Prayer Secret #10
The Intercessory Ministries of
Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit
 his next powerful prayer secret is one that is
being given to us in three different verses. As you will
see in these next three verses, both Jesus Christ and the
Holy Spirit have a very powerful intercessory prayer
ministry for each and every born-again believer.
As a born-again child of the most high
God, not only do we have the right to be able to approach God
for either ourselves or someone else we may be praying for, but
we also have the right to ask both Jesus and the Holy Spirit to
help intercede directly for us or for someone else that we may
be praying for.
In other words, not only can we step in the gap and
intercede and pray for someone else for whatever their prayer
need may be, but we can also ask both Jesus and the Holy Spirit
to step into the gap and pray for us and with us to God the
Father on that specific prayer request.
If God the Father can be moved to answer some of our
own personal prayers that are prayed direct to Him all by
ourselves, can you imagine how much more success we would
all have in our prayer life with Him if we ask both Jesus
and the Holy Spirit to pray for us and with us on certain
prayer assignments?
Here are the three powerful verses where this specific
revelation is being given to us by the Lord:
- Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and
furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of
God, who also makes intercession for us." (Romans
8:34)
- "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost
those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to
make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:25)
- "Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For
we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but
the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the
hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He
makes intercession for the saints according to the will of
God." (Romans 8:26-27)
The first two verses are referring to Jesus' intercessory
ministry that He has for each of us and the third verse is
referring direct to the Holy Spirit Himself. Notice in the
first and third verses the exact same words are being used in
reference to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Those same exact words
are that They both "make intercession for us."
In the Gospels of the New Testament, Jesus specifically
tells us that we are to pray direct to God the Father if we
have any specific prayer needs. We are not to pray direct to
Jesus, the Holy Spirit, or to any dead saints who are living in
heaven. We are to only pray direct to God the Father in the
name of Jesus if we have any specific prayer requests.
These three verses are giving us an incredible
revelation in that not only should all born-again believers
pray direct to God the Father, but that Jesus and the Holy
Spirit will also be praying direct to God the Father for
all of us as well.
And if Jesus and the Holy Spirit will also pray
direct to God the Father for all of us, then this means we
can approach both Jesus and the Holy Spirit from time to
time to personally ask Them to pray for us and with us on a
particular prayer request.
When you sum it all up, I believe the above three verses are
giving us 5 key pieces of revelation that we can use in our own
personal prayer life with the Lord. Here are the 5 key pieces
of revelation put under the following appropriate captions.
1. Jesus Christ Makes Intercession For Us
The first two verses are directly referring to Jesus Christ.
When the Bible tells us that Jesus will "make intercession
for us," there are some who do not believe that this should
be interpreted literally.
Their interpretation of the words that Jesus will "make
intercession for us" is that it is not referring to Jesus
making or offering any specific prayers to God the Father on
our behalf. Their definition of the word "intercession" is that
it is only referring to Jesus remaining in the presence of God
as our High Priest.
In other words, Jesus as our Redeemer and High Priest, now
sits at the right hand of God the Father in a position of power
and authority, and as such, we can pray direct to God in Jesus'
name as an intercessor for someone else, but we are not to ask
or expect Jesus to pray for us or with us. Jesus' sacrificial
death on the cross has now opened up the gates to heaven and to
the very throne of God Himself. As a result, we can now go and
pray direct to God Himself with any specific prayer requests
that we may have for Him.
However, myself and many other noted Bible scholars do not
agree with this symbolic interpretation of the phrase that
Jesus will "make intercession for us." We believe that these
words are meant to be taken very literally.
In other words, if these two verses are telling us that
Jesus will make intercession for us, then we should take this
statement as a literal statement and believe that Jesus will
literally, not symbolically or figuratively, but literally make
direct intercession for all of us from time to time.
In other words, Jesus will be praying direct to God the
Father on our behalf as different needs and circumstances
arise in our lives.
