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
