by H. C. G. Moule

“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God” (Eph. 3:14-19 NKJV).

Intercessory prayer goes out to the Lord, and asks Him in His own way to act in the lives of others. Paul prayed that the Spirit might so work in the Ephesian Christians, the Christ would dwell in their hearts through faith, and that they would be filled with all the fullness of God.

At the same time, intercessory prayer brings blessing on the person praying. Henry Martyn found that in times of spiritual dryness and depression, praying for others brought him renewal.

Intercessory prayer is a deeply practical acknowledgment that to God, all hearts are open; that He holds the key of all wills and lives; that He can make everything work together for His glory and our good in Jesus Christ.

Such prayer witnesses to the Christian’s union with Christ; and, living oneness with the heavenly Intercessor is a strong encouragement to our intercession. It also witnesses to our union with our brothers and sisters in Christ and with everyone else as potentially such.

Some great permanent subjects for intercession are

• the world,
• the church,
• the country,
• the home,
• the school …

If we are asked by individual friends to remember them in prayer, let’s turn this into definite prayer to God. Intercessory prayer must also enter into the work which we do for others in and for the Lord.

Let’s be like Epaphras, “always wrestling in prayer” that the Colossian Christians might “stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured” (Col. 4:12). Or like Paul in prison, praying for his converts, individually, in intense and tender detail (Philemon v. 4).

–The Prayer Adventure, edited by Jean Watson