Encarnação Alliance
• Unleashing the power
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of intercession of
behalf of the urban
poor.
The privilege of being
an intercessor.
Advocates for the urban poor
• Every person who has suffered loss needs an
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advocate
Jesus knows our lost position as a result of the
fall. He pleads for us before the Father as our
advocate
We have the privilege in joining with Jesus in
this great ministry for the urban poor
A good advocate understands and empathizes
with the needs of the needy person
A good advocate knows an enunciates a just
solution before the judge
The ministry of intercession
• In pastoral ministry it
is very important for
us to intercede for the
people God has
entrusted to us to
care for.
1 Timothy 2: 1
It is a privilege to
intercede for others.
It was an ultimate act
of love
• Our shortcomings in
discipling, mentoring
and pastoral care can
be overcome through
effective prayer for
those persons we are
responsible for. Peter
addressing the elders
encouraged them to
cast all their anxieties
on the Lord – I Peter
5: 7
Intercessory prayer
• “Jesus Christ is He who died,
yes rather who was raised,
who is at the right hand of
God, who also intercedes for
us. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ?”
Romans 8; 34-35
• "He saw that there was no one,
and he was appalled that there
was no one to intercede. . . " Isaiah 59:16.
Understanding intercessory prayer
• The ministry of intercession is unknown to many
Christians, but it is a very important part of the
prayer ministry. According to the concordance,
the word "intercession" means:
1. "A meeting between" 1 Timothy 2:1
2. "To come or fall upon; to meet" Jeremiah
7:16;27:18
3. "To meet with; to come between" Romans
8:27,34;11:2; Hebrews 7:25
4. "To meet with on behalf of another" Romans
8:26
Intercession’s role before the
throne of grace is one of advocacy
• The intercessor is
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moved with
compassion
Advocates on behalf
of another
The Judge is just and
loves justice
Help is available to
those who ask
• The subject of the
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•
petition is poor and
unable to pray or
advocate for
themselves
The subject is in great
need
The subject does not
know the judge
Scriptural examples of
intercession
1. Abraham. Genesis
18:20-33.
2. Moses. Exodus
32:9-14.
3. Daniel. Daniel 9:219 - especially
4. Nehemiah.
Nehemiah l:2-11.
5. Elisha 2 Kings 5-6
• Petitioned on behalf
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
of;
Sodom, Gomorrah
The Israelites
Judah, inhabitants of
Jerusalem, all Israel
The Jews who were
refugees
Naaman an Aramean
Jesus as Our Intercessor
• But the great example we have of the
ministry of intercession is that of the Lord
Jesus Himself (Romans 8:34).
• The death of Jesus upon the Cross was an
act of intercession. He was not dying for
his own sin and guilt, but for ours. He was
bearing God's judgment in our place.
Intercession is to take the place of another:
As He hung upon the Cross, He hung
between heaven and earth, between God
and man.
That was the final act of intercession for
the sin of the human race - never to be
repeated (Romans 6:10).
However, from this wonderful act of
redemption we are given the picture of
what the ministry of intercession really is taking the place of another in prayer
before God.
The continuing ministry of the
Lord Jesus as our intercessor
Jesus' ministry in heaven right now, as our
eternal High Priest, is to intercede before
the Father for us, His brothers. Hebrews
2:10-11; 7:25.
He is able to make intercession for us
because He knows how we feel, for He
has lived on the earth as a man. Hebrews
2:14; 4:14-15.
His Priestly ministry:
• ). His priestly ministry is also expressed through
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the Church, His Body upon the earth. 1 Peter
2:5,9; Revelation 1:6.
This kind of intercession is prayer that is
anointed by the Holy Spirit so that the one
praying can feel how the person he is praying
for feels, and often can only be expressed
through deep, inutterable groans. Romans 8:26.
Our Priestly ministry
• In the Old Testament
• Exodus 19:5-6
“ Now then if you will
obey my voice and
keep my covenant,
then you shall be my
own possession
among all the peoples,
for all the earth is
mine, and you shall be
a kingdom of priests
and a holy nation”.
• In the New Testament
• “ you are a royal
priesthood and a holy
nation” 1 Peter 2:9
• “And He made them to
be a kingdom of
priests to our God;
and they will reign
upon the earth”. Rev.
5:10
The role we have as priests
• To lead people in holistic worship of God
in every aspect of their lives.
• To intercede on behalf of others for God’s
blessing to be poured out into their lives.
• To minister the power of God into the lives
of those He has made you responsible for.
• To be an holistic example of godliness.
Praying for one hour?
• Divide the hour into
five minute sections
and start praying for
the following;
1. Praise and exaltation
2. Waiting - adoration
3. Confession – a time of
examination of self
4. Scripture praying, a
time of appropriation
5. Watchingobservation
6. Intercession for the
poor - intervention
7. Petition for the poor–
a time of expectation
8. Thanksgiving for
answers - appreciation
9. Singing - edification
10. Meditation – a time
of investigation
11. Listening - revelation
12. Praise – jubilation
Ask the Holy Spirit to
help you pray as you
should.
Four anointings of intercession
• Around the world, as Christians pray for
needs that the Holy Spirit lays upon their
hearts, they sometimes find one of four
distinct anointings of intercession come
upon them, enabling them to enter fully
into the burden the Lord is giving them.
1. Bearing the burden of the
Lord for the injustice of the evil
mankind suffers
• As Workers among the urban poor when praying,
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we feel a sense of deep grieving and sorrow,
and begin to weep for the injustice of the poor.
The Holy Spirit has laid a burden on our hearts
so we can feel how God feels as He intercedes
for His divided, broken Church, or for an
individual, a city, its slum dwellers, abused
people, corrupt leaders, evil systems, nation or a
despised or rejected people.
Praying in the Spirit allows the burden to be
prayed through as the Spirit leads.
We weep and agonise as he did:
As His Body, we can enter into the same heartfelt sorrow that Jesus expressed as He wept
over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41) and as He agonised
in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:3738).
And He brings the same challenge to His Body
today that He brought to His disciples in the
Garden.
"Could you men not watch with me for one
hour?" Matthew 26:40.
2. Compassionate identification with the needs of others
Sometimes the Holy Spirit anoints prayer in such
a way that the person praying actually feels
what the other person is going through
This might be depression, loneliness, rejection,
condemnation, grief, bitterness, fear, pain, or the
like
Thus, just as the Lord Jesus understands what
we go through, and thus is able to go on our
behalf before the Father (Hebrews 4:14-16), the
person praying will know how to pray for the
one in need.
We are experiencing this for others:
Here the Christian must realise that he is not
experiencing it for himself, but for someone
else.
He is standing in another person's place
before God (see Galatians 6:2).
3. Travail – praying until a
breakthrough comes
• Another anointing of
intercession is that of
travailing - a deep
groaning of the Spirit
within us to bring
something to birth in
the spiritual realms
(Galatians 4:19).
4. Warfare
• The fourth anointing of the Holy Spirit in
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intercession is that of spiritual warfare.
This is a coming against the spiritual powers of
darkness, battering the gates of hell (Matthew
16:18-19; Mark 3:27).
How is this anointing manifested?
• This anointing is not manifest in weeping
or groaning, but in:
1) a militant wrestling with the enemy.
Ephesians 6:12,
2) in declaring the Word of God with
authority. Ephesians 6:17,
3) in praise and in proclaiming Jesus as
King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and victor
over the forces of Satan. Philippians 2:911; Revelation 17:14.
We will experience joy and victory!
With each of these aspects of intercession,
the Christian should know/sense by faith
when the victory has been won in the
spiritual realms.
This is true even if it has not yet been
manifested outwardly.
The Holy Spirit will lift the burden from
him with a tremendous sense of joy and
victory.
Armour for intercessors?
• Since the ministry of
intercession enters
the front line of the
battle against the
enemy - taking the
battle to him, as it
were - it is essential
that those involved in
this ministry are
protected against
counter-attacks.
1. The covering of a pastor or
eldership
It is extremely important for intercessors
to move into their ministry under the
guidance of their pastor or elders.
Hebrews 13:17.
This ensures spiritual protection for the
believer within the context of the Body of
Christ.
Their ministry then becomes an extension
of the rest of the Body of Christ.
2. For wives: The blessing and
covering of their husbands
It is also necessary that wives are in right attitude
to their husbands. 1 Corinthians 11:3. Equally
important husbands must be in right attitude with
their wives so their prayers are not
hindered. 1 Peter 3:7.
Also, If there is anything wrong in
a believer's relationship with another
Christian, it must be sorted out.
James 5:16.
3. Personal armour
The Apostle Paul exhorts us to put on the whole
armour of God in our battle against the enemy
and against his hold on people's lives. Ephesians
6:11-19.
For example, faith is a vital ingredient in the
ministry of intercession, for without it the enemy
has a foothold to attack;
and how can we intercede for someone else if
we don't have on the breastplate of
righteousness - an awareness of our right
standing with God?
Our Challenge:
In Bible times, men and women changed the
course of history through intercession.
Now, in these crucial days when God is bringing
to closure His glorious plan, the call to obey the
Spirit comes to us:
"And I searched for a man among them
who should build up the wall and stand in
the gap before Me for the land . . . but I
found no one" Ezekiel 22:30 .
“ Seek the welfare of the City where I
have sent you, and pray on its behalf, for
in its welfare you will have welfare”
Jeremiah 29: 7
Acknowledgements:
• The producer of this presentation wants to acknowledge the
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Ed Murphy. The Spiritual Warfare Handbook. Regal. USA.
Patrick Johnstone. Praying Through the Window. YWAM. USA.
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Douglas Pennoyer. Wrestling with Dark Angels. Monarch. UK.
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