Spoiler alert: My wife is putting the finishing touches on a devotional entitled “Intrepid Intercession.” It is one of the few devotionals completely geared toward intercessory prayer and is a collaborative effort between me and fourteen contributing writers. We hope to have it available in paperback format on Amazon by November 1st. Stay tuned!
A few people who knew this was in the making told me, “I want to read it too because intercessory prayer is the part of my prayer life that I neglect the most.”
Their comments are indicative of a large part of where America’s Christendom stands – a sporadic prayer life at home and in church. We tend to pray when things get tough for us or for people close to us, but seem to be largely unaware of this crucial part of our identity in Christ:
By your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:9-10)
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9)
For many, our identity in Christ goes little further than being “saved sinners” who are supposed to shine their lights in the world by the way they live. But we are much more than that! We are a royal priesthood! But what exactly does that mean?
We are royal because we have been adopted into the household of God, the King of Kings. We are priests because He has appointed us to represent Him to the world through the Great Commission and the world to Him through intercessory prayer.
That’s right – intercession means mediation – being a go-between. That is clearly visible in what the Old Testament priesthood was. Theirs was primarily a prayer ministry: representing God’s people in worship and atonement for sin and representing God by pronouncing forgiveness blessing, and counsel.
The New Testament priesthood is different in that it is no longer a class of people set aside by birth who act as a go-between for the atonement of sin and the counsel of God. In Christ, every believer in whom the Holy Spirit dwells is a priest. We have come to rely too much on professional clergy to realize that but it is clearly what the Bible teaches.
Our priesthood, too, is primarily a prayer ministry. That’s why Jesus taught His disciples an all-encompassing prayer pattern (see Matthew 6:7-15). That’s why Paul admonishes people to pray for all the saints and to pray without ceasing “because that is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus” (see Ephesians 6:18 and 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18).
And that is why intercession, whereby we represent the needs of others before God by praying His will into their lives, must be a major part of the spiritual disciplines of every believer.
God has ordained to do mighty things, win great victories, perform miracles, change lives, and shape history through the prayers of His people.
Read that again, please – it’s important.
That is how He has chosen to advance His Kingdom on earth. He could have done many things, but He chose to do it through the prayers of His people – His royal priesthood, ransomed by Christ’s blood from every tribe and nation.
That is why it is such a tragedy that church prayer meetings and daily intercession as part of believers’ prayer lives have all but disappeared. Very few churches have weekly prayer meetings anymore and the ones that do mostly focus on the medical emergencies of their members. And relatively few believers pray regularly for unsaved friends, neighbors, family members, major issues in our nation, and evangelism among people groups in other parts of the world.
Intercession is truly the untapped power of the Church. Can you imagine what would happen if all 38 million American believers who consider themselves saved and born again would spend a half-hour a day praying for their neighbors, their cities, states, their nation, and the world? Our world would drastically change. Missions would advance rapidly. Revival could break out in the Church and spill over into society, changing everyday life as we know it.
And that would not be a moment too soon because what is coming down the pike in terms of shakings of the nations and hostility against the Church is not for the faint of heart.
World events and disasters of epic proportions are following each other rapid-fire prompting memes on social media of befuddled people wondering what chapter of Revelation we’re doing today. And the warnings of church leaders and Christian news outlets that persecution is increasing worldwide and is knocking on our door despite our constitutional rights are getting louder.
That is why I have frequently said that God’s message for His American children, all cozily wrapped up in creature comforts and legal protection, is “Come closer and walk intimately with Me so you can hear from Me and walk with courage when disaster strikes and persecution comes.”
Now I’m adding one: It is time for intrepid intercession – taking our place as His kingdom of priests to pray with courage and steadfastness, not unlike Abraham in Sodom which was wallowing in debauchery and unaware of its impending doom.
What is intrepid intercession, you may ask?
The word “intrepid” means brave and courageous. It suggests an attitude of not hiding away or shying away from disasters or persecutions that would induce fear, but rather an eagerness to meet them head-on with prayer. I see at least four characteristics of an intrepid intercessor:
- An intrepid intercessor is courageous, even when the battle is fierce. You paint a target on your back when you take your position as an intercessor because Satan hates and fears the prayers of God’s people. They have authority over him in Christ and wield that authority through prayer. He has no defense. That’s why he has worked so hard to eradicate intercessory prayer from the life of the Church.
- An intrepid intercessor is steadfast. They are driven by their identity and calling to the priesthood and their knowledge that God has decreed to work through their prayers, not by emotional ups and downs, panic over problems, or a lukewarm sense of duty toward a prayer habit we’re supposed to have.
- An intrepid intercessor is relentless. Sometimes we must persist in prayer, as Jesus illustrated in His parable in Luke 18: 1-8. At times, because there is intense opposition, at other times to train the patience of our faith, and sometimes because the answer to our prayers takes time to unfold. It is critical that intercessors do not give up too quickly when they don’t see an immediate answer to prayer.
- An intrepid intercessor prays without ceasing. God needs His people to be in constant communion with Him so He can employ them quickly to pray where needed. Prayer without ceasing also allows us to cover a multitude of things in prayer. It also deepens our awareness of God’s immediate presence, our love for Him, our faith in Him, and our alignment with His will and kingdom purposes – all of which make for a strong and effective intercessory prayer ministry.
Because of the prayerlessness in the Church, God has raised up an army of people with a special calling to intercessory prayer on their lives. They carry the burden for all of us, but this is not God’s best. He desires all of His people to take up the mantle of New Covenant priesthood and become world-changing, demon-busting, gospel-advancing, revival-invoking, intrepid intercessors who exhibit these four characteristics.
No special qualifications or level of spirituality are needed. Just a desire to join God in His kingdom purposes and step into our true identity as a kingdom of priests that will one day reign with Him (See Revelation 5:10).
You may not have the courage to evangelize or the energy to devote your life to helping the poor. But you have the power to pray – and even there, the Holy Spirit comes to our aid to help us pray according to God’s will (see Romans 8:26).
See? There is no excuse. We are His priests, whether we like it or not. He helps us know and grow when it comes to how we walk in that priesthood.
Start today and join me in praying that God helps His Church rediscover the untapped power of intercessory prayer.