Praying for others can help them a lot. But do you realize how profoundly you personally can benefit from daily interceding on behalf of other people?
How much have you thought about why God commands intercessory prayer?
It is surely one of the most inspiring images in the Bible—a vision given to the Apostle John, which he relates in detail and color in Revelation 4. Imagine vividly in your mind for a moment that you really are entering God’s throne room in heaven.
“… I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold” (Revelation 4:2-4). These majestic, stately angelic beings are God’s advisers.
John then describes the seven angels, one assigned to each of the seven churches (verse 5), impressive angelic beings that worship God constantly (verses 6-11).
Notice another important detail of John’s vision: “And … the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints” (Revelation 5:8). The four beasts and the 24 angelic advisers all hold vials full of our prayers!
As exciting as it is to imagine entering into this royal, majestic environment, we must realize that we do enter this throne room, in spirit, every time we come before God in prayer! When we kneel down to pray, we should picture our prayers being delivered before God in golden vials in the hands of these angelic beings.
Christ Our Intercessor
Notice who else is there in the throne room with the Father. “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain …” (Revelation 5:6). Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of God (1 Peter 3:22), sharing God’s throne (Revelation 3:21).
Before those prayers make it to the Father, they go through Jesus Christ. He takes that incense, refines it, rephrases it, and acts as our intercessor (Romans 8:34). He brings each petition before His Father on our behalf. So much of His effort and energy is put into these intercessory prayers. His mind is constantly focused on our trials, problems, difficulties, requests.
And when we sin, Christ takes that role one step further and becomes our Advocate (1 John 2:1), pleading our case and beseeching the Father for mercy.
What a wondrous process! God puts a high premium on hearing and answering our prayers. These scriptures show that some of the highest levels of the angelic realm are involved in our prayers—as well as both of only two God beings in the universe!
Gerald Flurry wrote, “Look at the royal environment in which your prayers are handled. Look at the priority God gives your prayers! You must place the same supreme importance on your prayers! You must remember where they are going. This has a lot to do with how God’s people are judged today” (The Royal Book of Revelation). Mr. Flurry also wrote, in the May-June 1998 issue of Royal Vision, “Our primary focus in life must be on how we talk to God in prayer! That is our number one priority. That is how we grow in God’s royal Family” (emphasis added throughout).
What is truly remarkable is that God loves to hear His people pray! Our prayers are precious to Him. “[T]he prayer of the upright is his delight” (Proverbs 15:8).
For as much trouble as God invests in our prayers, you would think He would want to limit our access somehow. But in fact, we’ve been instructed to pray about an hour a day. That is quite a lot of time!
God learns a lot about us by how we pray. It reveals our attitude. How important our prayers are to us. What we pray about. In how much detail.
Let’s focus on one specific key that can radically improve our prayer life, and make our prayers much more moving to God. The more spiritually mature we are, the more this will be the heart of our prayers.
What is it?
Intercessory prayer—praying for others.
There is much we need to learn from daily interceding on behalf of God’s Work and God’s people. We must become skilled at praying in detail for others.
Illustrating God’s Government
When Abraham was journeying through the land of Gerar, he was afraid that the king would take his wife, Sarah. Though he had tried this once before unsuccessfully, Abraham told Sarah to say she was his sister. The plan didn’t work this time either: King Abimelech took her anyway.
After the king brought Sarah home, God spoke to him in a dream, saying, “Behold, thou art but a dead man, for the woman which thou hast taken; for she is a man’s wife” (Genesis 20:3). Abimelech protested. But God responded, “[R]estore the man his wife; for he is a prophet, and he shall pray for thee, and thou shalt live: and if thou restore her not, know thou that thou shalt surely die, thou, and all that are thine” (verse 7). For Abimelech and his household to live, Abraham would have to pray for him. The king’s own prayer wasn’t good enough.
Why? Because God wanted to teach this king where He was working. Who His man was.
This story illustrates that there are times when intercessory prayer can show us God’s government.
Let’s notice another scriptural example that will hit closer to home.
