Talk Tuesday-Intercessory Prayer

There is such power in intercessory prayer. It is the act of praying to the Lord GOD on behalf of someone else. As I was meditating on the scriptures in Exodus and Deuteronomy, I was both moved and amazed by the power of intercessory prayer, as exemplified by Moses.

After the Israelites crossed the Red Sea by the awesome power of God's mighty hand, they encamped in Horeb. Moses went up on the Mount of Horeb (Deut. 4:10-13), also known as Mount Sinai (Exodus 19), for forty days and forty nights, where the LORD gave him the Ten Commandments. During this time, the people said to Aaron, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him,” Exodus 32:1. They stripped off all their gold, boiled it down and built the golden calf. “They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt,’” Exodus 32:8. God's anger burned against them, “ 'I have seen these people,' the Lord said to Moses, 'and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation,'” Exodus 32:9-10. Moses responds by interceding on their behalf.

“I lay prostrate before the Lord those forty days and forty nights because the Lord had said he would destroy you. I prayed to the Lord and said, “O Sovereign Lord, do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.” Deuteronomy 9:25-26

“Now I had stayed on the mountain forty days and nights, as I did the first time, and the Lord listened to me at this time also. It was not his will to destroy you. 'Go,' the Lord said to me, 'and lead the people on their way, so that they may enter and possess the land that I swore to their fathers to give them.'” Deuteronomy 10:10-11.

Moses' intercessory prayer changed the course of events for the people of Israel. Prayer changes things. It was Jesus who, while on the cross, prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,” Luke 23:34. If you are praying for a loved one, do not stop. If you are praying for a nation, do not stop. If you are praying for the lost, do not stop. If you are praying for the sick, do not stop. Always remember to pray in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, who lives to intercede for us.

“Now there have been many of those priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.” Hebrews 7:23-25