Every day during Epiphany, we can join God in the renewal of the world through our prayers of intercession. As we pray we talk with and listen to God in many ways: confession, adoration, silence, contemplation, giving thanks, making personal requests, and on and on. Intercession is the form of prayer where we implore God on behalf of others and our world.
Throughout Epiphany, we want to make time in our daily rhythms to pray for others and for our city. You may want to keep a running list of prayers or make a plan to pray for certain people or things on certain days. As a church family, our goal is to make a habit of intercessory prayer. It is a way we join in the ministry of Jesus.
Here is how author Dutch Sheets describes intercession:
When I say our prayers of intercession are an extension of His work of intercession, the difference is in distributing versus producing. We don’t have to produce anything—reconciliation, deliverance, victory, etc.—but rather we distribute, as the disciples did with the loaves and fishes (see Matthew 14:17–19). Our calling and function is not to replace God, but to release Him. It liberates us from intimidation and emboldens us to know that:
The Producer simply wants to distribute through us.
The Intercessor wants to intercede through us.
The Mediator wants to mediate through us.
The Representative wants to represent through us.
The Go-between wants to go between through us.
The Victor wants His victory enforced through us.The Minister of reconciliation has given to us the ministry of reconciliation (see 2 Corinthians 5:18–19). We now represent Him in His representation ministry. God continues to incarnate His redemptive purposes in human lives. We don’t deliver anyone, we don’t reconcile anyone to God, we don’t defeat the enemy. The work is already done. Reconciliation is complete. Deliverance and victory are complete. Salvation is complete. Intercession is complete! Finished! Done!
We must ask for the release and application of these things. So, let me offer the following as a biblical definition of intercessory prayer: Intercessory prayer is an extension of the ministry of Jesus through His Body, the Church, whereby we mediate between God and humanity for the purpose of reconciling the world to Him, or between Satan and humanity for the purpose of enforcing the victory of Calvary. Christ needs a human on the earth to represent Himself through just as the Father did. The Father’s human was Jesus; Jesus’ humans are us, the Church. He said, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21).