“Is any among you afflicted? let him pray” (James 5:13). Afflicted means to undergo hardship or suffer trouble. God says the appropriate response when you’re going through trials is to pray—pray for your own needs. Particularly during trials, we need to draw close to God.
The next verse in James talks about a special case: “Is any sick among you?” it asks. But the answer this time isn’t to pray for yourself. The verse responds, “let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord” (verse 14).
Why wouldn’t your own prayer be good enough in this case? James specifically states that healing comes from the intercessory prayer of God’s ministry (verse 15).
There are probably several reasons why God does it this way. Perhaps He wants people to understand the seriousness of physical sin, and thus makes calling on that sacrifice—the stripes of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24)—more difficult. Perhaps He wants to give the ministry an opportunity to evaluate a person’s faith and spiritual maturity.
Certainly He wants to confirm people’s understanding of government in the Church, requiring that people look to the ministry in this case.
Perhaps God even wants to evaluate the minister’s attitude toward the person—for example, testing whether the minister continues to pray for that individual after the anointing.
Whatever the case, the bottom line is that this is a situation where God commands intercessory prayer.
Overcoming Selfishness
God expects His ministers to be a praying ministry. But the responsibility for intercessory prayer doesn’t end with the ministry.
“Confess your faults [physical sins] one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much” (James 5:16). Consider this verse! It doesn’t say, “Pray for yourself that you may be healed.” God wants us to pray one for another. How much do you draw strength and support from the other members in the Church? And, on the flip side, how do you feel when someone else asks for your prayers?
Here is another lesson we need to learn: Intercessory prayer can help us conquer selfishness and vanity.
This verse in James shows that God hears the intercessions of His people! It does make a difference! How much impact can you have in someone else’s health trial? How many people in prayer does it require to cause God to intervene in a certain trial?
The Good News of September-October 1969, said, “[T]here seems to be a law of prayer that one person praying for another carries more weight with God than one man praying for himself.” God loves to see us praying for one another.
This verse says that for your prayers to really get results, they must be effectual and fervent. Those two words are translated from a single Greek word: energeo. Energized! Active! There must be work involved.
“Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins” (verses 19-20). How could any of us do this? This isn’t directed just at the ministry, who may counsel someone who has been suspended from coming to services because of some major sin. Remember, the context here is intercessory prayer!
Whenever someone is put out of the Church, we are instructed to pray for their repentance. How much love do we show those people? Do we forget about them? How much do we pray for the Laodiceans? Eternal life is on the line! When we see someone having a spiritual problem, do we take it to God? When we see our mate struggling with something, do we diligently pray for him or her? The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much—and he who converts a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and hide a multitude of sins.
Verse 20 says we can actually hide sins. What is interesting, however, is that it doesn’t specify whose sins. Might God be quicker to forgive our sins when He sees us fervently praying for the forgiveness of others’ sins?
Intercessory prayer is truly God’s way of give in action. It is a powerful antidote to our carnal selfishness.
James 4:3 shows that one main reason prayers go unanswered is that they are too selfish. How much more does it move God when He sees us placing the needs of others before His throne—showing our concern—beseeching Him on their behalf?
Family Repentance
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, He gave this model prayer: “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen” (Matthew 6:9-13).
Have you ever noticed that the entire prayer is spoken in a collective sense? Christ didn’t ask, Give me, forgive me, lead me, deliver me—it was entirely, Give us, forgive us, lead us, deliver us.
It may not even occur to us to ask for our daily bread, because maybe we already have it. But there are many of God’s people who may not have enough to eat!
Lead us not into temptation. It can be so easy to focus only on the trials you face. But think beyond yourself. Pray for the spiritual success of your brethren—especially if you know someone who is struggling with a spiritual problem.
Forgive us our debts. The Bible contains some tremendous examples of leaders who asked for collective forgiveness—even when they weren’t personally at fault.
Read Nehemiah’s example in Nehemiah 1. Or Ezra 9, which shows Ezra fasting and praying on behalf of the nation of Israel. In the Ezra and Nehemiah booklet, Mr. Flurry wrote, “Ezra prayed a deeply moving prayer of repentance for the nation. Ezra blushed and was greatly ashamed. The nation was all one family. Ezra set us an example in family repentance. …
“Do we realize that when we sin, we affect the entire family? … God’s pcg ministry and members must learn to stay on top of serious problems and not let them develop. But when they do happen, we need to take them to God.”
