I am profoundly impacted by the story of the American evangelist, DL Moody, who prayed daily for 100 of his friends to come to know Christ. A man so devout, so committed and full of faith that the Lord would move powerfully in response to this act of intercession. Incredibly, 96 of these friends surrendered their lives to Jesus before he died and the remaining four did so at his funeral! What an incredible testimony of the power of God through prayer.
So often we can be praying for something without really believing that the Lord can change the circumstances dramatically. We can easily give up praying because we feel weary, believe it’s never going to happen or even stop caring. Moody loved his friends so much that he kept on praying again and again for their salvation. I’m challenged afresh over my heart response and level of faith in intercession.
In Acts 12, James, the brother of John, has just been put to death by Herod, who proceeded to seize Peter as well and put him into prison (Acts 12:2 – 3). The disciples must have thought that Peter would be murdered too but they gather to “earnestly pray to God for him” (12:5). The Lord then powerfully intervenes on behalf of his people and miraculously delivers Peter out of chains, a locked gate, and the guards (12:6 – 10). The servant girl Rhoda announces that “Peter is at the door!” They don’t believe it, declaring, “you’re out of your mind!” (12:13 – 15). He has to keep on knocking until they eventually realise it is genuinely him at the door! Just because something might seem impossible to us, doesn’t mean we should stop praying in faith and believing for it. The Lord reminds us often that He truly is the God of the impossible.
I remember preaching at a church where they had two large digital screens on the wall and on the screens were lots of different names. The first screen had many more names than the second. The minister began to read the notices and eventually he came to refer to the screens and the names: the first one was a list of everyone the church was praying for to come to faith, the second screen listed all those who had met Jesus. Suddenly there was an eruption of joy as four names were moved from the first screen to the second as they had become Christians in the last couple of weeks. It was such an encouragement to the church to witness their corporate prayers leading to transformation to individual lives.
This model at the church stayed with me because of the fact that other people were praying for individuals they didn’t know – so often we intercede by ourselves and yet there is such power in praying together. In Matthew 18:19 – 20 Jesus says, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.” I’d imagine that as those names came into the body of Christ there was already a sense of connection and relationship because of the intercession offered on their behalf.
Intercession in its essence is simply praying on behalf of others – it’s not complicated. The question is who, and what, are we pressing in with prayer for? Maybe there are others who need to join us in praying for what we are longing for. Let’s be those who ask and believe that transformation is possible by the power of His mighty hand. Perhaps we should all be a bit more like D L Moody and start a daily prayer list of our own too.
"Just because something might seem impossible to us, doesn’t mean we should stop praying in faith and believing for it."
