The Life of the
Intercessor
Charles and Sarah Faupel
Who is the man to whom God looks to
stand in the Gap? Where are those
through whom God lives to intercede? These are a people
being called to a time such as this. The life of the intercessor is not his or
her own. Their life is, first and
foremost, dedicated to God and is available for whatever purposes He may
determine. Beyond this, however, the
intercessor is one who takes on the sufferings of others—individuals, or
possibly even generations of individuals—for the purpose of facilitating God’s
ultimate purpose for their lives. This
is not an easy calling, and greatly misunderstood—often even by those who carry
this assignment.
Possibly the
primary reason that it is misunderstood is that we have been taught that
intercession simply consists of prayer.
We have been told that the intercessor is one who spends long hours in
prayer, preferably on his or her knees, beseeching the Lord for His
intervention in the life of an individual or situation. The longer we persevere in prayer, the more
effective the intercession. If that
prayer can be coupled with tears, it is even better. Intercession may, of course, involve hours of
fervent prayer, but prayer—particularly supplicatory prayer where we come
before God begging His intervention in the life of an individual or
situation—is not the essence of intercession.
The word
“intercede” comes directly from the Latin words inter which means “between,” and cedere which means “to go.” So then, to intercede is “to go
between.” It suggests serving as a
mediator between parties. One might
intercede with a boss, for example, on behalf of a fellow worker who was harmed
in some way in the work place. In so
doing, they may even jeopardize their own job.
One might also intercede by taking on the workload of a fellow worker if
they are given impossible deadlines, or if they become
sick and are not able to meet their quota.
Intercession, then, carries the idea of standing in the gap on behalf of
another person or persons. This is a
much more accurate understanding of intercession than the much more commonly
accepted understanding of “praying real hard.”
Indeed, it is much more costly than that. Intercession involves the taking on of the
burden, the pain, the suffering of another.
Let us begin this consideration by looking at the lives of two
intercessors in history.
Rees Howells[1]
Rees Howells
was an early twentieth century Welch missionary and founder of The Bible
College of Wales. From a fairly young
age, God had called him to a life of intercession. After spending some years in grueling battle
with the Lord which resulted in his finally submitting his will to God’s will,
the Lord began the process of emptying Rees Howells. He met a man who had been afflicted with
meningitis, and in that condition had turned to alcohol and became an outcast
in the community. Rees describes how the
Lord gave him an intense love for this man, and he began spending more and more
time with him, sacrificing for him, and ultimately seeing this man come to a
place of victory. This was the first of
many intercessory experiences that Rees Howells would encounter.
One of his
most dramatic experiences in intercession involved a woman stricken with
tuberculosis. As Rees was spending time
(months) in prayer over this woman, he was reminded of the Romans 8 (vs. 26-27)
passage, that the Holy Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will
of God. He came to the realization that
this intercession takes place through His earthly temples. Rees knew that he must enter into the
sufferings of this woman himself. As he
submitted to the Lord for intercession over this woman, he himself took on all
of the symptoms of her tuberculosis.
After months of abiding prayer and taking on the symptoms of
tuberculosis, Rees watched as this woman came to the point of death. It was then that the Lord said to him, “The intercession that you made was for a
tubercular. Now death has come. If she is to be delivered,
accept death in her place tonight” (Grubb,
1952, p. 93). Whew! What happened next has probably been
experienced by many intercessors to some extent or another:
It was an awful night, for I had lost
the face of God. That was the first
night I went to bed without prayer, and I made up my mind not to go any further
in this life of intercession…All that night I blamed myself that I had ever
started it. It would have been better, I
thought, if I had gone on in a life of faith and not
touched this question of healing.
I got up the next morning, not
intending to go to work, but I did not go on my knees—I could not face the Holy
Spirit; I felt He was a stranger to me…
That evening the Holy Spirit spoke to
me again. I shall never forget it. How sweet His voice was to me. He said, “you didn’t realize it was a
privilege I offered you yesterday…You were offered a place among the martyrs”…
A martyr is one who has voluntarily
shortened his life down here for the Savior’s sake, not merely one who dies in
the course of duty; and the Lord showed me that I was to be among that
number. I was afraid at first that I had
forfeited my chance through my unwillingness the night before. I begged the Lord to forgive me, and I would
gladly do what He asked me. I stepped
into death—but there was no death there!
I found that the Savior had drunk every drop of that cup for us (Grubb, 1952, pp. 93-94).
The tubercular woman did eventually die. When she learned that Rees Howells had been
willing to die in her place, she asked the Lord to take her home, that Rees was
still needed here on earth. The Lord did
take her home three months later. The
Lord then told Rees that while He had accepted his intercession,
His intention was for Rees to be a “living martyr.” Rees was to accept her death, and not to try
to explain or defend the Lord in it. It
looked like a failure, and certainly Rees Howells could not have understood
it. But he trusted the Lord.
Rees Howells would go on to intercede for many other
individuals and situations. Eventually,
the Lord would lead him to start the Bible School of Wales. Here, during World War II, Rees, along with
many of his students and faculty, were led to a prolonged period of
intercessory prayer which was instrumental in thwarting Hitler’s forward march
throughout Europe, and the course of history was changed. Howells had secured a position of spiritual
authority through his years of faithful intercession. When this man spoke, God moved. Indeed, God
spoke through this man and moved the world!
Jesus, the Ultimate
Intercessor
When we hear it said that Jesus was the ultimate intercessor,
the reference is usually to the fact that He paid the price for our sins. This is certainly the ultimate intercession
that one could make, though the understanding of His intercession on the cross
is often trivialized by modern day preachers.
We will return to this aspect of Jesus’ intercession shortly.
Jesus’ intercession was demonstrated before His ministry even
began during the forty days of temptation that He experienced. It was there in the wilderness that Jesus
faced all the temptations that we face in His three encounters with the devil:
the need for physical well-being; the lust for the treasures of the world; and
the challenge to prove His position by throwing Himself off the pinnacle of the
temple—in essence, to take into His own hands the proving of His worth. Let us be clear here—Satan did not come to
Him with fork in hand and horns protruding, taunting Him as an external
adversary, as a casual reading of that account in the context of the hyped
image of Satan that our culture has created might lead us to believe. Oh no!
The battle was being fought in Jesus’ mind. He was desperately hungry, and the thought of
food presented a fierce challenge to Jesus.
He knew who He was as the heir to all of the riches of the kingdom, and
it must have been a powerful temptation to take advantage of the shortcut that
Satan was offering him in that dry, parched wilderness in which He found
himself. We must know that Satan’s offer
of the kingdoms of the world posed an intense internal battle for our
Lord. The scriptural account provides
His ultimate victorious response, but it does not give us the details of the
internal war that was waged within Him.
But we can rest assured that there was one. Importantly, Jesus’ victory did not merely
represent His own personal victory that would qualify Him to receive the word, this is my
beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
Jesus was experiencing the struggle that all of us face. He was interceding for us during these forty
days, and in doing this He has gone before us as our forerunner in these
struggles that we all encounter in one capacity or another.
We also see the intercession of Jesus in the incident in the
temple when he overturned the tables of the money changers (John 2:13-17). Jesus was angry at the sight that He beheld
there. Understand that this practice of
selling animals for sacrifice was a long-held tradition in that day, and it was
understood as a service provided for those who did not have animals of their
own to bring for sacrifice. Those
providing this service were, of course, profiteers, who were quite richly
rewarded for their service. The text
says that the disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up (John 2:17). The Greek word here translated as “zeal” is zēlos,
and is translated elsewhere in scripture as “indignation” and “jealousy.” It suggests here an
indignation on behalf of the temple of God. Jesus is taking on the very anger of God at
the merchandizing that is taking place in His temple. This is not some fleshly anger that Jesus is experiencing—it
is a holy anger, the righteous jealousy of His Father for the ultimate
restoration of His temple. That temple
is ultimately you and I and all of creation, of course. Jesus
is, in this way, interceding on behalf of God Himself for the realization of
His purposes in the cleansing and restoration of His creation (His temple). This is a deep mystery indeed.
The ultimate intercession of Jesus was that which took Him to
Calvary. Whenever “the cross” is
preached from pulpits today, the message usually is something to the effect
that Jesus died for our sins, and that we must believe that fact and accept Him
as savior. Quite typically, the new
convert is then told that he or she is now expected to live a life free of sin,
and if they ever do slip into sin, they must go to God and seek forgiveness for
the infraction. Jesus will then go before the Father and intercede for the wandering soul,
much as a defense lawyer would go before a judge on behalf of his client. The intercession of Jesus on Calvary is thus
reduced to a bearing of the burden for our wayward actions, taking on the
penalty for sinful behavior because God is a just God Who must engage in
retribution for the horrible offenses that have been committed against
Him. Jesus is the scapegoat, bearing the
penalty for our sin so that we don’t have to.
This is a trivial, and even false
view of Jesus’ intercession on Golgotha’s hill.
Furthermore, it vilifies God Himself, making Him out to be a vengeful
tyrant Who insists on retribution for even the
slightest missteps of His creation. He
will not be appeased unless a penalty has been paid for those missteps. Jesus is the one who paid for those wrongs
committed. To add insult to injury, the
one for whom the price for those sins has been paid must take it upon
themselves to go to Jesus (or the Father Himself) and ask that the blood that Jesus shed that day be applied to his or
her giving in to lust, greed, anger, or whatever sinful thought or deed they
may have committed! If he or she fails
to ask for it, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross is of no effect. What an insult, and what a trivial
understanding of the intercessory work that Jesus accomplished in full on the
cross.
Jesus’ intercession on Calvary was complete. Through His obedience that day, He achieved
victory over sin once and for all. The
intercession that Jesus experienced on the cross was not merely accepting the
penalty for our sinful actions. Scripture
says that he actually became
sin: “For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). In becoming
sin, even though He knew no sin during His 33 years on earth, Jesus truly
became our intercessor. Here, in the
agony of the cross, He truly identified with us. He took on our very sinful nature. He became
us, in our sinful state. His total
obedience to the Father nailed that sinful nature to the cross. Sin itself has been done away with. We, who have all fallen short and have no
righteousness of our own are now made God’s righteousness. What a liberating reality!
But, you ask, why do I then struggle with sin? Why do we see so much evil in the world
today? Ah, Jesus’ intercession was not
complete with His death on the cross and taking sin to the grave. On the third day, the stone was rolled away
and Jesus emerged in resurrected life, complete with a glorified body. He would then ascend into the heavenly realm
to be glorified with the Father. We will
experience all of this. This is part of
Jesus’ intercession yet to be fully lived out in our experience. Jesus
established the reality of sin abolished, bodies glorified, and ultimately
ruling and reigning through His faithful intercession. That is our
reality, and we will experience it in ever increasing fullness until that day
when all tears are dried, and all fear is eradicated from the face of the
earth; until that day when the lion shall lay down with the lamb. In the meantime, we who are a part of His
body—and in particular, those of us through whom He will choose to intercede
(those who have been called to a life of intercession)—participate with Him as
intercessors bringing to pass the reality of His ultimate intercession in the
lives and situations in which we find ourselves today.
Walking the Life of
Intercession
The lives of these two men give us a sense of what it truly
means to be an intercessor. It involves,
first of all, identifying with the person or situation for which one is
interceding. Rees Howells was so moved
by compassion over the suffering that he encountered that he actually walked in
the shoes of those for whom he was interceding.
He would go without eating, in identification with the tramps who were hungry and without food. He took on the disease of the woman with
tuberculosis. It is one thing to pray
for an individual or situation, but it is quite another to actually take on the
sickness or hunger of that person. The
identification that is required of the intercessor may entail financial
distress, emotional upheaval of various sorts or even the suffering of
indignation by an unfaithful spouse as was the case, for example, with
Hosea. Hosea was experiencing the
grieving heart of Yahweh Himself, as Gomer represented unfaithful Israel. Yes, Hosea was sharing in the pain that God
Himself was carrying! Indeed, whenever
we intercede on behalf of another, we are interceding on behalf of God Himself,
as He suffers with those who are suffering.
The intercessor shares God’s very heart regarding the person or
situations for which he or she is interceding.
This requires truly identifying in one’s very experience the pain or
distress of that individual or circumstance.
Intercession is not a commitment that is to be taken
lightly. It is costly. Intercession almost always involves a level
of agony,
as we groan in our spirits, often not even understanding why. We know that Paul had this experience:
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, NKJV).
Anyone who has read the life of Rees Howells or other
intercessors readily recognizes the anguish that is part of the life of
intercession. For many, this anguish
involves experiencing extreme physical symptoms. Others are burdened with financial distress
or the loss of reputation in the community for the sake of those individuals or
situations for whom they are interceding.
Whatever the circumstance, intercession virtually always involves an
agony of the body and/or soul. At the heart
of this anguish, of course, is the death of our own self life, a death
voluntarily entered into on behalf of another.
We are certain that there are those reading these lines who have experienced the agony of intercession. Anyone, for example, who has experienced deep
grief on behalf of a brother or sister who has been sorely wronged or experienced
tragic loss, has, in that grief, been interceding on behalf of that brother or
sister. They are sharing in the burden
of that loss. There are those who experience emotional torment, including fear,
despair or even anger with no apparent or logical reason for their
distress. When we experience this
emotional turmoil, it is easy to assume that there is something wrong with us, that we might have made some misstep
along the way that needs to be repented of.
It is certainly prudent that we search our hearts before the Lord on
these matters. It may well be, however,
that the upheaval that we are experiencing is the bearing of a burden on behalf
of another—possibly someone whose name or face we do not even know. We are living in a time of unprecedented
chaos in the world, threatening the very future of the human race. People are responding to the uncertainty in
the world in a myriad of ways: some
through escaping into drug and alcohol addiction; others by throwing themselves
into their work, or perhaps hedonistic pleasures of various sorts. Still others find that ending their lives is
their only option. The Centers for
Disease control (2024) report that the suicide rate has increased some 36
percent between 2000 and 2021, and the agency estimates that there is about one
suicide death every 11 minutes in the United States. The heart of God aches deeply for the
suffering and the torment we see all around us in this time. Many who are called to a life of intercession
share in the suffering of a generation not knowing how to negotiate the terrain
of a chaotic, uncertain world. God is using the suffering of these to
ultimately free, and then reconcile the world to Himself.
Another aspect of intercession that makes it especially distressing
is that it is quite typically a hidden experience, and cannot be
shared with others; because of this, the intercessor is frequently not
understood by friends and family. Most
people, even in the church world, do not have a lens to understand what an
intercessor may be going through. They
are quick to recommend that he or she should consult a physician for the
physical symptoms that they are experiencing.
The intercessor experiencing mental anguish, irrational fear, depression
or other emotional chaos as they walk in the shoes of another individual for
purposes of their release, is most likely told that
they need to see a good counsellor. They
are often judged for some failing on their part when their finances collapse,
when their marriage falls apart, or their children go
astray. These are all situations that
people experience, and need deliverance from, of course. The intercessor, however, has made his or her
life available to God to walk in the very shoes of those in the grip of these
circumstances. These are distressing
circumstances that the intercessor has voluntarily taken on for purposes of
freeing others. Because intercession is
not understood by most, the experience of the intercessor is typically met with
great misunderstanding at best and downright enmity at worst.
It is agonizing enough to take on the torment or anguish of
another under any circumstance, made even more difficult when those near and
dear to us act much like Job’s friends who were looking for sin and missteps in
his life as the cause of his distress. The
experience of such suffering becomes even more acute when we don’t even know what
or who it is that we are interceding for.
It is one thing to intercede for another when we have knowledge of that
for which we are interceding. Often,
however, during the course of the battle, the intercessor does not have a clue
for what or whom he or she is suffering—another aspect of its hiddenness. This is often necessary for intercession to
truly be effective. Furthermore, if we are to experience the depth of the agony of
intercession, it will often be the case that we don’t even know that we are
interceding at the time that we are going through this travail! Only later does the Lord reveal the true
nature and purpose of our suffering. As
we endure the suffering and walk through it as though it were our own—for it
really IS our own in our conscious experience—we are carrying that individual
or situation through to the other side.
This aspect of the hidden nature of intercession is, in many cases, the
very thing that makes it effective in overcoming the strongholds in those for
whom we are interceding. Until the
purpose for which we are interceding has been revealed to us, all that we can
do is endure the suffering, trusting that the Lord is accomplishing His
purpose.
When the Lord does reveal His intercessory purpose for that
which we are experiencing, we are then uniquely positioned to take
authority over the specific stronghold
in whoever’s life or whatever situation for which we have been fighting. The Lord may reveal a particular individual
or individuals who are experiencing the irrational fears that you have been
feeling, not understanding why at the time.
We have become convinced over the years that many of God’s intercessors
have gone through humiliating, even shameful experiences which appear to those
on the outside as wanton acts of sin and depravity. This was a journey they did not understand and
even questioned themselves as to their own motives. Yet, they knew they had not lost their faith,
and they knew that they could do nothing else.
They were unable, of course, to explain these acts in any way that would
appear justifiable in the eyes of those under a law paradigm which has almost
universally infected the church system today.
God is using these individuals to break the curse of sin by shattering
the bondage of the law in their lives on behalf of a people that He is calling
forth in this hour. It is one thing to
preach and teach freedom from the law; there is quite another level of
authority gained as one walks in that
freedom, and from that place to proclaim it with the authority of heaven. Whatever circumstance that one walks through
as an intercessor, his or her faithfulness in enduring the pain, shame or
distress of that experience positions that dear saint to speak or act with
divine authority over the power of
darkness that has a stranglehold over the person or situation for whom he or she is interceding. This is the same standing that Jesus gained as
our intercessor by taking on the shame of sin of all humanity as His own—ultimately
taking Him to the cross.
There is, of course, an overcoming that is required on the
part of the intercessor to gain the ground necessary for the deliverance of the
one for whom he or she is interceding. There
are no textbook instructions for how to overcome. It is a curriculum that is taught by the
Great Professor Himself in the nitty gritty, day to day suffering that we
experience in the agony of intercession.
This is the process, whether our intercession takes on the form of
emotional turmoil, financial distress, physical suffering, loss of standing in
the community, or a myriad of other experiences.
The most natural response that one will have to the suffering
entailed in intercession is to assume that there is something wrong with him or
her, followed by a flurry of activity intended to correct the wrong. This might be followed with anger toward God
for bringing these untoward circumstances into his or her life. Eventually, we
come to a place of Sabbath rest, accepting that God is working something in
and/or through us, even though we do not understand what that is. He is establishing us confidently in Him, and
in the midst of the turmoil we are learning to walk and speak by faith, and not by sight or feeling. This is the grueling process of learning to
overcome. God is always faithful to
bring us to this place of ultimate victory.
Our responsibility is simply to endure.
Conclusion
This article
is written especially to those whom God has taken over to a life of
intercession. While we believe that all
who answer the call of God on their life will be given opportunities to
intercede for others in one capacity or another, there are some for whom this
is a focused calling in their life. The experiences and circumstances that you
encounter will be difficult and often hard to understand. The natural response will be to think that
you are backsliding, even losing your faith when there
seems to be no answer to your prayers for release.
The modern day church ill prepares one for this
assignment. We are told by preachers and
evangelists that Christ was the great intercessor, and all that we have to do
is to accept what He did on our behalf. Easy peasy. Our entrance into the Kingdom was, of course,
made possible by the intercessory sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. What modern day religion fails to understand,
at least for the most part, is that we, as the body of Christ, are called to
share in His sufferings. His work of
reconciliation will ultimately be carried out by His body of called-out ones
(His true ecclesia). That work of reconciliation will take many forms,
some of which fit very comfortably within the contemporary church paradigm. There are those, for example, who are called
to distribute food to the hungry or build houses for the poor. Others may be called to some form of
evangelism. These are callings that the
church today has more or less institutionalized, and those called to these
endeavors are guided through predefined channels for carrying out these
ministries. They are encouraged to join
and volunteer with organizations that feed the hungry. Would-be pastors or evangelists are directed
to denominational seminaries where they get credentialed and become agents for
hire in the church systems of today.
God is now calling forth a people to a much more
“undignified” calling.[2] True intercession falls into that category. The intercessor will not be understood most
of the time as he or she literally takes on the sufferings of others. We are confident that some who are reading
these lines have been called to a life of intercession in some capacity or
another. You have experienced things
that you have not understood, and have even become discouraged in your
walk. Do not become faint-hearted. You may well be struggling on behalf of
another. Know who you are in Christ and
stand on those truths that He has revealed to you throughout your journey in
Him. You are most blessed to be chosen
to carry His heart in this way. He is trustworthy, and will carry you through
to a place of overcoming victory—not only for you, but for that person or
situation for whom you may be interceding!
The Lord has been and is now building a company of
intercessors who must depend on one another to get the job of intercession done
for a generation of people yet to come through times of tribulation. These intercessors
may be in the blind as to the specifics of their mission, but the faith
required is most pleasing to God. We leave you with the word He shared with us
many years ago that we continue to hold onto today as we endure: “Unprecedented
intercession for an unprecedented move of God.” May you be encouraged and
strengthened in heart to finish your part with a larger body intercessors
committed to the task of unprecedented intercession for our day and time. We
stand with you!
REFERENCES
Centers for Disease
Control.
2024. “Facts About
Suicide.” Available online: https://www.cdc.gov/suicide/facts/index.html
Grubb, Norman. 1952. Rees
Howells Intercessor.
Philadelphia, PA: Christian
Literature Crusade.
Ruscoe, Doris. 1983. The Intercession of Rees Howells. Cambridge:
Lutterworth.