Yes, your sins affect the entire Family. But, that being the case, so do the sins of your brethren in the Church affect the entire Family! In other words, it is in your best interest that others are as spiritually successful as possible! Understanding this truth can better motivate you to pray forgive us our debts.
Notice the Prophet Daniel’s example: “And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments; We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments” (Daniel 9:3-5).
In Daniel—Unsealed at Last! Mr. Flurry wrote, “ Do you see how Daniel approached God? He said we. … Although Daniel himself had not forsaken God, he knew his people had. … Daniel loved his family enough to cry out to God, ‘We have sinned.’ Daniel had so much depth! That’s because he had God’s love.
“We cannot let our love become shallow. We are Christ’s Bride. And some of the members of that body have turned away from their Husband. Then there are those in the world, all of whom have the potential to be born into God’s Family as children. Are we motivated to reach God’s Family—even those who are only potential members of that Family? Jesus Christ died for all humanity. Is there that much depth to our love?”
You can see how our prayers are really a measure of our love. God can learn a lot about us by how we pray!
How to End Your Trials
Job was a righteous man who endured a series of terrible trials—loss of personal property and family, and a cripplingly painful health trial. He had a strong relationship with God (Job 1:1, 5), and prayed intensively throughout his trial. But he was not healed.
Nevertheless, in the end, Job learned the important lesson God was teaching him through those trials (Job 42:1-6).
Afterward, God turned His attention to Job’s friends, who had accused and railed against him because of the trial. “My wrath is kindled against thee,” God said, “for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath” (verse 7).
What did God do? After instructing the men to make an offering, He said, “and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly” (verse 8). Verse 9 shows that if Job hadn’t prayed for these three men, they would have been cut off! They were in a similar situation to Abimelech in Genesis 22.
But what then happened to Job? “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before” (verse 10). God ended Job’s trial only after he had prayed for his friends!
This is perhaps the only such instance in Scripture. But, as the Good News asked, after relating this story: “Could this explain why some of your prayers remain unanswered?”
How do you respond to prayer requests? Is it a burden to you? Remember God’s throne room—and what a privilege it is to be able to intercede on behalf of others!
Growing in Love
The main part of our prayers should be intercessory. Philippians 2:4 says, “Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.” Where better to practice that than in our prayers?
Another major lesson is that intercessory prayer can help us grow in God’s love.
A story from ancient Israel will help illustrate the point.
When Israel was in the wilderness and Moses was on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments from God, the people made a golden calf to worship and descended into perverse immorality.
God was furious with them. The Bible records what God said to Moses—and you can feel the heat of His anger as you read it: “Go, get thee down; for thy people, which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves: They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them …. I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people: Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation” (Exodus 32:7-10).
Imagine hearing those words straight from God’s mouth! Surely you would be trembling with fear. Surely you would quickly submit to His determined will. After all, this is God! Perhaps, if you had been Moses, you would have recalled the difficulties you’d had with the people. How easy to think, Yes, God—you are right. This is the only just thing to do. You have given them several chances. I have to agree—they have had it coming.
But how did Moses react? Think about it—how much more converted was his mind than yours? “And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand? Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever” (verses 11-13). An eloquent speech, for a man speaking to the Creator God!
Put yourself in Moses’s position, and you quickly see that his godly love was much deeper than yours and mine. Learn from his example.
Think about this: This event occurred before the Word (who was the God of the Old Testament) became flesh (John 1:1-14). It was before Jesus Christ assumed the job of High Priest. He hadn’t yet experienced the pulls of the flesh. Perhaps Moses really did help God see a different perspective here!
Might God be moved by your perspective, as you passionately intercede for a brother or sister struggling through a trial? Is it possible that your intercessory prayers could touch the great God, and enlarge His thinking?
God was certainly moved by Moses’s empathetic intercession. “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people” (Exodus 32:14). What a tremendous example of answered intercessory prayer. It saved the nation!
What might your intercessory prayers be able to accomplish?
