Author: Pedro Junker
Editor: Larissa Zanetti
How powerful are our prayers? How much can we accomplish by simply speaking to God and asking for things? Do you consider yourself an intercessor?
Today’s Honest Bible will tackle how important our prayers are, not only for the causes we see and deal with, but also to those we have no idea are happening.
Jesus constantly encouraged the disciples and all who listened to approach God as our father. This important revelation caused a shift in how the people of God would pray. We are now praying/talking to a God that is close and present in our lives - instead of the other notion of him being far away up in heaven. Jesus also reminded us that because God is our father, we can ask Him for anything, “Ask and it will be given to you” Matthew 7:7.
It’s great to know that we now have an ability to not only be sons and daughters but to be “spoiled” by the almighty God by asking and receiving what we ask for.
In church, we have the intercessory ministry, though sadly not a lot of people are involved. But that ministry is the foundation of our church for every moment, service, retreat, activity, etc. To be an intercessor is to be putting yourself in someone else’s situation and feeling what they are feeling while praying for what they precisely need.
Let’s look at a great example of an intercessor that many people don’t know about.
I’ve been reading through the book of Acts lately, and the story of Stephen is one that fascinates me. He’s sadly the first martyr of the Christians. If you want to hear my full preaching on his death and how powerful his story is, please go to this link. But I want to point your attention to his last words and prayer to God:
“As they hurled stone after stone at him, Stephen prayed, “Our Lord Jesus, accept my spirit into your presence.” He crumpled to his knees and shouted in a loud voice, “Our Lord, don’t hold this sin against them.” And then he died.” Acts 7:59-60
It is incredible that his last words were a prayer, and a special kind of prayer. It’s very familiar to us, as this is what Jesus prayed for as well when He was on the cross. We might think that was just a beautiful moment, but I’d like to ask you: would you have honestly made the same prayer? If stones were being thrown at you, by people who made up lies about you and were getting away with it, would you look at them and plea for God to not hold them accountable for their clear mistakes? If I were to put myself in Stephen’s shoes, I frankly don’t think I’d have the same heart he did to ask for this.
But why am I bringing this up? Just as Jesus himself prayed the same thing, God did not hold us accountable for the killing of Jesus, even though he was up on that cross for our sins and transgressions, the blame was not only on Pharisees, Judas, and Pilate. Literally, thanks to Jesus’s powerful prayer, we can now have God as our father and not be blamed for all of the terrible things we have done.
In Stephen’s case, the writer (Luke) makes the point to single out only one man in the crowd that was killing Stephen, Saul. I have to be honest with you guys, when I was a kid this was the biggest twist I had ever seen, bigger than Darth Vader being Luke’s father, bigger than the kid seeing dead people in the 6th sense. The awesome Paul that I grew up learning about and learning teachings from all of his books, was one of the people responsible for Stephen’s murder. But our God is such an amazing God that Stephen’s last request was a powerful intercession for then Saul to become the Paul that we know.
Stephen’s last prayer was the one that started the salvation of one man, it just so happens that the particular man was going to write 13 of the 27 books in the new testament, open dozens of churches, and be one of the most influential Christians we have ever seen.
Does that mean Paul was only saved because of Stephen’s prayer? No, Paul still had a choice to make once Jesus met him on his way to Damascus in Acts chapter 9. But Stephen’s powerful simple prayer opened a way for God to say: Yes Stephen, I will not hold this crowd accountable for their sin, in fact, I have chosen one of these killers to change the world.
God is moved by our prayers, more so than we believe. Paul became who he was because his first intercessor was Stephen, who asked for forgiveness before Paul even knew he needed it.
Have you been taking advantage of God’s gift to us? This gift is a clear, uninterrupted connection to the father and our intercessor, Jesus, is at his right-hand side praying over us. This is the honest prayer, it moves God, it moves people that probably don’t even know your name or will never see your face.
Don’t think it’s a waste of time to pray for the people in Syria, Iraq, North Korea, and any country. Nobody is too far gone, everyone is in need of prayer.
Do you want to become an intercessor for people? I challenge you to look at the news and you will quickly see terrible things happening everywhere/all of the time. Take some time today to pick a particular country and pray for its leaders, its citizens, and any situation they are going through.
You can start a movement of God that you might never find out about, honestly, we are all here because somebody decided to pray for us.
Song Recommendation: The Power of a Prayer - Matthew West
