I am reminded of something I read a long time ago that I didn’t understand then, and I don’t really understand it totally now. Isaiah 59:16 says, "He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; and His own righteousness, it sustained Him." The thing that really catches my attention is this idea that God wondered. That fascinates me. That an all-knowing God "wondered." I could spend time speculating about exactly what was meant, but one thing that comes through to me is that somehow God thought that there should be an intercessor. The rest of the verse goes on to explain that because of this, God determined to bring salvation and to send a Savior to be an intercessor for mankind. But there is still that initial concept that God wondered. I find myself wondering, is God wondering about us today, that there are so few intercessors among us?

I can remember having a discussion as a new Christian with several people about prayer. All of us had our opinions, and none of us really knew very much, but we were discussing the point in prayer. What is the point? God already knows everything. Sometimes we give God a list of things as though He didn’t know them. It seems to me that the purpose of prayer isn’t to get God to do something, the purpose of prayer is to keep us connected to God so that we recognize who we are, in relationship to Him. Let’s be honest, we’re pretty much insignificant specks. Even though human life is terribly important, when it comes to doing anything in this world, we need God. When we have a bad day, we sense we really need God. When we have a really good day sometimes we forget we still need God. We can’t make it on our own. God wondered that there was no intercessor. This statement was made hundreds of years before the coming of Christ, before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Romans 8:26 says, "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." We live in fellowship with God as the Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts. The purpose of our prayers is to keep us connected in right relationship with God, and to recognize our place before Him. We need His help. The best sermon I ever heard, that made the biggest impact to me, was when the preacher started out by saying, "The best place any Christian can ever be, is to be totally destitute, and totally dependant on God, and know it." Interestingly enough, if you really see the world picture, and you see yourself in that world, we are always totally destitute. If your bank account has $10 million in it, if you really understand your situation in this world, you are always destitute because there is never enough to do all the things that need to be done. There is always a need for God. It’s a blessing to just be in a place where we are reminded of how helpless we are, and how much we need God, and His direction. It gives me confidence to know that as I pray to God, in my poor stumbling fashion, the Holy Spirit who dwells within also makes intercession for me and interprets my prayers to the Father in such a way that they are meaningful. Sometimes we ask God for things that, if we only knew the whole picture, we’d probably be aware of the fact that what we’re asking for is the worst thing that could ever happen to us. God protects us through the Holy Spirit by interpreting our prayers to the Father in such a way that they come out for our good.

I Timothy 2:5 says that, "there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus." The fact that God wondered that there was no intercessor was before these truly great promises that our Savior made concerning prayer. God wondered back in the time of Isaiah. He wondered at the folly and unbelief of His people in neglecting such an apparently obvious thing. Similarly, Mark 6:6 says that Jesus, "marveled" because of the unbelief of some of those in His own territory. It’s interesting that those guilty of the unbelief were not particularly believers at all. Yet Jesus marveled that they did not believe. They should have believed on the basis of what they had seen Him do. Some of them saw no reason why they should listen to Him. The very fact that He was even speaking with such authority irritated them, and caused them to have a bad attitude toward Him. I’m suggesting that God looks at us as individuals and perhaps wonders why we don’t intercede more for the needs around us.

Not to pray is a sin against ourselves, our fellow man, and toward God. You used to see everywhere the motto, "Prayer Changes Things." Something like that can seem so trite. But it’s been proven over and over again, that prayer does change things! As we think about intercessory prayer we can get caught up in the mechanics. In the discussion regarding prayer I referred to earlier, I remember one of the suggestions made was that you should just sum up everything in one prayer. If God answers prayer then make an all encompassing prayer. Pray for God to save everybody in the world, heal everybody in the world, stop all the wars, and make perfect peace all over – today. But you know what? I couldn’t really pray a prayer like that with faith. It’s kind of meaningless. We should always pray for world peace etc., but I don’t think we really pray sincerely to the Lord, with faith, unless those prayers become personal. I think we have to pray for specific individuals and circumstances. After we have prayed for our family, neighbors, and all the rest, then I think we can begin to move to a place where maybe we could pray a prayer for the world that would have some meaning. But for the most part I think we have to focus on specific needs, individuals, and situations.

I don’t think our Lord has ever given an optional command. So many times we seem to take commands from God in the Scripture as though they were just advisories. You’ve seen the ten commandments quoted in such a way as they are the "ten suggestions." God does not relate to us in this way. God does not give an optional command. He actually means for us to follow through on the commands that He gives. The three great commands in Scripture are pray, do, and go. You can weave another one in, and that is to be. It is important not only to pray, 

not only to do, not only to go, but it is important to be. Many times we tend to emphasize the doing and the going, but not the praying. As an encouragement for intercessory prayer consider that these are commands, and the importance of obedience. We need to pray for the fulfillment of God’s purpose in all men. Just knowing "He ever liveth to make intercession for us," that He is our mediator, the man Christ Jesus, should be a powerful incentive to prayer. Jesus makes intercession for us and it should encourage us in our intercession to know that He takes our prayers to the Father in more meaningful ways than we can.

I am reminded of the exciting story from Scripture of Moses on the Mount, praying for the troops of Israel that were involved in actual combat. The Word tells us that Moses was to stand and hold up his arms and pray for the troops. But he was a human being and his arms got tired. Every time his hands would fall, the battle would start going against Israel. So they finally set a big rock for Moses to sit on, and two men held up his hands so that he could pray for the troops. God honored that. It seems kind of silly in a way doesn’t it? But amidst the battles of life God wants us to relate to Him. He wants us to be constantly reminded of who He is, and who we are in relationship to Him. That’s what prayer is really doing, it’s relating to God. It’s constantly being in this relationship and bringing our requests to Him.

Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, who was wounded and bruised for our iniquities, yet makes intercession. His last prayer on earth was, "Father forgive them." A prayer for those who were taking His life. Can those of us who have caused God to wonder at our lack of intercessory prayer change our careless ways and be forgiven? Sure! A passage of Scripture that really speaks to me in this area is 2 Chronicles 7:14: "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

Many times Christians talk about prayer more than they pray. Let’s be people of prayer! Let’s use the trauma of these days that we live in to help mold us, make us, and push us toward that place of becoming intercessors. "Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence." I Timothy 2:1