Called to Be An Intercessor?

Called to Be An Intercessor?

Becoming an intercessor, is not something you DO, it is something you are.-- Though it does come from time spent with the Savior. Something we become through practice, relationship and diligence.

You may have been born with a bent towards caring for others, or it has been successfully modeled for you, but a “true” intercessor is called. Every believer is called to “bear one another's burdens”. Just as every believer is interested in evangelism, but not all are evangelists. Perhaps, you were born into a family that needed you to “bear their burdens”...sometimes children bear burdens that should be reserved for adults but then it becomes a life-pattern. That is NOT of the Lord, that is flesh that hinders growth and development of YOUR individual personality.

An intercessor accepts only God-led burdens.

An intercessor is molded through deep pain, and deep intimacy with the Savior.

It “may” require a level of discipline. But it also “may” require a level of flexibility. Can you come along side those who weep? Can you hear the Savior when He awakens you in the night? Has He revealed to you secrets of His heart?

He may give you a level of discernment or a prophetic inclination. Usually, a “seasoned” prayer warrior is a bit more mature—not in chronological days but in ministry days, in spiritual days or years.

Have you ever been with a seasoned saint that seems to know what you are thinking before you say it? You feel drawn to that person—it is Christ in them the hope of Glory. It is as the “glow” that Moses had after being on the mountain with God. No amount of education, position, or man-ordained authority can replace the anointing that comes from intimacy with the Lord.

Usually, you will not find an intercessor on the platform, but in an unseen position, seeking ONLY the Savior. They do not seek the accolades of men. They have learned to meld the knowledge of His Word and the Anointing of the Holy Spirit as channeled through their emptied flesh. “Christ in me the hope of Glory”.

They practice prayer as in older days referred to as “praying through”. God will place a “burden” upon you. He reveals to you one who needs His encouragement of inner healing or possibly physical healing or direction. It is a discipline, but it is also a feeling, a heightened awareness, not just a name on a prayer list a “should pray” kind of discipline (though there is room for that too). First, the intercessor listens and waits for the Father's heart concerning this person, concerning their real need. There may be a marriage breaking up, that is of utmost concern to God and to the Body of Christ. But, the “real” issue is a deep heart-issue that God will reveal to the intercessor to break a stronghold, or to heal a learned pattern of thinking or behavior. Some intercessors receive “pictures” from the Lord of what can be or should be or is. Some receive a “knowing”. What God reveals in secret, is to be kept in secret. It is an intimacy with the Savior alone. But it is for the benefit of another or The Body. If you only feel heaviness that does not lift in prayer, then you, personally are carrying that burden IN your flesh and have not yet released it to the Savior—which is the whole point of intercessory prayer.

Some have taught that there is no new revelation, that we were given the Word, period. They forget that we were also given the Holy Spirit to be our Guide, in unity, compatibility with HIM, The Intercessor. We become intercessors. We take the burden beyond the veil into the Holy of Holies. Not everyone knows how to go there for themselves. The burden is there, released.

Meditation is a learned practice that yields fruit in the prayer closet of the intercessor. When we meditate on the Word, when we actually PRAY God's Word back to Him, allowing it to flow from hours of rich conversations with the Lord, it pours forth into the prayer need, into the needy one via what I will call prayer waves.

The intercessor is a channel. We must be emptied of self, and none of us do that perfectly. None of us do that consistently. That is why it is such a gift when we experience that power, whether it is momentarily or over a prolonged period of prayer and fasting—eventually, we must come off that mountain. Eventually our flesh kicks back in—but we long for, ache for, reach for that one more moment of ecstasy with our Savior. As Paul said, “whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know”...a mystery to be discovered.

And just a word on fasting. It is biblical. There are different kinds of fasting. Some fast food and pray, some fast media or pull away from the crowds. It is doing whatever YOU need to do to hear the Father's voice, to hear HIS heart beat and understand His Word. There is effort and sacrifice involved, but it is not a practice that is out there for some more-Holy-than-the-rest-of-us-saints. He has already appropriated HIS POWER to us.

I Thes. 2:13

“ And we also [especially] thank God continually for this, that when you received the message of God [which you heard] from us, you welcomed it not as the word of [mere] men, but as it truly is, the Word of God, which is effectually at work in you who believe [exercising its super-human power in those who adhere to and trust in and rely on it].”

How do we get “the power”? Remember Simeon the sorcerer offered to pay Peter for “the gift”? It is not for sale. Most gifts aren't.

Position? I have been in places where the power of God fell upon me in a physical fashion so powerfully, I could not do anything but bend. Some lay prostrate on the floor. Some raise their hands to God in praise. Some kneel. Some pour forth tears not of themselves. We prideful American's like to stay in our tidy pews in restrained and dignified positions. We await the Pastor to issue his decree to stand or sit...and our services never get out-of-control. That is the crux of the issue, who IS in control? Who are you willing to let be in control? It's a good thing to follow the Pastor's suggestions, it is good training to heed the Holy Spirit's suggestions. The issue is are you willing, are you able to REACH for Him whatever it takes? Have you ever been desperate for God, hungering for God enough to do whatever He asks? When you are, then you can share that with others. Until then, you are just standing out in the spiritual lobby.

The Holy of Holies is a private place, where the Bridegroom meets his Bride with total abandon.