THE POWER OF INTERCESSION

"Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth" (Judges 16:6).

This is the question we would like to ask the men who, as intercessors for others, have had power with God and have prevailed. More than one Christian who has desired to give himself to this ministry has wondered why he has found it so difficult to rejoice in it, to persevere, and to prevail. Let us study the lives of the leaders and heroes of the prayer world. Maybe some of the elements of their success will be revealed to us.

The true intercessor is a person who knows that his heart and life are wholly given up to God and His glory. This is the only condition on which an officer at the court of an earthly king could expect to exert much influence. Moses, Elijah, Daniel, and Paul prove that this is true in the spiritual world.

Our blessed Lord is Himself the proof of it. He did not save us by intercession, but by self-sacrifice. His power of intercession has its roots in His sacrifice: it claims and receives what the sacrifice won."He poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sins of many and made intercession for the transgressors" (Isaiah 53:12). He first gave Himself up to the will of God. There, He won the power to influence and guide that will. Because He gave Himself for sinners in all-consuming love, He won the power to intercede for them.

You Can Intercede

The Christian, who seeks to enter personally into death with Christ and gives himself for God and others, will dare to be bold like Moses and Elijah, will persevere like Daniel or Paul. Wholehearted devotion and obedience to God are the characteristics of an intercessor.

You can complain that you are not able to pray like a true intercessor and ask how you can be equipped to do so. You talk about the weakness of your faith in God, your lack of love for souls, and your lack of delight in prayer. The man who is to have power in intercession must stop these com-plaints. He must confess that he has a nature perfectly adapted to the work God has called him to do. An apple tree is only expected to bear apples, because it has the apple nature within it. "You are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works" (Ephesians 2:10). The eye was created to see, and it is beautifully equipped for its work!

You are created in Christ to pray. It is your very nature as a child of God. Why do you think the Spirit has been sent into your heart? To cry Abba, Father, to draw your heart up in childlike prayer. The Holy Spirit prays in us with groanings that cannot be uttered, with a divine power which our mind and feelings cannot understand. If you want to be an intercessor, give the Holy Spirit much greater honor than He usually receives. Believe that He is praying within you, and then be strong and of good courage. As you pray, be still before God to believe and yield to this wonderful power of prayer within you.

Power To Intercede

You have learned to pray in the name of Christ. This name means living power. You are in Christ, and He is in you. Your whole life is hidden and united with His, and His whole life is hidden and working in you. The Christian who is to intercede in power must clearly understand that he and Christ are one in the work of intercession. He appears before God clothed with the name and the nature, the righteousness and worthiness, the image, spirit, and life of Christ.

Do not spend your time in prayer repeating your petition, but humbly and confidently claim your place in Christ, your perfect union with Him, your access to God in Him. The believer, who comes to God in Christ as his life and trust, will have power to intercede.

Intercession is primarily a work of faith. It requires faith that believes the prayer will be heard, as well as faith that is comfortable with heavenly realities. We must have faith that does not worry about one's own unworthiness, because he is living in Christ. Intercession requires faith that does not depend upon its feelings, but upon the faithfulness of God. We need faith that has overcome the world and sacrifices the visible to be free for the spiritual to take possession of it. Our faith must know that it is heard and receives what it asks, and therefore quietly perseveres in its supplication until the answer comes. The true intercessor must be a person of faith.

Prayer And Work

The intercessor must be a messenger. He must be prepared to offer himself personally to receive the answer and to dispense it. Praying and working go together.

Think of Moses - his boldness in pleading with God for the people was no greater than his pleading with the people for God. We see the same in Elijah-the urgency of his prayer in secret is equaled by his jealousy for God in public, as he witnessed against the sin of the nation. Let intercession always be accompanied by humbly waiting on God to receive His grace and to know more definitely what and how He would have us to work.

It is a great thing to begin the work of intercession—the drawing down to earth of the blessings which heaven provides for every need. It is a greater thing as an intercessor personally to receive that blessing and go out from God's face, knowing that we have secured something that we can impart to someone else. May God make us all wholehearted, believing intercessors who are prepared to bless others.