Learn to Empathize Like God
Another point to consider in this story is that the Israelites weren’t repentant when Moses prayed for them. They were still thoroughly caught up in their debauchery.
It is so easy to think, carnally, Maybe I shouldn’t pray for that person since he still has a wrong attitude. But what would have happened if Moses had thought that way? With intercessory prayer, it does not matter whether the person is repentant or not. God is still moved by your attitude of forgiveness and compassion.
How natural it is for us, when we see someone doing something wrong and then suffering the consequences, to want to remain hands-off. We don’t want to get involved. Or worse, we feel they had it coming to them.
But God wants us to learn instead to take a sense of personal responsibility. He wants us to mature spiritually to the point where we begin to take on His empathy.
How much does God have to extend compassion and mercy to people who disappoint Him time and again? Consider His perspective of the world today. He aches for His future Family—all of His passion and deepest feelings are tied up in this plan for humankind. Yet what a catalog of tragedy He witnesses all the time!—disloyalty, failure, personal ruin on a scale we can’t comprehend. Even among His Spirit-begotten children, 95 percent are rebelling against Him in this end time. And even within His faithful remnant, how often we ourselves can disappoint our Father!
Yet what compassion, what mercy, what patience, He has with us, to keep coming back and forgiving, and blessing and loving us—even when we fail to meet His standards. Not that He ever lowers His standards, but none of us could say we have borne the full measure of punishment for our weaknesses, sins and failures.
It only makes sense that God wants us to become more like Him by developing an increasing measure of His patience, compassion and mercy. Daily, heartfelt intercessory prayer is one of the most powerful ways to do that. We need to learn to become big enough to pray even for the person who is hurting us.
Helping Others
Numbers 16 contains another truly remarkable example of intercession. The chapter begins by telling of Korah’s blatant rebellion against Moses—and God. Moses told Korah and the men with him that God would show them with whom He was working. When that time came, a great earthquake split the ground open and swallowed the whole company of rebels—a dramatic demonstration of God’s indignation over Korah’s attitude!
You would think that the rest of the nation would have been convicted by this display—realizing that God truly did back Moses. But, astoundingly, the people blamed Moses! “But on the morrow all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the Lord” (Numbers 16:41).
God was furious! “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them as in a moment” (verses 44-45). And He immediately started a lethal, fast-spreading plague among the Israelites!
Moses sprang into action. He instructed his brother, Aaron, the high priest, to quickly make atonement for the people—to stop the plague from spreading. Aaron ran to fulfill the instructions (verses 46-49). And despite the speed with which these two men acted (it may have taken mere minutes), 14,700 Israelites perished in the plague!
What would have happened if Aaron had delayed even a few moments? If he had moved slowly, or debated in his mind what to do? How many more would have died? Surely Moses and Aaron, in dealing with the congregation day in and day out, got frustrated—their patience wore thin with certain individuals. But when it came down to it, they knew they were responsible, and leaped into action to fulfill their duty!
Understand this lesson! To this point we have discussed all the ways that you can benefit from improving your intercessory prayer: learning of God’s government, overcoming selfishness, developing God’s love. But where the power of such prayer really becomes evident is in how much you can help others!
Pray for Enemies
Moses and Aaron set a superb example of interceding for those people they were having trouble with. In Scripture God actually commands that we pray for our enemies. Here is where God’s love becomes powerfully evident.
Christ said, “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44). That is certainly what Moses and Aaron did.
That is also what Christ Himself did—as He was hanging from the stake, bloodied beyond recognition: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
Why should we pray for our enemies? Matthew 5 continues, “That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven …. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (verses 45-48). This truly demonstrates God’s love. We are children of God when we do this! Yes it is hard—perhaps one of the hardest things God asks of us. But He doesn’t ask anything of us that He isn’t willing to do. We are to love those who hurt us, the way God loves those who hurt Him. The goal is perfection (verse 48).
King David, a man after God’s own heart, did pray that God would chastise his enemies. But why? So they would come to understand and know God (e.g. Psalm 83:15-18).