The obvious key word in these three verses is the word
"intercession." Here are several definitions from some
of the different Bible Dictionaries as to what the word
"intercession" means:
- Prayer offered in behalf of others
- To assail with urgent petitions, entreating God for
His favor
- The act of petitioning God or praying on behalf of
another person or group
- To reach, to meet someone, to pressure or urge
someone strongly
- The act of intervening or mediating between
differing parties, particularly the act of praying to God
on behalf of another person
All of these definitions are showing us that whenever a
person is interceding for another person before God the Father,
they are literally praying for that other person and
whatever his special prayer need may be at the time.
So when these verses are telling us that Jesus Himself will
be making direct intercession for us, then I believe this is
showing us that Jesus has a very special role as an actual
Intercessor for all of us, and that He too will actually
pray direct to God the Father for all of us from time to
time.
2. The Holy Spirit Makes Intercession For Us
Not only can Jesus Christ pray and intercede for all of us
from time to time before God the Father, but the last verse
tells us that the Holy Spirit Himself can also pray and
intercede for all of us from time to time as different needs
and circumstances arise in our personal lives.
With the third verse on the Holy Spirit using the exact same
words as it does with Jesus in that He too will "make
intercession for us," then I believe the same principles of
interpretation should be used on this verse and that we should
also interpret this verse very literally.
In other words, we should interpret this verse that the Holy
Spirit Himself can literally intercede and pray direct to God
the Father for all of us from time to time.
This means that both Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit can
now become our actual prayer Partners and prayer Allies from
time to time depending on what we are praying for to God the
Father.
3. We Can Now Ask Jesus and the Holy Spirit to Intercede
For Us
With all three verses telling us that both Jesus and the
Holy Spirit can directly pray and intercede for all of us, what
this means is that there are now two basic scenarios where this
type of intercession will come into play as far as we are
personally concerned. This will be another revelation that will
be like looking at a two-sided coin.
The one side of the coin, which will be the first scenario,
will be when Jesus and the Holy Spirit will pray and intercede
for us before God the Father and we will never know that They
are actually doing it for us. With Jesus and the Holy Spirit
both being God and Lord Themselves, They both can see perfectly
into our futures and will know exactly what all of our futures
will be holding for us down to the very smallest of
details.
As a result of perfectly knowing what will lie ahead of us
in our futures, this means They can both pray and intercede for
us before God the Father to stop any possible impeding
tragedies that may be getting ready to strike us. And not only
can They both pray direct to God to stop any possible impending
tragedies from striking us, but They can also pray direct to
God to help us with any problems or adverse situations that we
may have already fallen into. In other words, They can both
pray direct to God for our deliverance out of any of these bad
situations.
Until we get to heaven and we enter into the Judgment Seat
of Christ where our whole life will be reviewed, we will never
know for sure how often and how many times Jesus and the Holy
Spirit had been praying and interceding for us before God the
Father to either prevent bad things from happening to us, or
praying for our deliverance after we had already fallen into a
bad situation.
But with the above three verses telling us that both
Jesus and the Holy Spirit can pray and intercede directly
for us before God the Father, then you know They both have
a very active and powerful intercessory prayer ministry for
each and every born-again believer. This should give great
comfort and great peace to all believers that the second
and third Persons of the triune Godhead have all of us in
their thoughts and in their prayers to God the
Father.
But this will now lead us to the second possible scenario
with this revelation from the Lord, which will be the other
side to this same coin. Not only is Jesus and the Holy Spirit
praying and interceding for all of us from time to time without
us ever being aware of it, but I believe this revelation will
now open up a whole new realm that many believers have never
thought of before. And this will be the prayer secret of this
article.
This prayer secret is that from time to time,
depending on exactly what we are praying for to God the
Father, we can literally ask both Jesus Christ and the Holy
Spirit to pray for us and with us on a particular prayer
request before God the Father. In other words, we will be
asking both Jesus and the Holy Spirit to become our prayer
Partners and prayer Allies on some of our personal prayers
to God the Father.
