How to Pray Like Jesus in Intercession

Have you ever wondered what exactly it is that Jesus desires to accomplish through your life? If you’ve been in the church world for awhile, I’m sure you’ve heard it, “God has a plan for your life!” Or you may not even be aware that Jesus actually does desire to accomplish His will through your life. I’m here to tell you that He does.

Let me ask you this; do you feel a passion tugging at your heart strings to see righteousness return to our nation, or see breakthrough in your personal life, or a holy revival flood your community but not sure of how to see it come to fruition?

If you answered yes, then you are being called by the Holy Spirit to a life of intercession. One of the highest callings of every christian is to be an intercessor. It is through faith filled intercessory prayer that we will see heaven invade the earth, darkness broken, and the will of the Lord accomplished. The exciting part? God wants to use your prayers!

One of the greatest desires that Jesus has for His people is to make intercession through them.

Here is a little backstory about myself. I was raised in a home of true intercessors. I am blessed with a family heritage that is rich with godly men and women. My grandparents and parents knew and still do know how to pray, and boy, did they pray.

To use proper church lingo, we could call them, “prayer warriors”.

I grew up in a home where the presence of Jesus was so tangible and honored. I have vivid memories of waking early before the sun rose as a kid, shuffling my sleepy self to the bathroom, to hear my dad’s muffled voice through the floor coming from the living room below. He would be lying on his face in passionate, intercessory, and worshipful prayer to God.

My Grandfather, who is with Jesus now, was also a mighty prayer warrior. Through his steadfastness, and unwavering faith, our family has seen amazing miracles, too many to count. Just to name a few, my grandmother was miraculously healed from aggressive cancer more than once, barrenness and infertility were broken off of a couple of members of our family and children now fill the thanksgiving table; we have seen provision and protection from harm, just too many miracles to count. I’m here to tell you that faith filled PRAYER WORKS, I have seen it with my own eyes.

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.” James 5:16

Like I said, our family has experienced blessings that are too many to count and more than we will ever truly know. God only knows what my grandparent’s and parent’s prayers of intercession shifted in the spiritual realm for His glory.

So growing up surrounded by this, I never truly appreciated it until I reached adulthood. When I would have opportunities to pray out loud in a corporate setting, I would feel such intimidation because I had a preconceived belief (of my own doing) that I had to use eloquent phrases, recite full passages of scripture, and use big words for my prayer to “count”. That kind of prayer was what I was raised around. I would often avoid praying because of that belief.

I see now, that that was an immature belief and honestly a lie from the enemy. A lie that caused intimidation and honestly…fear.

One of Satan’s biggest goals is to silence us in fear, if he can get us wrapped up in fear, he can keep us from using and walking in our God given authority that will destroy all of his works of darkness. Fear takes our eyes off of Jesus and places our focus on our natural circumstances.

As I grew in my relationship with Jesus, my prayer life and confidence in Him grew as well. Holy Spirit taught me that it’s not about using big words, and flowery, eloquent speech in my prayers for it to “count”. It just all about faith. Over the years, my relationship with Jesus blossomed and I came to recognize and trust my Shepard’s voice resulting in the dismantling of fear. Faith is the antithesis of fear.

“My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow Me.” John 10:27

I’ve relied more and more on Him and have allowed His Spirit to pray through me. I’m not saying I’ve “made it”, by any means. Fear and doubt still rear their ugly heads from time to time, but Jesus is always there, taking my face in His nail pierced hands, and saying to my heart, “Keep your eyes locked on Mine, beloved.” When I do fear flees. There will never be an end to the depth and the height of our beautiful growth in Jesus. There is just a confidence that can only come from knowing Jesus as He takes our hand and says, “Let Me reveal to you My beauty.”

In this post we will:

• Unpack what the Bible says about intercession
• Discuss Jesus’ role as the High Priest
• What our role is as intercessors
• Lay out practical steps to practice this truth in our lives

What is Intercession?

In Hebrews 7:23-25, the writer, comparing Jesus to the king and high priest Melchizedek, states,

“Also there were many priests, because they were prevented by death from continuing. But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.”

The word used here for “make intercession” is entugchano which means to fall in with, meet with in order to converse. Sounds pretty casual, right? The meaning doesn’t stop there, but progresses to the idea of pleading with a person on behalf of another.

The Oxford Language dictionary defines intercession as, “the action of intervening on behalf of another.” When I read this definition, the word intervening stood out to me, so I dug further. I found that the verb intervene is defined as “come between so as to prevent or alter a result or course of events.” Other words that are similar to intervene are; involve oneself, get involved, interpose oneself, step in, cut in, mediate, arbitrate, conciliate, negotiate, act as peacemaker, act as an intermediary, and interfere.

Jesus Is the High Priest

This is Jesus.

We were lost in our sin, dead in our trespasses, and we completely deserved Hell.

