Once we reached consensus and had refined a sample prayer to fit the prayer assignment, we went ahead and prayed for the loosening of the spirit’s hold on the land and its people. One of the team felt unburdened after that, another a huge sense of something being ‘loosed’.
The rest of the time in Armenia included significant prayer for the nation by national pastors and a real sense of things moving on.
Thus, a supporter’s word, interpreted into the immediate situation, and applied, had a major role in the decision to proceed in prayer, demonstrating the interaction of different parts of the Body of Christ. It was both challenging and very encouraging.
Whatever our next steps in intercession, may we step forward knowing that the Lord delights in the prayers of his people and uses each of us in different ways to build his Kingdom.
He is indeed the Lord of Glory and the King of Kings – and we get to be part of his body/his working here on earth as it is in heaven!
Looking first at what intercession is, there is a difference between working through something with the Lord and the arrow prayers of specific - usually time-limited - needs. Intercession is but one of the “all kinds of prayers and requests” noted in Ephesians 6:18. It includes worship and adoration; thanksgiving; and petition but focuses largely on standing in the gap between the Lord and a person or situation. “Inter” implies “between”, while “cede” suggests giving up one’s rights to or possession of something. In many ways, an intercessor gives up their own so-called wisdom as to how the Lord might act and serves as a conduit or channel to present needs to the Lord and his responses to earth. This is a rather humbler position for the intercessor than the taunts of grandeur from some who see intercessors as claiming “a hot line to God”.
Humility is indeed key. Whenever I think I understand the ways of God, he seems to increase the challenge, constantly calling me back to full dependence on him. A recent example of this was my question to him as to how to pray in a situation. I woke up the following morning with a word in my mind. I had no idea what the word meant, and the dictionary did not help. I got some understanding from Wikipedia(!) and then some more from a prayer partner and I started to tease out its meaning.
A biblical example of intercession is found in Genesis 18, where Abraham pleaded with God for the righteous in Sodom, obtaining the Lord’s word that he would not destroy the city, even if only ten righteous people were found there. Surely potential encouragement for small struggling Christian communities in hostile settings across the world.
Hearing the Lord
If intercession is largely praying back to the Lord what he has revealed to be his purpose for a particular situation, how do we both find out what that is and proceed with any certainty that it is really the Lord’s way forward?
Many people lack confidence in hearing the Lord. Stories of unanswered prayers abound, with people sometimes feeling that the word that they received from the Lord was simply their own wishful thinking. Timing is a huge issue as the Lord often brings us to the end of our own resources or understanding before he moves in a situation. It is sometimes at the point of desperation, when we are totally “prayed out”, with no words left, unable even to pray in the Spirit with “groanings which cannot be uttered”, (Romans 8:26) that he takes over. At other times, intercession can move more quickly.
Hearing from the Lord is different for each of us. Some of us are more visual than others, some more word based. Examples of how he speaks include: a scripture highlighted to us; a song, spiritual or otherwise; a word coming into our minds; something that we see, a bit like Jesus and the fig tree in Matthew 21:18ff; a change in the weather which comes seemingly “out of the blue”; a chance meeting with someone; a memory resurfacing; dreams; someone’s writing or preaching; as well as in all sorts of other ways.
One difficulty in discerning that this is the Lord speaking comes out of our own make-up. We are created spirit, soul and body. It is our spirit that communicates with the Holy Spirit. The “voice” can therefore sound like our own rather than coming from the Holy Spirit.
One of my experiences in this area was driving back from a training event with my husband and a friend. On the way, I heard the Lord say, “I want you to be less sensible”. When I mentioned this to the others, they found it highly amusing, possibly thinking that I was already doing things that did not seem “sensible”, for example the journey of 500 miles from northern Scotland to the Midlands that we were then undertaking. As I tried to understand this, I began to pause when an idea came into my mind, before dismissing it as totally impossible. As a result, I have done and said things which at first seemed ridiculous but were actually feasible, if I only allowed the Lord to open the way, rather than trying to work it out myself.
As we grow in relationships with friends and family, we know more about what the other thinks and feels. After a lengthy marriage, my husband and I generally know what each other thinks. However, we still need to communicate and be open to changes in our perceptions. This is like our relationship with the Lord. We know that as “sheep” we hear his voice. (John 10: 14-16) However, we do need to listen to it. We also know the oldest temptation known to man is to question, “Has God said…/Did he really mean…?” (Genesis 3: 4-5)
While we may want information from the Lord written in large red letters for everyone to see, he often communicates in subtle ways that we can easily miss. It is almost as if the Lord is asking whether we really want to hear from him.
