Intercessory Prayer and The Importance of Presence by Kyle Stroble

 There is a scene in the movie “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” where the Grinch is up on his mountain shouting down at Whoville. With an open phonebook in his hand, he goes down the line of Whoville residents to declare his utter disdain for them all. The Grinch’s hatred of the Whos is universal, even though there are some he personally despises. Nonetheless, his overall hatred is not personal in any real way. He doesn’t know these Whos he names from the phonebook – their evil is simply intrinsic to their residing in Whoville. But imagine that the movie continued past the Grinch’s “conversion.” Imagine at the end we find a happy Grinch, now at peace with his Whoville neighbors. Wouldn’t it be odd to find him doing the same activity, but now proclaiming his love? Wouldn’t it be unusual, in a way that his earlier activity wasn’t, to open a phonebook and go down the list shouting his love and praise for the Whos personally…by name…from a phonebook. I think this would be more than odd, it would be impossible. Love, unlike hatred, has an intrinsically personal inclination within it. Love, real personal love, is not generic in the same way hate can be – hate in this regard has an inclination toward bigotry in a way love cannot. Love cannot be proclaimed in an abstract way, but it must connect in reality between people.

It may seem odd to start a post about intercessory prayer with the Grinch, but I think it helps to unveil how odd much of our intercession can be. If you are like me, it is easy to rack up lists of people to pray for. I feel guilty about not praying for more people, I see my Facebook feed generating prayer request after prayer request, and suddenly my prayers become a lot like the Grinch’s shouting. I am not with these people in prayer; in fact, I am barely able to internalize their plight. Rather, I am lobbing prayers at God for someone who is far from my heart. In many ways, this kind of intercession struggles with a threefold absence: 1. I am absent from the person I am praying for, and am really just naming requests as I work my way down a list; 2. I am absent from myself, since I am not actually entering into the real heart of the request; and 3. I am absent from God, because I am not with him with these requests, I am just sort of throwing them at him from afar. This is the real danger for intercession. This is when intercession becomes little more than shouting a list at God.

As of late, I have been asked to speak about Beloved Dust, the book I recently co-wrote with Jamin Goggin. When I do, I often speak about prayer – a central theme of that book (hear one of my talks on prayer here). When I speak, I tend to focus on the main theme of Beloved Dust, which is what it means to “be with God who is always with you.” Inevitably, someone asks me about intercessory prayer, and claims that my understanding of prayer cannot account for it: Being with God in prayer seems to make sense for personal prayer, but not for praying for others. But I don’t think this is right. To pray for someone entails that I am present in three key ways. First, that I am present both to them and their condition, second, that I am really present to myself and my own relation to them, upholding them within my own spirit, third, that I am present to God who is with me and them in all of this. Without this threefold presence, I am not actually interceding. Without this presence, I am barely even praying, but am attempting to offer-up a magical formula on their behalf. This is the reality of list-praying; it hopes for magic: to generate some effect by saying the right words in the right way. But this isn’t prayer.

That said, we can, and should, pray for those we do not know, and we can, and should, really be with them in the midst of it. Maybe we hear of a family who are friends of friends, and a real tragedy that has struck, and so we turn to prayer for them. We do not know them personally, but we can personally enter into their circumstances. We can still be with them in prayer, if we enter into their tragedy in the Lord. But more often, in my own case, I simply offer a lazy attempt at a prayer at God. But this pushes against the reality of God’s presence, and our own presence with God in prayer. It is important to recall that our lives are hidden with Christ who is in God (Col. 3:3), and that Christ is our true high priest who intercedes for us before the Father (Heb. 4:14, 7:25).

