…the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us… – Romans 8:26, KJV

Working in his field in Asia, a missionary became aware of two very urgent issues back home. On a moment’s notice, he dropped his mission work in order to hop on a plane to the United States, and, during the flight, both issues weighed heavily on his mind.

When the missionary arrived in the States, he checked his emails. As he reviewed his inbox, he was stunned to find the following email from a friend:

The Lord laid you on my heart this morning. I get the feeling that you either are or soon will be facing an obstacle of some sort. Just wanted to let you know that The Lord has already overcome it for you. He laid this on my heart, I asked Him to remove the obstacle for you, and I know He will answer the prayer.

Looking at the time stamp on the email, the missionary realized that this message was sent while he was en route from Asia to the U.S.A., just when the burdens were heaviest. Upon understanding that God Himself was recruiting prayer warriors at his time of great need, the missionary’s heart warmed at this heavenly reminder: God IS in control, and all things work together for good to them that love God.

Romans 8:26-27 teaches us that, “the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God’s will.” Although He doesn’t have to, the Holy Spirit often does His pleading through human intercessors, and when He does, the obedience of the human intercessors is key to the prayer being answered.  As Ezekiel 22:30, Isaiah 59:16, and Psalm 106:23 attest, God’s protection of His people from trouble – even trouble He Himself intends to inflict as chastisement – is often dependent on the obedience, or lack thereof, of a human intercessor to plead for mercy and protection at the Holy Spirit’s prompting. The very fact that God Himself is seeking intercessors to stand in the gap between safety and destruction indicates that intercessors, when they obey His call to pray, will be heeded.

If you are going about your business and, out of nowhere, you get a burden to pray for someone, don’t brush it off. Drop what you are doing and pray as long or as short at the Holy Spirit prompts. At the time, you likely won’t understand why you’ve been prompted to pray. Later, when all the facts are in, it will make perfect sense. It will also dawn on you what a privilege it is to be recruited by God Himself to intercede for other people, and when that dawning comes, you will be humbled to the core. 

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