In Andrew Murray's book,The Ministry of Intercession, he lays out the elements of true intercession, using the passage from Luke 11:5-8, about the man who went to his friend's house at midnight to ask for bread. He highlights 6 points from these verses that are useful in preparing for intercessory prayer.
1. An urgent need
2. The willing love
3. The sense of impotence
4. The faith in prayer
5. The importunity that prevails
6. The certainty of a rich reward
There are "millions of unsaved souls living in midnight darkness...dying without the knowledge of Christ...neighbors and friends entrust to us--dying without hope."
It is not just the unsaved, but Christians too who are as indifferent as those who are unsaved. Murray describes them this way..."Millions in the Christian Church who know little of a walk in the light of God or in the power of a life fed by bread from heaven--living a sickly, feeble, and fruitless spiritual life."
Those we pray for may be either unsaved souls, dying without the knowledge of Christ, or Christians who know little of a walk in the light of God or in the power of a life fed by bread from heaven.
Pray for the unsaved souls, entrusted to us, living in the midnight darkness--dying without the knowledge of Christ." Pray that the Lord will reveal Himself to them, that they would know the one true God, creator of the heavens and the earth, who came in power to save the lost.
"It is the very nature of love to give up and forget self for the sake of others. It takes their needs and makes them its own, finding its real joy in living and dying for others, as Christ did."
As you prepare for intercessory prayer, ask God to make you willing and to help you experience the same joy in living and dying for others as Christ did.
It is essential that we understand our inability to give those we pray for what they need. Murray describes it this way... "I may have knowledge and truth, a loving heart, and the readiness to give myself for those under my charge, but I cannot give them the bread of heaven." We must understand that it takes a supernatural power to save men from sin. It is the "I have nothing" that urges him to pray. This is the essence of intercession. The simplest, weakest Christian can pray down blessing from an Almighty God."
Tell God that you recognize that you have nothing to offer. That you cannot give the person you are praying for the bread of heaven which is so desperately needed in their lives. Pray that He would pour down His supernatural power to save them from sin and feed them with the life giving bread of heaven.
We need a simple, confident faith that God will give us what we ask for in prayer. "In a thousand promises and testimonies, it [scripture] urges us to believe that prayer will be heard, that, through prayer, the poorest and weakest can dispense blessing to the needy, and that each of us, though poor, may yet be making many rich."
Pray that God will increase your faith and help you truly believe that your prayer will be heard and that He will act in response to your prayer.
"Blessed is the man who is not staggered by God's delay or silence or apparent refusal, but is strong in faith, giving glory to God. Such faith perseveres, importunately, if need be, and cannot fail to inherit the blessing." (The term "importunity" means a demand made repeatedly or insistently.)
Pray you will stay strong in your faith and give glory to God, even if you don't see His answer. We need to persist in prayer and not become discouraged.
This is divine assurance that our prayer cannot be in vain. If we can come to believe in God and His faithfulness, intercession will become the very first thing we take refuge in when we seek blessing for others, and the very last thing for which we cannot find time. It will become a thing of joy and hope, because, all the time we pray, we know that we are sowing seed that will bring forth fruit a hundredfold. Prayer opens the way for God Himself to do His work in us and through us. Let our chief work, as God's messengers, be intercession; in it, we secure the presence and power of God to go with us.
God is waiting for us to ask Him for help. As you prepare for intercession, pray that you will believe in God and His faithfulness. Visualize the seeds that are being sown in the person for which you are praying. Know that your prayer is opening the way for God Himself to do His work in and through you. I can't think of a greater privilege, can you?
Preparing for Prayer