Just as we can ask other believers to pray for us and with
us from time to time, we can also do the exact same thing with
both Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Except with Jesus and the Holy
Spirit on our side, we will literally have God Almighty on our
side since both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are both God and Lord
Themselves.
Just think how many more of your personal prayers
might be able to get answered with God the Father if you
have both Jesus and the Holy Spirit praying for you and
with you on some of your personal prayer requests!
4. Praying According to the Will of God
Though you can ask both Jesus and the Holy Spirit to pray
for you and with you from time to time, you also have to be
very careful when you try and use this powerful prayer secret.
In the third verse above about the Holy Spirit Himself making
direct intercession for us - note how the very last sentence
ends.
The last part of the last sentence states that the Lord
"makes intercession for the saints according to the will of
God."
The key words to hone in on are that the Lord makes
intercession for us "according to the will of God." In
other words, the Holy Spirit is not going to be praying and
interceding for you unless the prayer request is in the will of
God for your life.
If the prayer request is not in the will of God for your
life, then neither Jesus or the Holy Spirit will be praying for
you, and you will thus be wasting both Their time and your time
if you try and pressure Them to pray for something that God
does not want to bring your way in the first place.
So how do you know if a certain prayer request is going to
be in the will of God for your life? This will now lead us
right into the next caption.
5. The Holy Spirit Will Help You With Your Prayer Life
In the third verse above on the Holy Spirit, the first two
sentences are giving us another powerful piece of revelation on
this whole topic. The key words are:
"Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.
For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought ..."
(Romans 8:26)
This powerful piece of revelation is telling us that we are
not always going to know exactly what to pray for or exactly
how to pray for it. As a result of our "weakness" in
this area, we have to learn how to rely on the Holy Spirit on
not only what to pray for, but exactly how to pray for it.
This is something that every believer will have to learn on
their own through a process of trial-and-error with the Holy
Spirit. You will have to learn how to be guided and led by Holy
Spirit, not only in your own personal prayer life, but also
with the other parts of your life as well.
This is a skill which can be learned if you are really
wanting to learn how to do this with the Lord. The Holy Spirit
Himself will show you and teach you how to become very
sensitive to His movements within your being you so that you
can learn how to become very adept in discerning when it is Him
really moving in you and exactly what He is trying to lead you
to do.
Once you start to become more sensitive to His movements
within you, and then you are able to start pick up and read
what He is trying to tell you to do, then you will really be
able to use this principle in your private prayer life with the
Lord.
The Holy Spirit will be able to let you know whether or not
a particular prayer request should even be brought before the
Lord for His consideration. In other words, He will let you
know if your personal prayer request will be in the will of God
for your life.
If the Holy Spirit tells you that your personal prayer
request is not in the will of God for your life, and you can
pick that up ahead of time from Him, then you will end up
saving yourself many hours of wasted prayer time praying for
something that God was not wanting to bring your way in the
first place.
And not only can the Holy Spirit guide you and lead you as
to what to pray for and what not to pray for, but He can also
guide you as to how to word your prayers to God the Father and
exactly what kinds of angles and points of view to key in on
with your specific requests.
There are times that I believe you will have more success
with God in your prayer life if you can learn how to be very
specific with some of your prayer requests and approach Him
from the right angles and the right points of view.
Example - say you are asking God to lead you to the soul
mate of His choice for your life. The right angle and the
correct point of view on this request is not to try and tie God
down with who you think may be best suited for you. You may be
dating a person and you may think this person is your true soul
mate. But the way to correctly word your prayer to God on this
person is to ask Him to let you know if this person is the
right one for you and if this person is the one that He has
specifically chosen for you.
