Lesson 4 (Prayer Partners): Interceding For Others

Prayer Partners Series

By

Elmer Towns

Lesson 4: What Do You Do When Interceding For Others?

A. WHY SO FEW PARTNERS IN PRAYER

1. Ignorance. Many do not know that their partnership in prayer with others can be their greatest ministry.

a. Boniface 500 A.D. “We entreat the piety of your brotherliness that we may be helped by your devout petitions . . . that the few seeds scattered in the bushes may spring up and grow.”

b. Frank Mangs of the 1700 Scandinavian Revival. “Lord bless my intercessors today.” You must intercede for your intercessors.

c. C. Peter Wagner told his class about his other ministries, “I found they made my ministry, their ministry.”

d. Most of the books and articles that tell how to prevent against a scandal like Bakker and Swaggart, leave out prayer and intercession.

2. Self-reliant. Too many feel that they must stand alone and minister alone, i.e., rugged individuals.

a. E.M. Bounds. The preacher must pray, the preacher must be prayed for.

b. “Do it yourself Christianity. Wrong view. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:13).

3. Not opening up to others. To ask people to “pray for me” is to open up yourself, i.e., be vulnerable.

4. Spiritual pride. Too often we think God has to use only us, rather than realizing God could use the intercession of others. Two women told D. L. Moody, “We have been praying for you.” His short reply, “Why don’t you pray for the people, not me.”

5. Unhealthy humility. When I think I can’t do anything because I am so unworthy of God’s blessing, “It is God which worketh in you, both to will and do” (Phil. 2:13).

B. WHAT YOUR PRAYERS CAN DO FOR OTHERS

1. You can save their life. “Herod stretched out his hand to vex certain of the church, and he killed James . . . proceeded further to take Peter also . . . but prayer was made without ceasing unto God for him” (Acts 12:1,2,5). “The Lord had brought him out of the prison” (Acts 12:17).

2. You can move God to help someone. “Pray for one another, that ye may be healed” (James 5:16).

3. You can contribute to a peaceful society. “I urge . . . that request, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone for kings and those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives, in all godliness and holiness” (I Tim. 2:1-2 NIV).

4. You can help protect others from temptation. “Simon, behold, Satan has desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not” (Luke 22:31,32).

5. You can help pastors be successful in ministry. “Strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea, and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints” (Rom. 15:13).

6. You can make specific events happen. “Praying also for us, that God would open a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ” (Col. 4:3).

7. You can help people understand spiritual things. Paul prayed for the Ephesians, “Making mention of you in your prayers, that God . . . may give you a spirit of revelation and wisdom . . . the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may know . . .” (Eph. 1:16-18).

8. You can contribute to others’ spiritual growth. “I bow my knee to the Father . . . that he would grant you . . . to be strengthened with might

. . . that Christ my dwell in your hearts . . . that ye might be filled with the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:14-18).

C. WHAT TO DO WHEN INTERCEDING FOR OTHERS.

1. Prepare properly: the place and time.

2. Wait before the Lord: listening.

a. Let God love you.

b. Let God search you.

c. Let God speak to you.

3. Confession: to get spiritually right. You can never intercede for others, until you are standing on praying ground.

4. Time for Bible: God speaks. Reading, praying, studying, memorizing.

5. Meditation: thinking: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he mediate day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2).

6. Intercession for others.

I – 1 intimate and daily

I – 2 know and burden

I – 3 distance

a. Daily intercession

b. Spiritual protection

c. Crisis intercession

7. Petition: request for self.

8. Praise and thanksgiving: worship.

If you have never really accepted Jesus as your personal Savior, would you do it right now? Do not delay or put it off. If you would like to receive Christ by faith, pray this simple prayer in your heart: