But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, – Jude 1:20 KJV

Some years ago, a young man was going about his business on a Saturday afternoon when, like a ton of bricks, he was hit with a burden to pray. The burden was specific, clear, and unmistakable: pray that the African-American teen near the front row would give his life to Christ. 

On that particular Saturday, an evangelistic ministry aimed at winning teenagers to Christ was holding a meeting in the western United States. The young man, who lived in the eastern United States, knew the meeting was being held, but he hadn’t given much thought to praying for the folks in attendance. When the burden hit him, however, he stopped what he was doing and prayed with great fervor for “the teen near the front row.” After 10-15 of uninterrupted pleading for the teen’s soul, the young man returned to his work. 

After the youth meeting was over, the young man emailed the evangelist to find out if there happened to be an African-American teen near the front row who had trusted Christ. When the evangelist wrote back, “Yes. Why do you ask?”, the young man realized that the Holy Spirit recruited him to intercede for a soul he’d never met before – and likely would never meet this side of Eternity. 

As yesterday’s post explains:

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…

The question is, “Why does God bother?” Why does God bother to enlist intercessors, like the young man above, who have no idea why they’ve been called on by the Holy Spirit to pray? It’s not like the Holy Spirit needs our help. As Isaiah 59:16 indicates, God looks for intercessors, but even when He doesn’t find one, He moves forward with His agenda without missing a beat. So why go to the trouble of recruiting intercessors in the first place. The answer is in Jude 1:20.

When the Spirit prompts us to join Him in interceding for the souls of others, our faith is significantly strengthened once we learn that our prayers have been answered. This strengthening occurs anytime God answers prayer, but it occurs even more so when the Spirit supernaturally burdens us to pray for people and for situations we cannot possibly have knowledge of. When we learn later that those people and those situations were real and that God resolved them in accordance with how we were told to pray, we experience firsthand how real and how in control the Supernatural Governor of Creation truly is.

Lord willing, you will regularly experience the supernatural call of the Holy Spirit to pray for a need you cannot possibly know about. When you have chances to enjoy that privilege, don’t misinterpret those chances to mean that you are something special spiritually. None of us are. Instead, realize that God gives you such opportunities in order to build your faith in His existence and in His power, and through those opportunities, you will not only assist the souls of others, you will have the added benefit of growing closer to Christ.

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