Christ taught, “I am the good shepherd… I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also.” (John 10:14..…16) His plan is to bring them in by way of his inner circle, and he teaches his own to intercede for the weak, the lost and those who stray by giving the example of Abraham and his love for Lot.
It took Abram years before he became an intercessor. In Genesis 15 we found him in the process of achieving that stature, but still a long way off, even after risking his life to rescue Lot. Likewise, Mandy and I in our 20s were not yet intercessors because we were very young in Christ, even though our prayers were earnest and heartfelt.
As we would pray for Jack, we asked that God would break through his blindness and help him to become a believer. These were simple, heartfelt requests, but we were not intercessors in the biblical sense of the word. True, from the time we learned to pray the Lord’s Prayer, “Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil,” we began to ask on behalf of ourselves and others that we might escape hard testing and destruction, and that is an intercessory prayer. But the distinction between the prayer novice and the intercessor is not an artificial one.
Someone has said, “An intercessor is one who makes contact with God as opposed to the many who simply dabble in prayer.” Mandy and I were not dabbling in prayer, and intercessory prayers may be prayed by any believer, no matter his age or stature. Still, the role of an intercessor is reached only after years of walking with God.
Loyalty must be tested and proved. It does not exist in a vacuum. And as we are led to know God better, we better understand how to intercede, for true intercession is not praying what we regard as good for another person in our limited human understanding. It is praying “in the Spirit” for what God wants for them.
Nevertheless, the mature Christian will confess he cannot take credit for his acts of obedience and devotion. He will rather testify that the Lord developed in him an obedient and devoted heart, and continually gives him the desire, wisdom and strength to intercede.