All of our true prayers are caught up in the intercession of Christ. This is what frees us in prayer to lament. We often call out to a God that does not make sense to us. As we experience the brokenness of the world, and the brokenness of our own souls, we cry out. This is what makes list-praying so dangerous – it never gets around to being with the other person. How odd is it that I can, in intercessory prayer, come alongside someone who is hurting and not hurt with them. How is it that I can praise God for something in someone’s life and yet not really praise within my soul? But this is how list-praying forces us to pray. List-praying is withholding yourself from the other person who you’ve given yourself to in prayer. Think about Paul’s giving himself to his churches even though he wasn’t able to be with them, and how this can serve as a model for our intercession. Notice Paul’s encouragement to the Colossians:

For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God’s mystery, which is Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ. Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. (Colossians 2:1-7 ESV)

What might it look like to be “absent in body,” yet present “in spirit” when we pray for others? What might it look like if we entered into the plight of others, and really gave ourselves to them and their hurt, praise, sorrow, excitement and lament? The Christian life is being with God who is always with you. But being with God is a communal reality, because you are adopted, and therefore you are caught up into a new family of God (Eph. 2:18-19). You have brothers and sisters who are yours, and you have a God who is calling you to himself in love. God calls you to himself, and to others in love, which is why Jesus prays to the Father that we can be one, as he and the Father are, so that everyone would know that we are loved by the Father (John 17:20-23). To pray in this love, therefore, is to enter into it as you really are. In light of this, it may be helpful to listen to Paul again, this time asking for prayer:

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies, but test everything; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. Brothers, pray for us. (1 Thessalonians 5:14-25 ESV)

The call to pray without ceasing is almost hidden within a call to be with one another, to seek each other’s good, to encourage the fainthearted and weak, etc. This is important. Holding each other in prayer before God is central to the Christian life – a life lived with God who is always present to you. To live with God who is always with you necessarily means that you live with his people, who are a part of his body. This is why Paul says, “there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together” (1 Cor. 12:25-26). This is our call in prayer, to suffer together, to lament together, to rejoice together, to weep together, or to simply uphold each other in the silence of sorrow. Whatever is going on with us, and within the people the Lord has brought around us, we are called to take part in their experience. “Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Aim for restoration, comfort one another, agree with one another, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you” (2 Cor. 13:11).

            As in all our prayers, we should end with “Not my will but yours be done.” But this is not simple hand-waiving to the imitation of Christ; it is calling out our limited understanding and God’s infinite knowing. But in intercession, we do not leave it there. As interceders, we are partaking in an office properly held by Christ Jesus and the Spirit. Our intercession, therefore, turns to supplication: “Christ Jesus, our great high-priest, have mercy. Hear our prayers O Lord, be with this one in your grace and peace. Intercede Jesus. Not our wills, but yours be done.”

 

For more on living with God who is always with you, and the nature of prayer, see Beloved Dust: Drawing Close to God by Discovering the Truth About Yourself (Thomas Nelson, 2014).

The Watchman

My Dad served in the Navy during World War Two. After basic training, he was assigned to patrol the beaches of California at night. Japanese submarines were known to be off the coast. Consequently, diligence and alertness were required of those on Shore Patrol. One of his additional duties was to guard a checkpoint on a Naval Base in San Diego. As a Seaman second-class, he had the authority to refuse to let anyone (no matter their rank) without proper documentation through his gate. One day an officer tried to get through the checkpoint without his ID. Even though the officer threatened my Dad with court-martial, he refused to let him enter. My Father had to draw his weapon. The highly agitated officer did not want to comply with the command of his subordinate. The incident was investigated, and my Dad was fully exonerated.

Seaman second-class Sparks (who later became first-class} was later assigned to The USS Lexington aircraft carrier in the Pacific. One of his jobs on his ship was as a night watchman. And on one particular night, he saw a Bible on a table open to Isaiah chapter 21. Below are some of the verses from the chapter:

“For thus the Lord said to me:
“Go, set a watchman;
let him announce what he sees…” (Isaiah 21:6 ESV)

“Then he who saw cried out:
“Upon a watchtower I stand, O Lord,
continually by day,
and at my post I am stationed
whole nights.” (Isaiah 21:8 ESV)

“…Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night?
The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will enquire, enquire ye: return, come.” (Isiah 21: 11-12 KJV)

While reading the Bible, my Dad realized that he was a watchman that night.

As followers of Jesus, he calls us to “watch and pray” (Matthew 26:40.) God has given us much more spiritual authority than most of us realize. We should never let fear back us down from our assignment as prayer warriors.