Some people will try and force their hand with God on this
issue and they will ask Him to try and make the other person
love them and commit to marrying them. Instead of trying to
pressure God to make this person love them and marry them, they
should be asking God if this person is the one that He has
personally picked out for their lives.
If God comes back and tells you this person is not the one
that He has in store for you, then you will have to let that
person go and wait until God leads you to the right person that
He has personally picked out for you.
I have seen numerous Christians force their hand with God on
this particular issue, and when God would not come back with
the answers they were wanting, they went ahead and married the
people they were dating and were divorced shortly thereafter
because they ended up marrying people that were not in the will
of God for their lives. And the vital mistake they made was in
the way they were wording their prayers to the Lord.
Instead of asking God to render His opinion as to whether or
not this person was the right one for them, they were trying to
force God to make that person be the right one for them instead
of being open to what God's true opinion really was on the
matter. If these people would have learned how to become more
sensitive to the leadings of the Holy Spirit, they could have
picked it up from Him ahead of time that they were approaching
God from the wrong angle and the wrong point of view.
If you can learn how to be led by the Holy Spirit in your
personal prayer life with the Lord, here are some of the
specific things that He will be able to help you out with:
- What to pray for
- What not to pray for
- How to word your prayers to God
- What particular Scripture verses to use in your
prayers
- The timing factor - exactly when to pray for
something
- The correct battle strategies to use
- The correct angle and point of view to approach God
with
- How many times to pray to God for the
request
- How long to stay with the prayer request
- Whether or not to call in other believers to pray in
agreement with you
- Whether or not there is anything else that you will
need to do on your end before God will grant the prayer
request
All of the above are major factors that will come into play
on some of your personal prayer requests to the Lord. And if
you can get answers from the Holy Spirit on some of these
factors before you start to pray, you will go a very long way
in being able to get more of your personal prayers answered
with the Lord.
Conclusion
Put the above three verses together like pieces to a jigsaw
puzzle, and I believe that God the Father is giving all of us a
very power secret to use in our own personal prayer life with
Him.
Not only is Jesus and the Holy Spirit praying and
interceding for all of us without us ever being consciously
aware of it, but I believe the Lord is also telling us that we
can specifically ask both Jesus and the Holy Spirit to
intercede and pray for us from time to time on some of our
personal prayer requests to Him.
I have personally found myself using this prayer secret when
I have something that is on the heavier side. You will see this
prayer secret incorporated into some of the battle prayers that
I had drawn up for others in the Testimonies and Spiritual Warfare section of our
site.
You simply ask both Jesus and the Holy Spirit to pray for
you and with you on your specific prayer request to God the
Father. Quote the above three verses back to Them and ask Them
to take this prayer assignment up with you.
What this means is that the three of you will now go before
God the Father with your specific petitions and requests. In
other words, both Jesus and the Holy Spirit will be praying in
agreement with you on your specific prayer request to God the
Father - just like you would have other believers do with you
in the prayer of agreement that was talked about in Prayer Secret #6.
If you are truly praying in the will of God on a particular
prayer request, and then you ask both Jesus and the Holy Spirit
to join forces with you as your prayer Partners and prayer
Allies in your petitions to God the Father - then I believe you
will dramatically increase your chances of having God the
Father answer your specific prayer request.
This is a very heavy torpedo to add to your personal prayer
arsenal with the Lord. Do not be afraid to pull this heavy
torpedo out and try it out with the Lord if you ever find
yourself approaching Him with a heavier type of prayer request.
It could be the strategy that will end up making the difference
as to whether or not you end up pulling down that major miracle
from the Lord.
 Click here for reprint information
Intercessory Prayer - Prayer Secret
7
Ask - Seek -
Knock - Prayer Secret #5
Do Not Lose
Heart - Prayer Secret #9
Michael Bradley
Bible Teaching and
Bible Commentary,
Over 150 Free Bible
Lessons
Scripture taken from New King James
Version.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2005-2008 by Michael Bradley.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5
License.
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