Mr. Armstrong said he never prayed for anything bad to happen to anyone—not even his enemies. Instead, pray that God would treat them as you would want to be treated. Like Jeremiah, we should pray that God would correct us, but in measure, with mercy (Jeremiah 10:24). That is an empathetic way to pray for our enemies—who, hopefully, one day, will be members of God’s eternal Family!
Pray for the Brethren
If we are to pray for our enemies with empathy, how much more should we be able to intercede for each other empathetically?
The fact is, when we beat our intercessory prayers down like fine incense, we are forced to meditate deeply on others’ situations and problems. Perhaps you are having trouble relating to someone. If you pray for him or her, you will find yourself empathizing with that person’s specific troubles more. Your perspective will become much more in line with God’s perspective on that person.
Prayer does deepen your relationship with God. But in this way it can also help strengthen your relationships with others. Yes, intercessory prayer unifies the body of Christ.
Let’s notice Paul’s example. He never ceased to pray for the brethren (Colossians 1:7-9; Ephesians 1:15-19). But what did he pray for? “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness” (Colossians 1:9-11). Paul prayed for their spiritual enlightenment and growth! He wanted them to succeed as much as possible. His love for the brethren was powerfully evident in his prayer life.
“Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God” (Colossians 4:12). This man’s prayers are canonized in Scripture as an example for us! The two words “laboring fervently” are translated from a single Greek word—not energeo, but agonizomai. Agonizing! Struggling, competing for a prize, or contending with an adversary! Those are truly effortful prayers for the brethren.
At one point Samuel said he would be sinning against God if he ceased to pray for the people (1 Samuel 12:19-23). He knew that faithful intercessory prayer was his responsibility.
How much more effective could your local minister be, or your congregation, or God’s whole Church, if we were all diligent in praying for each other?
Our pastor general bears an enormous load. On several occasions he has told the Church how much he relies on our prayers for his success.
This leads to one of the most important lessons we can learn: Intercessory prayers can keep our minds on God’s Work. And that benefit is secondary to the fact that those prayers truly do help the Work. God’s Work truly needs our prayers—now more than ever!
Pray for the Work
“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; Withal praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds: That I may make it manifest, as I ought to speak” (Colossians 4:2-4). Paul asked for prayers for the Work’s sake. Mr. Flurry does the same. We need to beseech God earnestly that He would open the door for us to be able to get the mystery of Christ out to the world!
How much can your prayers help the Work?
Read 2 Corinthians 1:8-11. Paul detailed many of the towering challenges he faced in doing God’s Work. And he wanted all the prayers he could get! Verse 11 in the Revised Standard Version reads, “You also must help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf [or, in the Moffatt, ‘Tell God thanks for us—it will mean more if it comes from more people’] for the blessing granted us in answer to many prayers.” In other words, he was saying, “I know you’re all going to be praying for me, and God just won’t be able to ignore all those prayers, so, when the answer comes, then thank God for us as well!”
Paul said that the more people praying, the better. He knew that success in his ministry would take many prayers!
Elsewhere Paul wrote, “Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me” (Romans 15:30). “Strive together with” comes from a single Greek word similar to that used in Colossians 4:12, but this is sunagonizomai. It means to agonize or struggle in company together. This Work truly is a group effort!
Let’s not be casual. Let’s struggle, let’s agonize in our prayers together for God’s Work! As Christ said, “The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he will send forth labourers into his harvest” (Matthew 9:37-38).
Assisting Our Husband Forever!
Praying for yourself is not wrong. Christ instructed us to pray for ourselves. Christ prayed for Himself.
But He also set a tremendous example of intercessory prayer. Read John 17—the most complete prayer of His recorded in Scripture, spoken in the time of His own greatest need, the night before His crucifixion—and it is almost entirely a prayer for others!
That is the mindset we must strive to emulate!
Remember that picture of God’s throne room. Jesus Christ is there, interceding for us yet today. This is one of His full-time jobs!
It only makes sense that we need to think as our Husband does. Is it possible that, when we are sharing His throne in God’s Kingdom, we may be assisting Him in this monumental job?
Let’s become experts at it today. Let’s learn the lessons we need from intercessory prayer.
From the Archives: Royal Vision, January-February 2003