“And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.” – Ezekial 22:30

A spiritual Watchman watches out for the welfare of others through intercessory prayer. Just like a military sentry, we must remain at our post in prayer – spiritually alert on behalf of others. When a person, Church, or nation starts drifting away from God, we become vulnerable to the enemy’s attack. A Watchmen’s call is to warn those we are spiritually responsible for and to pray for revival.

God calls some to stand watch over Nations, geographical regions, cities, and Churches. We all have different assignments. But the Lord expects all of us to pray for those in positions of authority(1 Timothy 2:1-4.) Those who watch and pray sometimes receive revelation or spiritual insights before conflict arises. Such spiritually sensitive people should be accountable to elders in a local Church. It’s important to share with leadership what you believe the Lord is revealing to you. Then leave it to the elders to pray over. It’s their responsibility to accept or reject your guidance.

As we engage in intercessory prayer, we become sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading. And God may reveal to us the schemes of the devil (Ephesians 6:11.) I believe God gives us insight so that we can pray God’s kingdom into the situation. As a person of prayer, you can influence the culture around you – if you are diligent and refuse to give up. God is sovereign, but there are some things he will not do until we ask him ( James 4:2-3.)

Our goal is to become discerning, not suspicious. And discernment comes from time spent with God in prayer. Knowing and obeying Scripture is essential to our roles as prayer warriors. We must embrace a wartime mentality while realizing that we are at war with spiritual entities, not people. Philosophies and ideologies that contradict God’s truth are weapons that the adversary uses to destroy societies.

No matter the sphere of spiritual influence that God assigns you, know that your prayers on behalf of others will make a difference.

The Spirit Of Intercession by A.B.Simpson

 “And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Rom. viii. 27). 

The Holy Spirit becomes to the consecrated heart the Spirit of intercession. We have two Advocates. We have an Advocate with the Father, who prays for us at God's right hand; but the Holy Spirit is the Advocate within, who prays in us, inspiring our petitions and presenting them, through Christ, to God. We need this Advocate. We know not what to pray for, and we know not how to pray as we ought, but He breathes in the holy heart the desires that we may not always understand, the groanings which we could not utter. But God understands, and He, with a loving Father's heart, is always searching our hearts to find the Spirit's prayer, and to answer it. He finds many a prayer there that we have not discovered, and answers many a cry that we never understood. And when we reach our home and read the records of life, we shall better know and appreciate the infinite love of that Divine Friend, who has watched within as the Spirit of prayer, and breathed out our every need to the heart of God." 

- Days Of Heaven On Earth, J.B.Simpson, p.154      

Prayer: Battling In The Unseen Realm

 

I believe in the power of prayer. Through prayer, God can either change our circumstances or teach us to trust in his goodness in any situation. I use ‘The Lord’s Prayer’ as a template for my time with God in the morning. I also use other prayers of Jesus’ in the Gospels, the Apostolic prayers, and the Psalms. These prayers can help to form our devotional time with God. They assist in shaping us into the image of Jesus. 

The Apostle Paul was clear that we do not wrestle with flesh and blood – our real enemies are spiritual beings. Evil entities influence society and the personal lives of individuals (Eph. 6:12.)  It takes Holy Spirit-inspired words to do battle with evil in the spiritual realm.

Praying Holy Spirit-directed prayer – also proclaiming the gospel to the nations is vital in waging war in the unseen realm. Screaming at those we disagree with or at the devil will not give us the results we desire. Angry rants will not bring about the end of spiritual darkness. But, a life lived pursuing the presence of God in prayer can make a difference.

Those who build their lives on Scripture and prayer are entrusted with the power of God to overcome evil. Those who are determined to push back the darkness in society and religion must discover the power of prayer. Followers of Jesus need to stand for justice and to work to make our world a better place. But gaining more political influence will not change one human heart.

Intimacy with Jesus is not an option for those who desire to walk and pray in Christ’s authority. Knowing and abiding in God is our ultimate goal. 

My desire is to pray in agreement with the heart of God. 

1 John 5:14-15 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us-whatever we ask-we know that we have what we asked of him.” 