It is always possible to get it wrong. I have a physical hearing deficit and have sometimes responded to what I thought someone said, rather than what they really said. We need to test what we hear. Does it accord with the weight of scripture, by which I mean the overall message, not an individual word taken out of context? Does it point to Jesus being Lord? Is it in line with other things we have been hearing? The Lord can give completely new direction. However, what we hear is often confirmation of what we already know from other sources. Do others resonate with what we have heard? Does it come with love and kindness; with our experiencing his peace?
Interpreting and applying
As if this is not enough, hearing from the Lord is only one part of the intercessory process. The word given is the revelation from God. This needs interpreting, applying and communicating.
By interpreting and applying, I mean considering what something means and praying for understanding. A word will often relate to the hearer’s experience. If a word contains reference to a dog, for example, the hearer’s response will depend on whether dogs were a happy part of their background or a source of danger. On mission, cultural differences are also relevant.
Application requires prayerful consideration. We may assume that a word relates to something we are praying for, or to the person who received the word. God is usually working on multiple levels at once. Thus, a word can be for the individual, a wider group or even for a regional or national application.
Interpretation and application do not need to be forced. The Lord will reveal what he wants to say. It can be helpful to record our “prayer journey” as it unfolds.
Communicating a word relates to whether we force revelation on others or offer what we have heard in humility and love, to be weighed as part of the whole.
Something for everyone
So, is all this just hard work and only for those with time and energy to spare? We can all seek revelation for ourselves and those for whom we pray most often, while many others are called to pray for missions or other matters.
If this has whetted your appetite for more, why not contact Tristan to explore joining an Intercession Hub? Praying with others is often really encouraging. If you do not have others close to you moving in deeper intercession, a discussion with Tristan might link you to others. There are Hubs operating online, which may be appropriate for you. Sometimes we need to travel to link with appropriate others, even if this is not our first choice. My 1000-mile round trips to northern Scotland for training in the prophetic were far from convenient but had a huge impact on me going deeper in intercession. Indeed, the first time I attended was a miracle. I had had significant surgery less than a year earlier and was far from sure I could manage the journey. Over the last 100 miles, on the way up, I had to stop the car repeatedly to ensure I had the concentration to finish the journey.
The late John Paul Jackson, who taught on Hearing God, used to say that “what we focus on, we move towards”. The Lord meets us as we step out of our comfort zone and head out on the ‘Road Less Travelled’.
On Mission
I close with an example from a recent mission. As a team we were interceding in advance of a Healing the Land conference. We met with national intercessors and had been given information about abortion in the nation. We prayed into this and identified a demonic entity involved. We then had to decide how to proceed. Did we have the authority to pray for this? Should we wait and pray with national pastors at the forthcoming conference? A supporter sent in a word to say that he had seen a set of traffic lights on green. The turning to the left was congested, the one to the right was clear. He then added, “take the unburdened route”. The interpretation of part of this was straightforward, the lights were green, and we needed to take the right turning which was clear. The word ‘right’ could mean to the right hand or correct but either way was more attractive than the congested left turn.
My problem with all of this was the phrase “unburdened route”. I had not heard the term before. Unburdened to me was the action of having laid down one’s burden. This made us pause and seek the Lord. My sense was that we were being told to move ahead in prayer, but we needed to be sure of this. Getting it wrong could mean enemy backlash on both us and the upcoming conference. We could not risk such disruption of a God-ordained event.
As we prayed, we agreed that another word “now is the time” applied. It could have referred to the conference but in this context, we were seeking guidance as to when and how to pray. Once we reached consensus and had refined a sample prayer to fit the prayer assignment, we went ahead and prayed for the loosening of the spirit’s hold on the land and its people. One of the team felt unburdened after that, another a huge sense of something being ‘loosed’.
The rest of the time in Armenia included significant prayer for the nation by national pastors and a real sense of things moving on.
Thus, a supporter’s word, interpreted into the immediate situation, and applied, had a major role in the decision to proceed in prayer, demonstrating the interaction of different parts of the Body of Christ. It was both challenging and very encouraging.
Whatever our next steps in intercession, may we step forward knowing that the Lord delights in the prayers of his people and uses each of us in different ways to build his Kingdom.
He is indeed the Lord of Glory and the King of Kings – and we get to be part of his body/his working here on earth as it is in heaven!
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