The Power of Standing Between: Understanding Intercession
In God's economy, He often chooses to work through the prayers of His people
In the bustling region of Decapolis, desperate friends carried their deaf companion to Jesus, imploring Him to heal what only He could heal. This scene from Mark 7 reveals a deep spiritual truth: sometimes the greatest gift we can offer another person isn't our own strength, but our willingness to stand between them and God.
The Heart of Going Between
To intercede means to pray on behalf of another—to go between, to advocate for someone who cannot speak for themselves. When those friends implored Jesus to lay His hand on their deaf companion, they were practicing intercession. Later, in Bethsaida, another group brought a blind man with the same fervent plea: "implore Him to touch him."
Both times, Jesus responded to their asking, their standing in the gap, and He healed.
This imploring is intercession—standing in between God and human need.
Our Lord Christ exemplifies ultimate intercession, having gone between God and us. His great prayer in John 17, His sacrifice on the cross, and His current position at the Father's right hand all demonstrate this divine going-between. Paul's letters overflow with intercessory prayers, while Old Testament figures like Abraham, Moses, David, Samuel, and Daniel modeled this sacred practice of standing in the gap.
The Circle of Our Prayers
The scope of intercessory prayer extends far beyond our comfort zones. Scripture calls us to pray for friends, the sick, church ministers, those in authority, neighbors near and far, even our enemies and those who forsake us. Most importantly, we pray for the church—the people of God.
But here's the penetrating truth: Who will pray for your family? YOU will. Who will pray for your pastor? YOU will. Who will pray for your neighbor, mayor, dentist, plumber, teacher? YOU will.
Yes, you for your own circle of people, and so on. Perhaps because no one else will.
They may not know you've been holding them before the Lord, imploring Him on their behalf. But the Father who sees in secret rewards those who pray behind closed doors, away from recognition or applause.
The Divine Opportunity
Intercessory prayer reveals itself as an act of selfless love—an expression of God's own love flowing through us to others. When we pray for someone, we participate in divine work, becoming vessels through which God's blessing flows. We have the extraordinary opportunity to join the Lord's work as He uses our prayers to touch lives we may never fully understand.
This calling presents us with immense privilege, responsibility, and opportunity.
The privilege of involvement in heavenly Father’s work.
The responsibility of potentially being the only person praying for someone.
The opportunity to witness answers that only prayer can bring.
Prayer transforms both the one who prays and the one prayed for. Prayer changes circumstances, opens hearts, and moves the hand of God. When we intercede, we don't simply ask—we participate in the very work of redemption, standing in the gap where brokenness meets healing.
Prayer for others isn't merely a spiritual discipline; it's a sacred trust. It's recognizing that in God's economy, He often chooses to work through the prayers of His people.
Our intercession becomes the bridge between heaven's resources and earth's desperate need.
I hope to have friends like that, who would carry me to Jesus. I pray you have those friends, too. And that you are a friend like that!
How much may we also ask the Lord for others to hear and see Him? Will you accept the profound responsibility and privilege of standing between heaven and the hurting world around you?
Standing in gap for my son - yes, may we be a voice for the voiceless 🙏