We can battle in the unseen spiritual realm by praying in the Spirit – with all types of prayers (Eph.6:18.) And with the confidence that God will use our prayers to help establish his purposes in the earth.In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. – (Matthew 6: 9 – 12 NKJ)

What Is An Intercessor?: Rees Howell

The central truth which the Holy Ghost gradually revealed to Mr. Howells and which was the mainspring of his whole life's ministry was that of intercession. The Spirit can be seen leading him into this in all His dealings with him, from the time He took full possession of him in the Llandrindod Convention until, in his dealings with the tubercular woman, the meaning of intercession became fully clear. From then onward the Spirit was constantly leading him both to gain new positions as an intercessor and to reveal the precious truths he had learned to others able to bear them. It will be useful, therefore, to stop a moment and to look a little more carefully into what is meant by being an intercessor.

That God seeks intercessors but seldom finds them is plain from the pain of His exclamation through Isaiah: "He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor"; and His protest of disappointment through Ezekiel: "I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before Me for the land - but I found none."

Perhaps believers in general have regarded intercession as just some form of rather intensified prayer. It is, so long as there is great emphasis on the word "intensified"; for there are three things to be seen in an intercessor which are not necessarily found in ordinary prayer: identification, agony and authority.

The identification of the intercessor with the ones for whom he intercedes is perfectly seen in the Savior. Of Him it was said that He poured out His soul unto death; and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. As the Divine Intercessor, interceding for a lost world, He drained the cup of our lost condition to its last drop, He "tasted death for every man." To do that, in the fullest possible sense, He sat where we sit. By taking our nature upon Himself, by learning obedience through the things which He suffered, by being tempted in all points like as we are, by becoming poor for our sakes, and finally by being made sin for us, He gained the position in which, with the fullest authority as the Captain of our salvation made perfect through sufferings, and the fullest understanding of all we go through, He can ever live to make intercession for us, and by effective pleadings with the Father "is able to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by Him." Identification is thus the first law of the intercessor. He pleads effectively because he gives his life for those he pleads for; he is their genuine representative; he has submerged his self-interest in their needs and sufferings and as far as possible has literally taken their place.

There is another Intercessor, and in Him we see the agony of this ministry; for He, the Holy Spirit, "maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered." This One, the only present intercessor on earth, has no hearts upon which He can lay His burdens, and no bodies through which He can suffer and work, except the hearts and bodies of those who are His dwelling place. Through them He does His intercessory work on earth, and they become intercessors by reason of the Intercessor within them. It is real life to which he calls them, the very kind of life, in lesser measure, which the Savior Himself lived on earth.

But before He can lead a chosen vessel into such a life of intercession, He first has to deal to the bottom with all that is natural. Love of money, personal ambition, natural affection for parents and loved ones, the appetites of the body, the love of life itself, all that makes even a converted man live unto himself, for his own comfort of advantage, for his own advancement, even for his own circle of friends, has to go to the cross. It is no theoretical death but a real crucifixion with Christ, such as only the Holy Ghost Himself can make actual in the experience of His servant. Both as a crisis and process, Paul's testimony must be made ours; "I have been and still am crucified with Christ." The self must be released from itself to become the agent of the Holy Ghost.

As crucifixion proceeds, intercession begins. By inner burdens, by calls to outward obediences, the Spirit begins to live His own life of love and sacrifice for a lost world through His cleansed channel. We see it in Rees Howells' life. We see it at its greatest height in the Scriptures. Watch Moses, the young intercessor, leaving the palace by free choice to identify himself with his slave-brethren. See him accompanying them through "the waste and howling wilderness." See him reach the very summit of intercession when the wrath of God was upon them for their idolatry and their destruction was imminent. It is not his body he now offers for them as intercessor but his immortal soul: "If Thou wilt forgive their sin--; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy Book"; and he actually called this "making an atonement" for them.

See the Apostle Paul, the greatest man of the new dispensation as Moses was of the old. For years his body, through the Holy Ghost, is a living sacrifice that the Gentiles might have the gospel; finally, his immortal soul is offered on the altar. The very one who was just rejoicing with the Romans that nothing could separate him and them from the love of God (Rom.8) says a moment later, the Spirit bearing him witness, that he could wish himself "accursed [separated] from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh" (Rom.9).

