Last time, we spoke about intercession. We defined intercession as:
“Offering up requests to God on behalf of another who would make the same request of God if they had sense enough to ask.”
We said that intercession involves using my relationship and standing with God to ask something on behalf of someone else who does not have a right relationship or standing with God. This means that intercession will often involve my praying for the unbeliever or the wayward believer.
God is a sovereign God who has issued some sovereign decrees which He has obligated Himself to enforce. Decrees like that found in Galatians 6:7-8, where we learn that one will reap what they have sown. If owns sows to please His sinful nature, he will reap destruction, however, if one sows to please the Spirit, they will reap life.
God must mete out judgment to those who sown to please their sinful nature - whether it be the unbeliever who rejects the call of the Spirit or the wayward believer who rebels against the Spirit. However, because God’s desire is to bless, rather than judge; He wants people to know life rather than death. So He calls those who have a relationship with Him and a good standing with Him to intercede on behalf of the lost or backslidden. As we intercede for them, we partner with God in making it possible, as He responds to our requests, for Him to extend mercy so that they might have more time to repent; so they might choose life as opposed to death; and so that God might bless rather then judge.
With this in mind, I want us to begin to go over five principles that can help us become more effective as intercessors.
1. The Principle Of Applied Priesthood - Matthew 15:21-28
“[Come] and, like living stones, be yourselves built [into] a spiritual house, for a holy (dedicated, consecrated) priesthood, to offer up [those] spiritual sacrifices [that are] acceptable and pleasing to God through Jesus Christ.” - 1 Peter 2:5 (Amplified)
What are these spiritual sacrifices that we are to offer to God? We said last time that we are called to fulfill our call to be a holy priesthood by:
1) Representing God before men (Witness)
2) Representing men before God (Prayer)
From this story in Matthew 15, we learn some things associated with applying our priesthood in representing men before God (intercession).
“The Church has not yet touched the fringe of the possibilities of intercessory prayer. Her largest victories will be witnessed when individual Christians everywhere come to recognize their priesthood unto God and day by day give themselves unto prayer.” - John R. Mott
To be effective in praying for others . . .
A. We must have a sacrificial faith.
We must admire this woman’s persistence. Despite the fact that Jesus ignored her (v. 23); the disciples were annoyed with her (v. 23); that Jesus seemed to turn her away (v. 24), and Jesus seemed to insult her (v. 26); she persisted. She willingly endured whatever was required to continue to present her request to Jesus. She had a sacrificial faith.
God also calls us to persistent prayer.
“Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be opened to you. For everyone who keeps on asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.” - Matthew 7:7-8 (Amplified)
Such praying requires a sacrificial faith; a faith that says, “No matter what it costs, I will continue to intercede until I know the Lord has given my request a hearing and I have His answer!”
God sometimes calls us to persist in prayer in order to expand our view of who He is. In order to perfect our faith, we need a more perfect knowledge of God. And God sometimes works in times of persistent prayer to expand our understanding of Him.
Such was the case with this woman. She began by calling Jesus “Lord, Son of David.” That was a political title - a title which looked on Jesus as a powerful wonder-worker, but which saw Him only in terms of earthly power and glory. That’s how she began. But by the time the Lord had finished with her, her understanding of who He was had radically changed. She ended by simply calling Jesus, “Lord.”
Jesus, as it were, compelled her to look at Him, and in Him she saw something that was not expressible in earthly terms at all, but was nothing less than divine.
“Sometimes . . . God wants us to persist in prayer in order to strengthen our faith in Him. Faith would never grow if all prayers were answered immediately. Persistent prayer tends to develop deeper gratitude as well. As the joy of a baby’s birth is greater because of the months of anticipation, so is the joy of an answer to prayer after persistent praying. And as much as a generation that measures time in nanoseconds hates to admit its need for it, God crafts Christ-like patience in us when He requires persistence in prayer.”- Donald Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
Example of the centurion - Luke 7:1-10
What made this man’s faith great? His recognition of who Christ was. Sometimes, our awareness of His greatness must grow before He will respond to our request. That is why God sometimes calls us to persist in prayer - our focus is so much on our request, that we fail to recognize the greatness of Him to whom we make the request!
The principle of applied priesthood says if I’m going to be effective in interceding for others, I must be willing to invest whatever effort in prayer God might require until the answer comes!
This woman’s persistence that allowed Jesus to bring about the change that had to occur before her request could be granted. Such persistence was a result of a faith that would not quit - a sacrificial faith.
2. We must have a submissive faith.
She submitted to God’s order - Jews first, then Gentiles. This is seen in her reaction to what Jesus said in verse 26. It sounds as though Jesus insulted this woman, but the word (kunaria) Jesus used, is a word for a household pet, not a junkyard dog! He was illustrating that His primary mission was to Israel first. And when the woman demonstrated by her answer that she would accept God’s order, Jesus remarked that her faith was a great faith. It was a great faith because it was a submissive faith.
We too, must be willing to submit to God’s way and God’s timing!
“There is a difference between a fleshly stubbornness and a godly perseverance. The former insists on getting one’s will done in heaven, and the latter determines to get God’s will done on earth.”- Bill Thrasher, A Journey to Victorious Praying
The principle of applied priesthood says if I am going to be effective in interceding for others, I need to submit to God answering in whatever way pleases Him!
3. We must have a sympathetic faith.
It is interesting to note this woman’s sympathy for her daughter’s plight. She was sympathetic to the point of identification (vs. 22; 25).
This is the heart of what we are calling the principle of applied priesthood. The principle of applied priesthood says if I am going to be effective in interceding for others, I need to identify with their need to such a degree that I plead as though I were them, pleading for mercy, as they realize their true standing before God.
“True intercession involves bringing the person, or the circumstance that seems to be crashing in on you, before God, until you are changed by His attitude toward that person or circumstance. People describe intercession by saying, ‘It is putting yourself in someone else’s place.’ That is not true! Intercession is putting yourself in God’s place; it is having His mind and His perspective.” - Oswald Chambers
“Groanings which cannot be uttered are oftenprayers which cannot be refused.” - Charles Spurgeon
Are you willing to let God lay such a burden on your heart for others that you identify with them in their need? If we are to be effective in interceding for others, we need to grow in our identification with their need. It is this kind of faith to which the Lord responds.
“Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.” - Luke 5:18-20 (NIV)
Conclusion:
“According to your faith let it be done to you.”- Matthew 9:29 (NIV)
If we are going to fulfill our calling from God to be priests who effectively represent men before God, then we need to develop a sacrificial, submissive, sympathetic faith in interceding for others.
