Lucille Walker, Author
There was a time when there was no earth, no sun, no moon, no stars, no man. But there was God-God the Father, God the Word, God the Holy Spirit-Elohim. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our like-ness: and let them have dominion… over all the earth” (Genesis 1:26). So God made man, male and female, and “behold, it was very good” (1:31).
At this time God walked with His new creations and talked with them, but they sinned and “hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God” (3:8). This early period was the dispensation of God the Father; and during His dispensation, He spoke directly to men, sent angels to bear messages to them, called prophets, and directed the selection of priests and kings. This was the administration of law and sacrifice the Old Covenant.
But in the “fullness of time” (Galatians 4:4), God sent the Son “The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory” (John 1:14). The birth of Christ initiated the dispensation, or the administration, of the Son which established the covenant of grace, the New Covenant.
Although the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit were united and involved in all things from “the beginning,” there was an exact time in human history when the Word came to earth according to the eternal plan; and when He had completed the will of the Father, He returned to heaven in a cloud, as witnesses beheld Him ascend (Acts 1:9; Luke 24:51).
It is true that the Holy Spirit also came to the earth to remain and to carry out the New Covenant which Jesus established by His death and resurrection. Jesus said, “I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever” (John 14:16). “Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence” (Acts 1:5). And He commanded them “that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father” (Acts 1:4). For Jesus said, “Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me” (Acts 1:8).
Thus, Jesus came to the Earth in the form of man, as a baby. He had a definite birthday which we celebrate as Christmas. The Holy Spirit also came to earth, just as Jesus promised He would; and we celebrate His coming at Pente-cost, fifty days after Easter.
Now we are living in the dispensation or administration of the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus came to do the will of the Father and to make the Father known, so the Holy Spirit has come to carry out the work which Jesus initiated-the building of the Church. Therefore, this is the Church age under the administration of the Spirit and the Word. The Holy Spirit is bringing into experience that which Jesus purchased and made possible.
Although mankind in general rebelled against the Father and rejected and crucified the Son, man has one last opportunity in the Spirit. The rejection of the Spirit is the unpardonable sin because there is no other way. The Holy Spirit is here until the end of the age. However, He does not have a particular body of His own: instead, He dwells in believers.
“Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
One of the primary functions of the Holy Spirit on earth in the Church age is intercession. Intercession is prayer offered to God the Father in behalf of others. For example, Jesus interceded for us while He was here on earth; and He is, even now, seated at the right hand of the Father as our Intercessor:
“It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8:34).
“If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 John 2:1).
“Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25).
In the same way, the other Advocate (John 14:16), the Comforter, the Paraclete, the Counselor, the Helper-the Holy Spirit continues the work of Christ. He prays to God through us, for us, and for others. He prays in words we understand and in words we don’t understand.
“The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27).
Paul said, “I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the understanding also” (1 Corinthians 14:15). “For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful” (1 Corinthians 14:14).
Even as Christ and the Holy Spirit are intercessors, we are also instructed to intercede. The writer of the Book of Jude warns us of the danger of falling away from God in the last days and commands:
As believers the Holy Spirit, we have been invited to the priesthood of all believers, to a partnership position in the great ministry of intercession. We are to be intercessors with Christ and the Holy Spirit. We are to be instruments through whom the Spirit sings, and speaks, and praises and prays. The Spirit seeks to plead for the souls and welfare of men, but He does that work through us. The Spirit needs our time, our dedication, our purity, our consecration, and our self-denial, our avail-ability, our concern, our obedience, our lips, our voices.
“Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost?” (1 Corinthians 6:19).
“God forbid that I should sin… in ceasing to pray for you” (1 Samuel 12:23).
I. INTERCESSION IS THE WORK OF JESUS
Jesus “poured out His soul unto death and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53). By giving Himself for sinners in all-consuming love, He gained the power to intercede for them.
Likewise, for us, wholehearted devotion and obedience to God are the first marks of the intercessor. To be united with Christ and the Holy Spirit in intercession is to have access to God the Father and to have faith that we already have what we pray for because we pray according to God’s will in the power of the Spirit, and claim the answers that Christ’s sacrifice and victory have already won.
Having conquered death, hell, the grave and Satan, Jesus isnow seated at the right hand of God where He makes intercession for us. He is risen and “ever liveth to make intercession” (Hebrews 7:25) for us.
II. INTERCESSION IS THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT
Intercession is also the work of the Holy Spirit. He came to continue the work of Christ. As the Apostle Paul declares:
“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God” (Romans 8:26-27).
How the Holy Spirit Works as Intercessor. In the Upper Room discourse (John 14-16), when Jesus revealed to His followers what the Holy Spirit was to be to them, there are some five or six great prayer promises. Through the Holy Spirit, the prayer promises would be fulfilled.
The early church met and overcame every great crisis with the weapon of “all prayer” (see Acts 4). They prayed because they were filled, and they were filled because they prayed.
In essence, we have two Advocates: the Spirit (Romans 8:26, 27) and Jesus Christ (Romans 8:34). Christ intercedes at the right hand of God. However, the Holy Spirit prays for us in the sense that He makes us the vehicle of His praying. He prays on our behalf by enabling us to pray and helping us in our weaknesses because we do not know how to pray as we ought (p. 21, Pray in the Spirit).
There appears to be no suggestion in Scripture that the Holy Spirit ever intercedes except through the believer. The Bible commands us: Pray in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18); pray in the Holy Ghost (Jude 20); pray in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:15).
The Holy Spirit needs us to accomplish His intercessory ministry. He speaks through us, witnesses through us, woos through us; and it is a privilege to be invited to join in this heavenly partnership. The Holy Spirit wants to think through our minds, feel through our hearts, speak through our lips, weep through our eyes, and groan (pray) through our spirit.
Paul, in 1 Corinthians 14, discusses praying with the spiritual gift. He says, “I will pray with the spirit and I will pray with the (mind) also,” meaning he will pray with his new tongue, and he will pray with his native tongue. We are instructed in Ephesians 6:18 to pray at all times in the Spirit. Prayer in both our native tongue and prayer in our new tongue-both are in the Spirit and pleasing to God. The New Testament speaks of living, walking, worshiping, joying and praying in the Spirit. This signifies that the Holy Spirit inspires, guides, energizes and sustains us in prayer.
In Ephesians 6 and Jude 20 we are instructed to pray as if we were battling or trying to build up. One scripture discusses the armor of God we need to do battle; the other talks about building ourselves up on our most holy faith in order to keep us from apostasy and falling away. In other words, according to these verses, we are at war. If we are to wage victorious warfare against the enemy of our soul, we must learn to pray in the Spirit.
Yet, despite the battle, we are often indifferent or lethargic; we neglect the ministry of intercession. Let us yield ourselves to Him, so that He can do His work of interceding in us and through us. The Spirit of intercession caused Jesus to pray all night. It moved Him to rise a long time before daylight to pray and to go out to a solitary place. Our own commitment to intercession should have similar effects.
Ways the Spirit Helps Us Pray. Christ died that He might bring us to God (1 Peter 3:18). Jesus gave us access to the presence of God. He opened the way and gave us access in one Spirit to the Father (Ephesians 2:18). Our access to God is through Christ in the power and working of the Spirit who helps us in our weakness. Not only do we not know how to pray, but neither do we know what we should pray for (Romans 8:26). In other words, we do not know the will of God. God wants us to be “filled with the knowledge of His will’ (Colossians 1:9). The Bible commands us to “understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17) because “this is our confidence which we have in him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us” (1 John 5:14, 15). Thus, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. He himself intercedes for us according to the will of God.
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, He taught them the Lord’s Prayer. Now He points to the Holy Spirit and says, “He will teach you.”
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. He is the Spirit of counsel and might. He is the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11:2).
The Spirit helps us pray:
- By calling us and moving us to pray.
- By praying through us.
- By helping us to understand the will of God.
- By giving us staying power, helping us to hold on in prayer (Romans 4:18-21).
- By praying with a new prayer language by words un-JI known to us but known to God (1 Corinthians 14:13-15):
- By praying without words-with inward groanings that cannot be uttered but which are understood by God. Paul speaks of “groaning in travail’-like a woman with childbirth pains (Romans 8:22).
III. INTERCESSION IS THE WORK OF THE CHURCH
Has it ever occurred to you that prayer is a mystery? Why has God commanded us to ask, seek, knock? It is because God is inviting man into full partnership with Him. The universal priesthood of believers constitutes the ground for common intercession, “praying for one another” (James 5:16).