This is the intercessor in action. When the Holy Ghost really lives His life in a chosen vessel there is no limit to the extremes to which He will take him in His passion to warn and save the lost. Isaiah, that aristocrat, had to go "naked and bare-footed" for three years as a warning to Israel . We can hardly credit such a thing! Hosea had to marry a harlot, to show his people that the heavenly Husband was willing to take back His adulterous bride. Jeremiah was not allowed to marry, as a warning to Israel against the terrors and tragedies of captivity. Ezekiel was not allowed to shed one tear at the death of his wife, "the desire of his eyes." And so the list might be continued. Every greatly used instrument of God has been, in his measure, an intercessor: Wesley for backsliding England; Booth for the down-and-outs; Hudson Taylor for China; C. T. Studd for the unevangelized world.

But intercession is more than the Spirit sharing His groanings with us and living His life of sacrifice for the world through us; it is the Spirit gaining His ends of abundant grace. If the intercessor knows identification and agony, he also knows authority. It is the law of the corn of wheat and the harvest; "If it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."

Intercession is not substitution for sin. There has only ever been one substitute for a world of sinners, Jesus the Son of God. But intercession so identifies the intercessor with the sufferer that it gives him a prevailing place with God. He moves God. He even causes Him to change His mind. He gains his objective, or rather the Spirit gains it through him. Thus Moses, by intercession, became the savior of Israel and prevented their destruction; and we can have little doubt that Paul's supreme act of intercession for God's chosen people resulted in the great revelation given him at that time of worldwide evangelization and the final salvation of Israel (Romans 10 and 11), and is enabling God to bring it about.

Mr. Howells would often speak of "the gained position of intercession," and the truth of it is obvious on many occasions in his life. It is a fact of experience. The price is paid, the obedience is fulfilled, the inner wrestlings and groanings take their full course, and then "the word of the Lord comes." The weak channel is clothed with authority by the Holy Ghost and can speak the word of deliverance. "Greater works" are done. Not only this, but a new position in grace is gained and maintained, although even then that grace can only be appropriated and applied in each instance under the guidance of the Spirit.

Mr. Howells used to speak of it, in Mr. Muller's phrases, as entering "the grace of faith," in contrast to receiving "the gifts of faith." What he meant was that, when we pray in a normal way, we may hope that God of His goodness will give us the thing. If He does, we rejoice; it is His gift to us; but we have no power or authority to say that we can always get that same answer at any time. Such are the gifts of faith. But when an intercessor has gained the place of intercession in a certain realm, then he has entered into "the grace of faith"; along that special line the measureless sea of God's grace is open to him. That is the gained place of intercession.

Mr. Howells referred to George Mueller's experience. Mr. Mueller had never gained a place of intercession over sickness, but on one occasion God raised up a sick person for whom he had prayed. On another occasion he prayed for another sick person, but there was no healing. Mr. Mueller, however, said that this was not a failure in prayer because he had never gained a place of intercession over sickness, and therefore the answer to the first prayer was merely "a gift of faith," which would not necessarily be repeated. On the other hand, he had gained a place of intercession for the orphans. He was always ready to be the first sufferer on their behalf; if there was enough food for all except one, he would be the one to go without; and in this realm of supply, God held him responsible to see that the needs were always met, for the doors of God's Treasure had been permanently opened to him, and he could take as much as he needed.

Pastor Blumhardt of Germany, on the other hand, was a man who had gained a place of intercession for the sick. In his first struggles with evil spirits it took him more than eighteen months of prayer and fasting before he gained the final victory. Complaints were lodged against him of neglecting his work as a minister and devoting himself to the healing of the sick, but he said the Lord had given the parable of the friend at midnight and the three loaves and, though unworthy, he was going on knocking.

