Intercessory Prayer

Westhill Community Church

Sunday 8^th November 2020

Intercessory Prayer

Reading: 1 Tim 2: 1-7

I wonder what your view of prayer is. On the one hand prayer is the most natural activity in the world, from the urgent cry for help, “Lord, I need you right now,” to expressions of deep emotion, “Lord, bless this beautiful baby; keep it safe and well.” On the other hand prayer can seem to be the most illogical of all exercises: if God is absolutely sovereign, and works all things according to His own purpose, how can my prayers make the slightest difference to what He intends to do?

Christians believe that God wants us to pray. Even though He has His own mind and purpose, He wants to respond to our desires. Even though He knows all things, He wants us to inform Him of things that concern us. Even though He changes not, He invites us to seek change in the normal order of things, indeed to ask for miracles. Whatever else you do, said the apostle Paul, make this a priority. Bring to God your petitions, prayers, and intercessions, with thanksgiving, for all people and especially for those in authority. Ask for people to have peaceful and quiet lives; pray for godliness and holiness; seek what is on God’s heart – that everyone will be saved and come to fully know His truth.

From the very first chapter in the Bible to the very last we are taught that God communicates with us and seeks our communication with Him. From our point of view what does such communication look like? It can be listening, thanking, praising, asking, or even protesting. We can find examples of each of these in the pages of the Bible. But in our reading today the apostle Paul used the specific word “intercession.” What does this mean?

A dictionary will tell us that intercession is the act of intervening on behalf of another. In this it is a very high form of prayer, perhaps the highest of all. For many of us, if not most of us, prayer usually consists of requests to God that relate to our own circumstances and well-being. As the familiar childhood prayer goes,

Now I lay me down to sleep;
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
Dear God please guard me through the night,
And wake me with the morning light.

But with intercession we are bringing the circumstances and needs of others before God. I also think of this as the highest form of prayer because we are told that Jesus Christ himself is engaged in this activity right now. Romans 8: 34 tells us, “Christ Jesus who died – more than that, who was raised to life – is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.” Jesus also engaged in intercession when he lived on earth. He said to Simon Peter, “I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail” (Luke 22: 32). Then when on the cross he uttered this prayer, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23: 34).

Intervening on behalf of another. The strong implication is that without that intervention something unpleasant or undesirable would take place. For Simon Peter the testing time he was about to go through threatened to destroy his faith completely. For the soldiers and scoffers gathered around the cross of Jesus a terrible prospect lay before them of experiencing God’s just retribution. But Jesus intervened, and in each case the threat was turned aside. Indeed Jesus’ entire earthly ministry was characterised by such interventions.

Now in this we face a puzzle, indeed a paradox. Effective intercession means that the course of events is changed. Now on the one hand this shouldn’t be surprising, for almost everything we do causes the course of events to change. If I choose to plant a tree then a tree will then exist where otherwise it would not, and this will significantly affect its environment, possibly for many years to come. But on the other hand we find it particularly difficult to comprehend that through intercession we might somehow persuade God to plant a tree where previously He was not going to do so. Can we really get God to change what will take place, indeed even to change what He intends to take place? We have to believe so, even though we do not understand how this happens. Otherwise we have to conclude that Jesus’ prayer for Peter was unnecessary, because Peter’s faith was never going to fail anyway. And similarly Jesus’ prayer for forgiveness on the cross was a waste of breath, because the outcome would have been the same for his tormentors whether or not he prayed for them.

But prayer does indeed change things. James 5: 16-18 says, “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops.” Jesus taught much the same principle. Mark 11: 22-24 says, “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, Go, throw yourself into the sea, and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

Some of the most remarkable accounts in the Bible are of times when through earnest prayer people changed, not just the natural course of events, but particularly what God himself said He intended to do. Here is one of the most astonishing of these accounts. In Exodus 32 we read that when Moses led the Children of Israel through the wilderness they camped at Mount Sinai. Moses climbed the mountain, and there God gave him the Law, carved on two stone tablets. But while Moses was away from the people they persuaded his brother Aaron to make an idol using items of gold they had brought with them from Egypt. There at the foot of the mountain they worshipped this idol with great celebration and revelry, and even ended up praising it for rescuing them from the Egyptians. On the mountain top God revealed these happenings to Moses, and then said to him, “I have seen these people, and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” (Ex 32: 9-10). Then we read that Moses poured out his heart to God on behalf of his people. Don’t do it, he cried. Remember your promises. Don’t let the Egyptians gloat when such a terrible end becomes known. Please relent. And the Bible says, “Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.” (Ex 32: 14). Nor indeed has he ever, to this very day! I do not pretend to understand how this works. I cannot present to you a rational explanation of what was really going on. All I know is that from Moses’ point of view, standing there at that particular point in time, he knew that if he did not intercede for his people right there and then, they would be annihilated. Then, later, he climbed the mountain once more, again to intercede for his people. And the Bible records for us the most remarkable and astonishing prayer ever prayed by a weak and fallible human being, “Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! But now, please forgive their sin – but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written.” (Ex 32: 31-32). Amazing! That truly is intercession!

