INTERCESSORY PRAYER MINISTRY
What Is An Intercessor?
An intercessor is an individual who prays for others. The person may pray for others sometimes she\he felt that it was a deep seated desire or a prompting of the Holy Spirit that drew them to times of prayer for others. The individual may pray for family members, communities, elected officials, entire regions of a country or at times for a particular nation or its leaders.
Intercession is a part of the life of all believers but for some individuals there is a heartfelt desire or stirring within them to spend time dedicated to bringing individuals, the concerns of the church, and concerns for themselves before the Lord in prayer for extended periods of time.
Intercessors tend to flow in compassion and operate in the gift of faith, believing that the Lord will intervene in situtations when they pray. They spend time studying scriptural promises connected to God’s answers when interceding in prayer.
The intercessor stands in the gap and makes up the hedge (Ezekiel 22:30) for the people of God. They have and ear toward the people to hear their burdens and a heart open toward the Lord in prayer to take these burdens and cares to the Lord.
Intercessor should flow in love, compassion, and be able to listen, watch and pray. The intercessor learns to walks in humility and the grace of the Lord, knowing that all the glory for answered prayers belong to Him.
PRAYING TOGETHER
Tuesday Evenings at 6:30pm
Our Intercessors meet every Tuesday evening at 6:30 pm at the church. If this is an area that God has called you to, come and join us!
THE BIBICAL FOUNDATION
The Biblical basis for the New Testament believer's ministry of intercessory prayer is our calling as priests unto God. The Word of God declares that we are a holy priesthood (1 Peter 2:4), a royal priesthood (1 Peter 2:9), and a kingdom of priests (Revelation 1:5).
The background for understanding this calling to priestly intercession is found in the Old Testament example of the Levitical priesthood. The priest's responsibility was to stand before and between. He stood before God to minister to Him with sacrifices and offerings. The priests also stood between a righteous God and sinful man bringing them together at the place of the blood sacrifice.
Hebrews 7:11-19 explains the difference between the Old and New Testament ministries of the priest. The Old Testament Levitical priesthood was passed on from generation to generation through the descendants of the tribe of Levi. "The Melchizedek priesthood" spoken of in this passage, is the "new order" of spiritual priests of whom the Lord Jesus is the High Priest. It is passed on to us through His blood and our spiritual birth as new creatures in Christ.
Our Model Intercessor JESUS
Jesus Christ is our model for intercessory prayer. Jesus stands before God and between Him and sinful man, just as the Old Testament priests did: For there is one God, and one mediator (intercessor) between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5). It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us (Romans 8:34). Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them (Hebrews 7:25).
EFFECTIVE INTERCESSION
In intercessory prayer, we follow the Old Testament priestly function and the New Testament pattern of Jesus - standing before God and between a righteous God and sinful man. In order to be effective standing "between" we must first stand "before" God to develop the intimacy necessary to fulfill this role. Numbers 14 is one of the greatest accounts of intercessory prayer recorded in the Bible. Moses was able to stand between God and sinful man because he had stood "before" Him and had developed intimacy of communication. Numbers 12:8 records that God spoke with Moses as friend to friend and not through visions and dreams as He did with other prophets.