Pastor Blumhardt prayed through, and God did open. Not only were hundreds blessed, but he raised a standard for the church. After the final victory he gained such ease of access to the Throne that often, when letters came asking for prayer for sick people, after just looking up for a single moment he could find God's will as to whether they were to be healed or not. The sufferings of others became so painful to him that he was pleading for them as if for himself. That was intercession!

This was taken from "Rees Howells Intercessor" by Norman Grubb, chapter 12.

How To Pray For Your City by Bliss Spillar

Bliss Spillar is assistant to the lead pastor at Portico Church in Charlottesville. He blogs at BlissSpillar.com.

When we think about the book of Acts, we usually think about the beginning of the church, the miracles performed by the Apostles, the work of the Holy Spirit, the conversion of Paul, and so on.

Too often, we overlook a wonderful thread that weaves its way throughout the entire book. The early church was made up of Christians that were dedicated not only to the gospel, to community, to mission but also toprayer (Acts 1:24, 2:42, 4:24-31 6:6, 16:25, 20:36  and many more).

It is easy to neglect praying for our cities I believe for three reasons.

First, if we were to be honest, many of us believe that the “heavy lifting” of ministering to our city comes in the form of our Sunday gatherings, community groups, missional events, etc. While these things are necessary, when it comes to prayer we are often times (as Jeff Vanderstelt puts it) “functional atheists.”

Secondly, we forget how important prayer is to God. In Jeremiah, God instructs the prophet,

“Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf…” (Jer. 29:7).

Jesus in the Gospels commands the disciples,

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” (Matthew 9:37-38).

From beginning to end, the call to pray is commanded in scripture and not something to be abandoned. 

Finally, we are a prideful people. I am often reminding myself that I am a workman in a field that does not belong to me, using tools that do not belong to me, reaping a harvest that does not belong to me, and working for a glory that does not belong to me (1 Corinthians 3:5-9). By His grace, making prayer for my city a priority has allowed the Spirit to remind me that God alone saves and God alone deserves glory for redemption.

During a sermon on 1 Peter 2:7, Charles Spurgeon made the statement, “Every Christian here is either a missionary or an impostor.”

A disciple of Christ is a life on mission, one that I believe is marked deeply by prayer for the people God has sent them to. Our states, our cities, our neighborhoods desperately need the life-giving renewal and redemption that flow from Christ’s life, death and resurrection.

Praying for the mission of God in our cities is one of the beautiful ways we join God in His renewal and redemption of our city. Let us be people who are marked not just by lives on mission in the everyday, but people who intercede daily and earnestly on behalf of our cities.

Below I have listed out prayers that we have recently been utilizing to pray for our city. My prayer even now, is that the Lord would use these to glorify Himself in the redemption and renewal of your city.

• Sunday - That the Gospel would be boldly and unashamedly proclaimed in our local churches. That our churches would be places for the broken, unwanted and hurting. That Christ will be offered as the only remedy for the very thing we cannot do, make our selves better or save ourselves.
• Monday - Pray that Romans 8:35-39 would become a reality. Pray for yourself, for your family, for your pastors, for your church. That our hope would be found in Christ and in Christ alone and that his hope would produce Gospel boldness in our lives.
• Tuesday - Pray Matthew 6:10 over your city. Spend this day replacing the word “earth” with the name of your city… for me it is “In Charlottesville as it is in heaven”.
• Wednesday - Pray that the Spirit would weed out the sin in your life that has kept you from living a life on mission. That He would open up opportunities for you to be present and intentional with the gospel in your neighborhood. Pray for your neighbors by name.
• Thursday - Pray boldly Psalms 33:8 over your city.  The the people would stand in awe before Him.
• Friday - Pray Habakkuk 3:2 over your city. That the Lord’s love, wrath, justice and mercy would be made known in the City.
• Saturday: Pray that the Lord would increase our burden for our city. That our love and growth in the Gospel would produce a desire to see others saved, and grow in their love and understanding of who God is, what He has done and what He is doing. 

The Son Of God Is Praying For You by David Burnette

It’s a great comfort to know that other believers are praying for us. When difficult times come, or even amid the normal anxieties and struggles of life, we want to know that someone is pleading with God on our behalf. James tells us that the prayer of a righteous person has great power (Js 5:16).

