What is God asking us to do? God asks us to “stand in the gap” between Himself and people, to bring their needs before Him and to ask boldly! “I looked for someone among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land…”   ——Ezekiel 22:30 NIV

There’s no bigger need, than to know the Living God, to declare Jesus to be Lord and Savior, to repent and come clean before God, and to allow His Holy Spirit to fill us, lead us and transform us from the inside out. He calls us to intercede in this way on behalf of all people. “I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them. Pray this way for kings and all who are in authority so that we can live peaceful and quiet lives marked by godliness and dignity. This is good and pleases God our Savior, who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth.” 1 Timothy 2:1-4 NLT

The Father, Son and Holy Spirit show us how to intercede. Both Jesus and the Holy Spirit plead and intercede for us to the Father!  Isn’t this remarkable?  We have the high privilege to participate in God’s intercession plan for people! “Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.”  ——Romans 8:34 NLT

The Holy Spirit prays for us in accordance with God’s will!  As we are filled with the Holy Spirit, He informs us specifically what to pray for and when to pray.

Yesterday, I sensed the Holy Spirit prompting me to ask my high school buddies to pray for one of our classmates who’d recently returned to work following some heart surgeries.  Several weeks earlier we had all prayed for strength for his return.  But yesterday, “out of the blue,” I felt directed by the Holy Spirit, to gather at his house with other classmates and pray for healing for him.  My classmate welcomed the idea, so through an email invite, a number us planned to meet at his home and pray for him. 

However, suddenly this morning we got the news he had to go to ER the eve before our planned visit.  Instead of trying to get all of us together PHYSICALLY (impossible), God was leading us to pray from wherever we were, at the same time. So we agreed in prayer over God’s promises for our friend and continue to trust in those promises.

The Holy Spirit is teaching us moment by moment how to effectively intercede!

“And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.”  ——Romans 8:26-27 NLT

How big can we pray?  We can ask God for HUGE things on another’s behalf, or something seemingly insignificant, which is not at all insignificant to God. “Ask, using my name, and you will receive, and you will have abundant joy.”   ——John 16:24 NLT

Here are some real examples to pray for others:  

• That the move-in process of a college student would go smoothly
• That the breast milk of a mom would come in, for her newborn child
• For God’s favor for a young man at his work
• For a godly husband, for a lady
• For an “empty nest” couple to grow closer, not further apart
• That the Lord would locate a lost item
• For God to heal a person with a “terminal” illness
• For a pre-born child with severe health issues to live
• For the sun to come out more
• For freedom from a bad habit (an addiction?)

We can pray Scriptural promises back to God.  There are hundreds of promises in Scripture that God has given us.  We often are content to live as “beggars,” reading Scripture as simply an inspirational book, or worse, a history book of how God treated people in the past. Rather, Jesus wants us to take to heart what he did and said, and to know it is for us today – to rightfully receive the inheritance he earned on the cross for us, his precious, adopted sons and daughters!  (Ephesians 1:11)

Here are just a few promises:

• “For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding “Yes!” And through Christ, our “Amen” (which means “Yes”) ascends to God for his glory.”  ——2 Corinthians 1:20 NLT
• “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”  ——Matthew 11:28 NLT
• “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.”  ——Acts of the Apostles 16:31 NLT
• “I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.”   ——Mark 11:24 NLT
• “He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.”  ——1 Peter 2:24 NLT

How he lavishes his love on us!  

Putting it together on a wall.  What if we “build” an actual WALL of Intercession?  Can you spare a part of a wall or maybe an entire wall at home or work?  Start by taking down everything so you have a “clean slate.”  Begin by pinning up pictures of the people God places on your heart.  Then print up the words of His Scriptural promises, and pin those up around the pictures.  When you marry the biblical promises with people’s pictures, spiritual fireworks go off inside of us and in heaven!  We get very specific in our prayers.  We get very personal.  We get audacious.  And we get more expectant of God.  He loves that!

May you develop new eyes of faith to see and pray as God leads, in Jesus’ name.

Here's an example of how you might arrange pics and verses on your wall. They can simply be tacked on your wall, printed on regular paper, laminated, framed or left unframed.