John Wesley said, “God will do nothing but in answer to prayer.” S. D. Gordon said, “The greatest thing anyone can do for God and for man is to pray.” E. M. Bounds said,
“Prayer should be the main business of our day.” A. J. Gordon says, “The prayer meeting in which the whole body of believers participates comes nearer the pattern of primitive Christianity than any other service we hold.”
I like the way Paul E. Billheimer presents the place of prayer in a powerful little book called Destined for the Throne:
If one wants to know the meaning and purpose of history, he must look at the end, the final outcome, the net result. Since prophecy is history written in advance, we have history’s final chapter in the book of Revelation. Turning to the closing pages, what emerges as the finished product of the ages? It is one thing and one-alone: the Eternal Companion of the God-man… the spotless Bride of Christ, united with Him in wedded bliss at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and seated with her heavenly Bridegroom upon the throne of the universe-ruling and reigning with Him over an ever-increasing and expanding Kingdom… Thus the Church, and only the Church, is the key to the explanation of history. (pp. 24, 25).
He further contends that because the purpose of the universe is to prepare a bride who shall co-reign with Christ, this bride is now being trained to reign. The bride is learning the art of spiritual warfare, of overcoming evil forces. The world is the training ground, and those destined for the throne are in on-the-job training in overcoming the forces hostile to God. To enable her to learn the technique of overcoming, God ordained the program of believing prayer. “Thus, the Church, by virtue of her faithful use of prayer, wields the balance of power in world affairs,” declares Billheimer (p. 17).
God has placed the enforcement of Calvary’s victory in the hands of the Church. Through prayer, we enforce Christ’s victory over Satan and implement heaven’s decisions upon this earth.
The Church is the central object of history. History is “His story.” The Bride, taken from Christ’s wounded side, is being trained through the program of prayer for eternal sovereignty with Christ. The prayer closet is the arena which produces the overcomer (p. 40).
Does intercessory prayer make that much difference in others? Read what Merrill C. Tinney writes in The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, Volume IV, p. 843:
Does intercessory prayer make a difference in others? The Biblical writers believed it did. It could result in greater wisdom and power (Ephesians 1:15, 19); strength in the inner man, knowledge of the love of Christ, and filling with the fullness of God (3:16-19); discernment, approval of what is excellent, filling with the fruits of righteousness (Philippians 19-11); knowledge of God’s will, spiritual understanding, a life pleasing to God, fruitfulness, endurance, patience and joy (Colossians 1:9-12); a quiet peaceable life, godly and respectable in every way (1 Timothy 3:10-13); love for one another and all men, holiness before God (1 Thessalonians 3:10-13); worthiness of God’s call, fulfillment of every good resolve and work of faith (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12); comfort and establishment in every good word and work (2:16-17); love of God and steadfastness of Christ (3:5); the sharing of faith, the promotion of knowledge of all that is good (Philemon 6); equipment for ling every good thing, and the work of God within enabling men to do that which is pleasing in His sight (Hebrews 13:20-21).
When the Pentecostal outpouring reached America at the turn of the twentieth century, one place mightily touched was Azusa Street where the revival continued for three and a half years (1906-1909) with services morning, afternoon, and night. But before 1906, God was at work preparing the way for the revival. In the book Azusa Street, a reprint of Bartleman’s 1925 history entitled How “Pentecost” Came to Los Angeles—How It Was in the Beginning, one can read again and again such expressions as:
”I fasted and prayed.”
“I only rested when I slept, and then I was often praying” (p. 7).
“Intercessors were the need” (p. 8).
“The Spirit is breathing prayer through us for a mighty, general outpouring” (p. 9).
“I have visited and prayed with people all day long for some time now” (p. 10).
“The spirit of prayer was increasingly upon me” (p. 10).
“We were in prayer until morning” (p. 11).
“I was carrying this burden now in ever increasing volume night and day. The ministry was intense. It was the fellowship of His suffering,’ of ‘travail’ of soul, with ‘groanings that could not be uttered'” (Romans 8:26, 27) (p. 14).
“I found a young brother, Edward Boehmer (our own E. J. Boehmer) … with the same burden of prayer on him…. He was destined to become my prayerhelper in the future. We prayed together at the little Peniel Mission until 2:00 a.m. God wonderfully met and assured us as we wrestled with Him for the outpouring of His Spirit upon the people. My life was by this time literally swallowed up in prayer. I was praying day and night” (p. 15).