But as comforting as it may be to know that we are being prayed for by other believers, nothing compares to the comfort of knowing that we are being prayed for by Jesus Christ Himself. That’s right, Hebrews 7:25 tells us that the Son of God is interceding on our behalf: 

“Consequently, he [Jesus Christ] is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

Take comfort, believer, knowing that your faith can stand firm in the midst of worries, trials, and suffering in this life. Your confidence is not ultimately in your own faithfulness, or even in the faithfulness of other believers to plead with God on your behalf. Your confidence should be in the faithfulness of Christ, who lived, died, rose again, and now intercedes on your behalf. Your endurance in faith is a direct result of His intercession.

Consider briefly three reasons to be confident in Christ’s intercession:

1) As Lord of all, Jesus knows exactly what to pray for you.  You may struggle to know exactly what it is you need, but Jesus never has this problem. He knows us intimately, and He knows precisely what will work for our eternal good. Nothing in your life perplexes Him or catches Him off guard.

2) As the Savior who has died for you, His goal is your eternal good. You can be confident in the heart of Jesus. Not only does He know what you need, but also He wants to bring it about. Whatever your desire may be for your own holiness and faithfulness, His is greater.

3) As the beloved Son of God, Jesus’ prayers are always answered. The Father’s answer to the Son’s petition will never be “No,” for the Son’s will is perfectly aligned with the Father’s. As our Advocate, Jesus intercedes on behalf of sinners, and we know He is heard because John tells us that our Advocate is also our propitiation (1 Jn 2:1-2). He intercedes with the Father on the basis of His perfectly sufficient death on the cross.

Just as Jesus prayed that Peter’s faith would be able to overcome Satan’s faith-destroying purposes (Lk 22:31-32), so He sustains believers today through His faithful intercession and by the power of His Spirit. So no matter how you are tempted or how bleak your circumstances may seem, if you belong to God you can be confident of this: Jesus Christ is praying for you. And His prayers are always answered.

A Prayer From John Piper: O God You Are Able

“We are not able in ourselves to win this battle. We are not able to change hearts or minds. We are not able to change worldviews and transform culture and save 1.6 million children. We are not able to reform the judiciary or embolden the legislature or mobilize the slumbering population. We are not able to heal the endless wounds of godless ideologies and their bloody deeds. But, O God, you are able! And we turn from reliance on ourselves to you. And we cry out to you and plead that for the sake of your name, and for the sake of your glory, and for the advancement of your saving purpose in the world, and for the demonstration of your wisdom and your power and your authority over all things, and for the sway of your Truth and the relief of the poor and the helpless, act, O God. This much we hunger for the revelation of your power. With all our thinking and all our writing and all our doing, we pray and we fast. Come. Manifest your glory.”

 (Prayer from John Piper, A Hunger for God, 171)

A Quote From Charles Spurgeon on Intercession

“Intercessory prayer is exceedingly prevalent. What wonders it has wrought! The Word of God teems with its marvelous deeds. Believer, thou hast a mighty engine in thy hand, use it well, use it constantly, use it with faith, and thou shalt surely be a benefactor to thy brethren.”

― C.H.SPURGEON

Oswald Chambers on Intercessory Prayer

 . . men always ought to pray and not lose heart —Luke 18:1

You cannot truly intercede through prayer if you do not believe in the reality of redemption. Instead, you will simply be turning intercession into useless sympathy for others, which will serve only to increase the contentment they have for remaining out of touch with God. True intercession involves bringing the person, or the circumstance that seems to be crashing in on you, before God, until you are changed by His attitude toward that person or circumstance. Intercession means to “fill up . . . [with] what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ” (Colossians 1:24), and this is precisely why there are so few intercessors. People describe intercession by saying, “It is putting yourself in someone else’s place.” That is not true! Intercession is putting yourself in God’s place; it is having His mind and His perspective.

As an intercessor, be careful not to seek too much information from God regarding the situation you are praying about, because you may be overwhelmed. If you know too much, more than God has ordained for you to know, you can’t pray; the circumstances of the people become so overpowering that you are no longer able to get to the underlying truth.

