Intercession For Others

"I exhort, therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving thanks, be made for all men." (1 Timothy 2:1)

"Without God, we cannot. Without us, God will not." St. Augustine's succinct statement sums up the twofold nature of intercession. God empowers us by the Holy Spirit to intercede for others' needs; without that empowerment, our prayers would be empty words.

God also invests us with Christ's authority to restrain evil forces that are blinding and hindering the person for whom we are praying. God could restrain those forces without us if He chose to. But He has equipped us and commissioned us to intercede by pushing back the enemy, thus allowing the Holy Spirit to bring conviction that leads to repentance.

Two Old Testament verses depict the need for an intercessor to do battle for sinful man: "God was appalled that there was no one to intervene" (Isaiah 59:16); "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none" (Ezekiel 22:30).

Of course, Jesus ultimately filled the gap. He became the mediator between God and man by giving Himself as a sacrifice for sin. But believers should also see themselves as intercessors; standing between God and the person(s) for whom we are praying, pleading for God to intervene.

If God be for us, who can be against us?