Moses didn’t see the full answer to his prayer at that time, nor indeed during his entire lifetime. But that prayer echoed and resonated in the halls of heaven through the ages, increasing I believe in volume and intensity, until one spring day hundreds of years later a man on a cross whispered those same words with his dying breath, “Father, forgive them.” And there and then the prayer of the ages was answered, and the door of divine forgiveness was opened, not just for the people of Israel, but also for all the people of the world, for every one of us who will turn to God in humility and faith and open our hearts to receive him.

I said earlier that I can’t explain how prayer works, how it is that God can change events in response to our humble pleas before his throne. The Bible reveals that the death of Jesus Christ on the cross was part of God’s plan and purpose since before the foundation of the world. Now Jesus was physically descended from the tribe of Judah. Yet it appears that God would have destroyed the entire nation of Israel, the tribe of Judah included, were it not for Moses’ prayer of intercession. It is unfathomable. But of this we can be completely sure. The Bible tells us that in Him all things hold together (Col 1: 17), that God works all things together for good (Rom 8: 28). And as part of that working, He works in us both to desire and to carry out His good purpose (Phil 2: 13). God is absolutely sovereign, and His purposes will be fulfilled in every detail, and yet He chooses to involve us in the outworking of these purposes. Let me try to illustrate this with a story.

Emily’s daddy was a famous artist. His paintings were appreciated by many for their realism and fine detail. Emily was just four years old. One day having finished a painting of her own she sighed, “Daddy I’ll never paint as well as you.” Her daddy responded, “Well let’s do a painting together shall we? You sit on my lap and guide my hand with yours. So Emily held the back of her daddy’s hand, and as she moved it this way and that across the canvas his fingers worked swiftly to apply the brush with his usual expertise. “What colour shall we use now?” he asked Emily. “Purple,” she replied. “I love purple.” So her daddy mixed some purple paint and once again applied brush to canvas, as Emily guided his hand. Eventually he said, “Well, I think that will do, don’t you?” He moved Emily back a little so that she could take in what they had created together. Her eyes opened with astonishment. “But Daddy, that’s a picture of the purple flowers in our back garden,” she cried. “It’s beautiful! Did I really help you to paint that?” “You did indeed,” said her daddy. “For you guided my hand as I applied the brush, and together we created something beautiful.”

And prayer is a little bit like this. The famous Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon said, “Prayer bends the omnipotence of heaven to your desire. Prayer moves the hand that moves the world.”

If this is true, and I believe with all my heart it is, then by means of prayer God has presented to us the most amazing privilege and opportunity. No wonder Jesus taught us that we should always pray and never give up. No wonder the apostle Paul urged the church in Corinth to pray without ceasing. No wonder he encouraged the Christians at Ephesus to pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. You may seek change by protesting on the streets, or by approaching your member of parliament, or by taking legal action, or by writing to the Prime Minister or the Queen, and from time to time one may have some limited degree of success in such endeavours. But none of these even begins to compare with the opportunity God provides to the weakest and humblest of his children through prayer, and the mountains he will move at our behest.

And, as if that were not enough, there is more. Jesus taught us that praying together moves God’s hand even more effectively. “Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” (Matt 18: 19-20). And the Bible tells us that you can move God’s hand just by being in his presence, even when you do not know what to pray for. Listen to these words from Romans 8: 26-27. “The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” Never be frustrated when your prayer times include extended periods of silence. Perhaps God is accomplishing more for his glory as the Holy Spirit intercedes on your behalf than would ever be achieved by your repeating a long shopping list of requests.

What a privileged position the child of God occupies. Of course even if you do not know God he loves to respond to your prayers. The Bible tells us that he is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek him. His longing is that we would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, for he is not far from any one of us (Acts 17: 27). But the one who has become his child through trusting in Jesus, that one is privileged indeed. For when we approach his throne room it is Jesus himself who takes us by the hand and walks in with us, and the Holy Spirit himself who whispers our requests for us when we know not what to pray. Two divine advocates to represent us, and a heavenly Father who deeply loves us and longs to bless us.

No wonder the writer of the letter to the Hebrews says, “Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb 4: 16). Without mercy you’ll only get exactly what you deserve. Without grace you’ll get absolutely nothing unless you have a right to it. But we receive both mercy and grace.

In the national news this past week was a troubling story of a woman who sought to intervene on behalf of another, but sadly experienced neither mercy nor grace. She went to visit her aged mother in a care home. They had been unable to meet face to face for nine months. And whilst there the woman said to her mother, “This has gone on long enough. I’m taking you home with me, to care for you and to love you as I haven’t been able to do these past nine months. Come on, get in the car.” But while they were getting in the car, and before she could drive away, her exit was blocked by a police car. The woman was arrested, and her mother was firmly returned to the confines of the care home. My purpose is not to pass judgement on any of those involved, but to illustrate what it can be like when we do not receive mercy and grace. Actually I wonder what might have transpired differently if instead that woman had approached the care home in the company of the Lord Chief Justice and the Chief Constable.

Child of God, if your mental image of prayer is of you – on your own – at one end of a prayer line, hoping that God, far away in heaven, will deign to consider your requests, then I beg you never to think that way again. When you pray you are ushered into the very throne room of God, supported by two advocates who occupy the very highest positions in heaven.

And when you approach that throne room, conscious of your inadequacy, aware of your failings, perhaps fearful of rejection, you find only mercy and grace – bestowed freely, generously, pressed down and running over.

I think there is maybe someone who is listening to this talk who hasn’t prayed to God very much, if at all. Perhaps you did when you were young, but not for a long time. And maybe you are feeling the need to pray because you are facing so much trouble and uncertainty in these days. But you don’t know how to do it, and are not sure anyway whether God will listen to you. That throne room I’ve been speaking about seems a million miles away. Well I have a message for you. Go to your bookshelf and take down the Bible and find Luke chapter 15 verses 3 to 7. Or if you can’t find a Bible, open an internet browser and type in Luke 15: 3-7. Read the story Jesus told of the sheep that was lost but was rescued. You can be like that sheep. Pray a simple prayer like this, “Lord Jesus I need God’s help so much; please come and rescue me.” And just like the shepherd with the sheep, he will come to you, lift you up, carry you to God’s throne room, and there he will throw a party.

Now finally I want to consider this matter of faith. When Jesus taught his disciples to engage in intercessory prayer he introduced the topic by saying, “Have faith in God.” Clearly if our prayers are to be effective then they must be prayers of faith. On many occasions Jesus chided his disciples for their low level of faith. Actually he implied that their faith was virtually non-existent, because he said that even faith as small as a mustard seed would be enough to move a mountain – this when they had tried unsuccessfully to heal a boy with epilepsy (Matt 17: 20).

So it would be instructive to ask whether Jesus ever identified someone with great faith, and if so what we can learn from them. Well it happens that Jesus did indeed point someone out as having greater faith than anyone he had ever encountered in the entire country of Israel. Who was it – some teacher of the Law, perhaps, or a devoted priest? Maybe his mother, or another spiritual prayer warrior? No, none of these. It was actually a Roman soldier, and we are not told that there was anything else that particularly distinguished him spiritually, other than perhaps a hint of humility. This Roman centurion’s servant was seriously ill, and the centurion had approached Jesus for help. The story continues like this (Matt 8: 8-10). “The centurion said, ‘Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, “Go,” and he goes; and that one, “Come,” and he comes. I say to my servant, “Do this,” and he does it.’ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, ‘Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith.’”

The centurion understood that when somebody is under an effective authority an instruction to a subordinate will inevitably produce appropriate action. He fully believed that Jesus exercised such authority over sickness, and acted accordingly. In this way he demonstrated the faith that Jesus spoke of so highly.

So it seems that when Jesus bid his disciples to have faith in God he was essentially saying the following.

1. Know that God is in charge, and understand His will.

2. Submit yourself fully and without question to God’s authority over you.

3. Know what aspects of God’s authority he has delegated to you in Christ.

4. Exercise your authority under God diligently and expect appropriate action.

As we have already seen, Jesus’ disciples struggled to take this on board. It is hardly surprising then that we today struggle similarly. I’m sure that each one of us, just like those first disciples, has asked the question, “Why have things not happened as I hoped and prayed?” And I believe Jesus responds to us, just as he did to them, “You of little faith, why did you doubt? (Matt 14:31); have faith in God (Mark 11:22); keep praying and don’t give up (Luke 18:1); everything is possible for one who believes (Mark 9:23); whoever believes in me will do even greater things than I have been doing (John 14:12); I will do whatever you ask in my name (John 14:13).” The list goes on and on.

It is timely that the Evangelical Alliance has called on Christians across this nation to join in a Day of Prayer for our communities during the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, on Friday 13^th November 2020. So let us respond positively to this call. Whether individually or together let us set this day aside. Through prayer we move the hand that moves the world. Brothers and sisters, let’s get moving!