Out for Delivery
"So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one.
Ezekiel 22:30
I found their letter rather inspiring and it made me desire to have more intercessory prayer in my life. So I asked the Lord how I could get more of this kind of prayer time in my life.
Day 1: In my morning exercise/quiet time I decided to try and have a little intercessory prayer time! I started trying to pray and... then I stopped.
I've had the burden of intercessory prayer before. It's powerful, and drives you to pray until that burden lifts. If neglected it weights you down until you pray. You feel the strong unity between what you're saying and the Lord's heart that you are coming into agreement with.
Conclusion: Either He's in it, or you're not doing it.
This morning, He wasn't in it. My words sounded nice enough, but I knew they were just empty requests of my own good logic.
"But Lord? What about more intercession?"
As I continued my quiet time the Lord posed the question in my mind: What does the word Intercession mean?
"Umm... I don't know. I thought it meant praying? Standing in the gap?"
I looked up the word Intercession on Blue Letter Bible and was surprised by what I found.
Intercession: to encounter, meet, reach, entreat, make intercession, light upon, join, fall upon, to strike/touch, to make attack, pray, to reach the mark, run.
In Webster's dictionary Intercession meant this:
Intercession: the act of interceding, mediation, pleading, or prayer on behalf of another or others.
I've had seasons of heavy intercessory prayer, and I've had seasons of very little. I've wondered at this. If I'm supposed to be an intercessor why am I not doing it?
Maybe you are.
Huh? After this little word study I came to see that intercession goes two ways. When we intercede before the Lord on behalf of a person, group of people, or a nation, we call it intercessory prayer. We're interceding on behalf of them to the Lord as we come into agreement with Him in our prayer.
But what do you call it when you "light upon" the Lord's heart so others can see it? Intercession. Remember it's meaning, you're "encountering, meeting, and reaching" not to God this time, but to people. I like the idea of "falling upon" them! You're falling upon them with God's heart for a matter. When I advocate for orphans, I'm interceding the Lord's heart for them to others.
When my parents adopt a child they are interceding the Lord's heart to that little one. His heart to draw them unto Himself. When we live out and preach the Gospel we're interceding the Lord's heart to the lost.
Jesus is known at the great Intercessor but we tend to only think of it in His interceding to the Father on our behalf. But Jesus came and interceded on behalf of the Father to us; to show us His great love for us
So just because I may not be spending a lot of time in intercessory prayer doesn't mean I'm not interceding. It's like the circulatory system. Sometimes you're bringing that which needs life to the heart of God. And other times you're sent out from His heart to bring life to places in need.
Thus I realized I don't need to muster up more intercessory prayer time in my life, because I can't. I'm already willing and open to Him, so if He wants me to intercede on behalf of someone I'll know it! My heart will weigh heavy with their burden until I plead it before the Father.
And if He wants me to intercede His heart to this world, I'll know it! My heart will weigh heavy with His until I bring forth His truth.
Lately it's been the latter of the two, so I guess you could say my intercession hasn't been in prayer, instead it's been out for delivery.
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