“We prayed for a spirit of revival for Pasadena until the burden became well nigh unbearable. I cried out like a woman in birth-pangs. The Spirit was interceding through us…Then, suddenly, the Lord Jesus himself revealed himself to u The sun was up next morning before we left the hall. But the night had seemed like half an hour.
Living in Cleveland, Tennessee, I often hear talk of the early days of the North Cleveland Church of God, organized in 1906 and now celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary. The most impressive memories that I hear frequently recounted are those of the long days and nights of prayer. These are impressions from those who were children at the time. Parents took them along to the prayer meetings. As the parents sought God in long hours of intercession, the children remember praying, playing, sleeping, and playing again while the prayers still continued.
Prayer is a way that every Christian may achieve and bear fruit beyond the possibilities of the most gifted. He can bless mankind as millionaires can never do. Intercession provides the necessary basis for God to work.
The work of the Holy Spirit is to make true in us that which is already true for us. The Holy Spirit works inwardly what the Son provided outwardly. As Andrew Murray explains:
In the Spirit of God we have the indwelling God: the power of God dwelling in human body and working in it what the Father and the Son have for us. Not only in the individual, but also in the Church as a whole, what the Father has purposed, and the Son has pro-cured, can be appropriated and take effect in the body of Christ only through the continual intervention and active operation of the Holy Spirit.
This is specially true of intercessory prayer. The coming of the Kingdom of God, the increase of grace and knowledge and holiness in believers, their growing devotion to God’s work and power for that work, the effectual working of God’s power on the unconverted means of grace all this waits to come to us from God through Christ. But it cannot come except as it is looked for and desired, asked and expected, believed and hoped for. And this is now the wonderful position the Holy Ghost occupies, that to Him has been assigned the task of preparing the body of Christ to reach out and receive and hold fast what has been provided in the fullness of Christ the Head. For the communication of the Fathers love and blessing the bon and the Spirit must both work, The Son receives from the Father above and brings nigh, as it were, descends from above; the Spirit from within wakens the soul to come out and meet its Lord, As indispensable as the unceasing intercession of Christ asking and receiving from the Father above, is the unceasing intercession of the spirit within, asking and accepting from the son what the Father gives (With Christ in the School Of Prayer)
Murray M’Cheyne said, “What a man is on his knees before God, that he is and nothing more. It is also said that a movement of God will last only as long as the Spirit of prayer that inspired it.
Joy Dawson put it this way:
Before God does anything of major significance related to the extension of His Kingdom, He always requires concentrated, intensive prayer.
Before the giving of the Ten Commandments,., Moses conversed alone with God for forty days and forty nights.
Before Calvary came Gethsemane, the least understood, most historic, lonely, agonizing, intensive, far-reaching prayer meeting ever held on planet Earth.
Before Pentecost 120 believers, in one place with one accord, devoted themselves to prayer,
And not only was Pentecost initiated by prayer, but it was fed and sustained by prayer, When Jesus promised to pray the Father, who would send the Spirit, the Counselor, and Comforter, and Advocate, He instructed, “Tarry until ye be endued” (John 14:16)
Let Us Pray
The power that broke open the tomb on Easter dwells in us. The power that brought Peter out of prison dwells in us. The power that healed the sick, cast out demons and raised the dead dwells in us. We must use this power against the enemy. We must bind the power of Satan so that we can stake Christ’s claim over enemy-occupied territory.
Satan dreads nothing more than prayer. We have often heard “Satan trembles at the weakest saint on his knees.” Among the weapons of our warfare, the greatest offensive weapons are the WORD and PRAYER. To pray is to intervene, intercede, arbitrate, mediate. Intercession is prayer or entreaty in favor of another.
We need to cry out to God: “O Lord, make us living prayers, forever offering up our lives for Your glory. O Lord, make us intercessors who pray in Your name and in Your manner. May we give ourselves for others as You have given Yourself for us. May we bear one another’s burdens. Help us to pray one for another.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- In what way is prayer a mystery?
- Do you believe that before God does anything of major significance in the extension of His kingdom, He requires extensive prayer? Cite examples.
- In what ways does the Holy Spirit make us the vehicle of His praying?
- When we don’t know how to pray, how does the Spirit help us?
- “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16). Relate how this has been true in your life.
- Discuss the statement: Every soul is ultimately prayed into the Kingdom.