As believers, we know that it is very important that we have a prayer life. The dictionary defines prayer as a petition or earnest request to God in words or thoughts. Yeshua had a prayer life. He would go out all night by Himself and pray. But do we know that we must also have a life of intercession? Do we understand what intercession is and how it works? The disciples asked the Lord to teach them to pray. It is time we cry out to Yeshua to teach us to intercede.

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Show Notes:

We know that Yeshua prayed for Peter, that his faith would not fail him when Peter was getting ready to be tested. But we also recognize that when Yeshua went to the cross and laid his life down, that was not a prayer. He was not praying for our sins to be removed from us. He interceded on our behalf that sin would be removed from us.

We see a beautiful example of intercession in the life of Moses. Moses laid his eternity on the line: “I am asking you for You to forgive this sin, but this is not just a prayer. I am saying that if you will not forgive their sin, then please blot my name out of Your book of life along with them.” Paul was also ready before God to lay down his life and even his eternal salvation in order to see Israel saved. Paul said, “I would wish myself accursed.” This is different than praying. This is interceding. This is putting yourself between God and that individual and seeking a different outcome.

This is literally what Christ did. He came and put Himself between us and God. He put Himself in a place of being cursed by God so that mankind might be reconciled. This is intercession. And God is calling the Body of Christ—like Moses, like Paul, like Yeshua—to move into this ministry of intercession.

Key Verses:

• 2 Corinthians 5:18. “God … reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation.”
• James 2:13. “Mercy triumphs over judgment.”
• Exodus 32:5–10. “I will make of you a great nation.”
• Exodus 32:30–33:5. “Forgive their sin—and if not, please blot me out.”
• Exodus 32:11–14.“So the Lord changed His mind.”
• Romans 9:1–5. “For I could wish that I myself were accursed.”
• Galatians 3:13. “Christ redeemed us … having become a curse for us.”
• Luke 23:33. “They crucified Him.”
• Hebrews 7:24–25. “Jesus … always lives to make intercession for them.”
• Romans 8:26. “The Spirit Himself intercedes for us.”
• Romans 8:21. “The creation itself also will be set free from its slavery.”
• John 13:34. “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another.”
• 1 John 3:14–19. “Because we love the brethren.”
• John 15:12–15. “This is My commandment, that you love one another.”

Quotes:

• “You cannot judge someone and intercede for them at the same time.”

• “I know that God is going to honor Moses, He is going to honor Paul, and He is going to honor Yeshua in His intercession for His people, and so we will see the salvation of the Jewish people in a miraculous way.”

• “God is on the throne, but at His right hand is a Son saying, ‘Father, forgive them; Father, forgive them,’ constantly exercising the work of the cross on our behalf to see that we are forgiven on a daily basis, because as humans, we fail and fall short time after time.”

Takeaways:

1. We must each ask ourselves not only if we pray, but if we are intercessors.

2. We must each ask ourselves if we will intercede for the reconciliation between God and His chosen people. This is a real issue for us today as we see the growth of anti-Semitism in the world and in the church.

3. We must each ask ourselves how we will walk in the ministry of reconciliation for the rest of the world if we will not give ourselves to intercede for the seed of Abraham. Yeshua gave us the Great Commission to make disciples of all the nations. The only way we can accomplish this is through intercession that brings reconciliation.

4. We must each ask the Lord to give us the love that He had as He went to the cross, so that by faith we can also lay down our lives to see mercy triumph over judgment.