BUT GOD. He sent His Son to come between us and hell, to get involved in our mess, to act as a peacemaker in our turmoil. Jesus stood between, with outstretched arms on a cross, to prevent the “course of events” that we were barreling toward us. And that course of events was eternal separation from God, which is death and hell. I’ve been told this several times as I have witnessed to people, “A loving God doesn’t send people to hell.” This is a twisted view that the enemy has planted into people’s minds.

Hear me, friend, it is NOT God’s will for any person to go to hell. 1 Timothy 2:3-4 says,

“This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

It breaks God’s heart as He watches the people whom He created in His image, reject Him and choose death. That is why He sent His one and only Son to be our Mediator.

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Romans 8:32

Jesus laid aside His heavenly crown, took on flesh, willingly stretched His body out on a Roman cross, and became intercession for you and me. He is not only our High Priest Intercessor, continually praying for us at the right hand of God, but His very being is intercession.

“Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” Romans 8:34

Hebrews 9:15 speaks about Jesus as our Mediator and High Priest,

“And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”

Jesus as our High Priest is our representative to God. When you say yes to Christ, obey His Word, and put all of your faith in Him, He washes you clean and completely forgives you of every sin you have done and will do. You become a child of God, cloaked in the righteousness of Jesus, and when God looks at you, He doesn’t see you and all of your failings, He sees His perfect Son. So we can boldly approach God’s throne in prayer because of the finished work of the cross. Hallelujah!

More scripture on intercession: I Samuel 2:25, Isaiah 53:12, Romans 8:26, Hebrews 7:25, Isaiah 59:16

God Wants Me to Be an Intercessor?

If you are a follower of Christ, you are called to be an intercessor. It is a very high calling and it will cost you, but it is what we are all equipped by God to do. We are called to come between Satan and his kingdom and others, standing in the gap by prayer. We are cloaked in Jesus’ righteousness, filled with His Spirit, and carry His authority to be able by His power to stand in the gap for people, communities, and even nations. What would it look like if the entire church stepped into this high calling of intercession?

There are many examples of intercessory prayer in scripture; Moses interceded for Israel on more than one occasion (Exodus 32:11-13,31-32) , in Genesis 18:20-33 Abraham interceded for Sodom, Daniel interceded for his people (Daniel 9:17-19), Paul interceded for many of the churches that he ministered to, which can be found throughout the New Testament, just to name a few.

The life of an intercessor is one of dying to the flesh. It is getting out of bed at 2 a.m. to pray when the Holy Spirit beckons, it’s staying up late to intercede, it’s one of fasting, it’s placing oneself in the battle on another’s behalf, it is laborious, costly, and one of discipline, but it reaps much fruit. It is necessary.

Repeat after me, “I am an intercessor.”

Practical Steps to Practice This Truth in Your Life

1. Get into the Word of God. Become a student of the Bible. Memorize passages, write verses on sticky notes and put them all over your house and car, listen to audio Bible while you exercise. The word of God is our weapon in intercession. Look up the Greek and Hebrew meanings of words that Holy Spirit highlights to you in scripture. When we store up the Word of God in our hearts, we can discover God’s will on a subject and pray His will over whatever we are facing. We will have scripture to speak out loud to disrupt the enemy’s camp and thwart his plans. I have witnessed the power of declaring scripture with my own eyes time and time again. “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 PRAY THE SCRIPTURE.
2. Turn off distractions. This means turn your phone on silent or leave it somewhere else as you pray, turn off the onslaught of news, TV shows, and email checking. Keeping our gaze locked on His will fuel our fire in intercession. Whatever we feast on with our eyes and ears will be what comes out of us. Let what comes out of us be His word and work and not things that carry no eternal value and even rob us of peace. “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” Luke 6:45
3. Go on prayer walks. One of the favorite habits that I have made for myself is taking a prayer walk on a trail that boarders our 13 acres of land. I walk, surrounded by His creation and we speak with one another. He prays through me and fills me with such passion, love, and peace. It has been my favorite time of the day. I want to encourage you to find a trail that you can visit daily; whether its around your house, in a city park, or around your neighborhood. As you walk and pray, you are claiming territory for the Lord because you carry His authority and power. “Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours.” Deuteronomy 11:24a
4. Find a prayer group or start one yourself. Corporate prayer is powerful and needed. We can strengthen, encourage, and pray with one another. Gather at your home, a park while your kids play, or your church. Take communion together, worship, and pray. Some of my most powerful times of prayer has been with my women’s prayer group. Satan wants to keep us isolated, but God wants us connected. The early church practiced this and saw God move mightily, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Acts 2:42 Find your people!

As we draw nearer to Christ’s return, the world is getting darker, so it is up to the Church to rise up, recognize and walk in our God given authority and step into our high calling of being intercessory prayer warriors.