Our work is to be in such close contact with God that we may have His mind about everything, but we shirk that responsibility by substituting doing for interceding. And yet intercession is the only thing that has no drawbacks, because it keeps our relationship completely open with God.

What we must avoid in intercession is praying for someone to be simply “patched up.” We must pray that person completely through into contact with the very life of God. Think of the number of people God has brought across our path, only to see us drop them! When we pray on the basis of redemption, God creates something He can create in no other way than through intercessory prayer.

Binding And Loosing Prayer: Tom White

"For those in need of deliverance  I advise a two-track mode of binding and loosing prayer. I ask the Spirit to make the person sick of his or her sin, to plant seeds of truth in the person's mind and, if for an unbeliever, to stir the person to seek salvation. I also ask the Holy Spirit to silence, subdue and separate demonic influence from the person, thus allowing him/her to respond to truth. Having done this, I wait and watch for God to open doors and bring opportunity to work directly with the one in bondage."

- Tom White, The Believer's Guide To Spiritual Warfare, page 202

A Secret Trait of Effective Intercessors: J D Greear

“Not only does Isaiah understand that sin separates us from God, he also identifies himself completely with his sinful people:

“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” (Isa 64:6).

The greatest intercessors have always recognized that far more connects them with the common lot of sinners than what distinguishes them—and in any case they do not hesitate to plead with God on behalf of those who will not plead for themselves.”

Prevailing Intercessory Prayer : George Muller: Prevailing Prayer

Prevailing Intercessory Prayer : George Muller: Prevailing Prayer

Intercession: Matthew Henry

Introduction and Exhortation to Pray for the Whole Lost World of Mankind
OF THE FIFTH PART OF PRAYER, WHICH IS INTERCESSION, OR ADDRESS AND SUPPLICATION TO GOD FOR OTHERS
The Lord Jesus has taught me to pray, not only with but for others; and the apostle has appointed me to make supplication for all the saints, Ephesians 6:18(ESV) and many of his prayers in his epistles are for his friends. And I must not think that when I am in this part of prayer, I may let fall my fervency and be more indifferent because I myself am not immediately concerned in it, but rather let a holy fire of love, both to God and man here, make my devotion yet more warm and lively.

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I must pray for the whole world of mankind, the lost world; and thus, I must honor everyone 1 Peter 2:17(ESV) and, according to my capacity, do good to everyone. Galatians 6:10(ESV)

I pray, as I am taught, for all people, believing that this is good and pleasing in the sight of God my Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth and of Jesus Christ, 1 Timothy 2:3-4(ESV) who gave himself as a ransom for all. 1 Timothy 2:6(ESV)

O look with compassion upon the world that lies in the power of the evil one, 1 John 5:19(ESV) and let the ruler of this world be cast out, John 12:31(ESV) who has blinded their minds. 2 Corinthians 4:4(ESV)

O let your way be known on earth, Psalm 67:2(ESV) that barbarous nations may be civilized, and those who live without God in the world may be brought to the service of the living God; Ephesians 2:12(ESV) and thus, let your saving power be known among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; yes, let all the peoples praise you: O let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Psalm 67:2-4(ESV)

O let your salvation and your righteousness be revealed in the sight of the nations, and let all the ends of the earth see the salvation of God. Psalm 98:2-3(ESV)

O make the nations your Son’s heritage, and the ends of the earth his possession; Psalm 2:8(ESV) for you have said, “It is too light a thing for him to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel,” but you will make him as a light for the nations. Isaiah 49:6(ESV)

Let all the kingdoms of the world become the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ. Revelation 11:15(ESV)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer on Intercession

"Intercession means no more than to bring our brother into the presence of God, to see him under the Cross of Christ as a poor human being and as a sinner in need of grace. Then everything in him that repels us falls away; we see him in all his destitution and need. His need and his sin become so oppressive that we feel them as our own, and we can do nothing else but pray: Lord, do Thou, Thou alone, deal with him according to Thy severity and Thy goodness. To make intercession means to grant our brother the same right that we have received, namely, to stand before Christ and share in his mercy." - (Life Together)