Types of Prayer: Intercession

In`ter*cede", v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Interceded}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Interceding}.] [L. intercedere, intercessum; inter between  + cedere to pass: cf. F. interc['e]der. See {Cede}.]

1. To pass between; to intervene. [Obs.]

2. To act between parties with a view to reconcile differences; to make intercession; to beg or plead in behalf of another; to mediate; – usually followed by with and for; as, I will intercede with him for you.

I to the lords will intercede, not doubting Their favorable ear.  – Milton.

Syn: To mediate; arbitrate.

Webster’s 1913 Dictionary

Intercessory Prayer

Prayers of intercession are prayers that are offered for other people or situations. It is one of two forms of supplicant prayer. Interceding  prayers are not prayers for the self, which are more correctly termed petitionary prayers. After petitionary prayer, intercession is the most commonly understood form of prayer for those educated within the Christian tradition. In intercessory prayer, the person praying stands before God on behalf of another individual, a group of individuals, or maybe a particular situation. Intercession may be offered for nations, leaders, churches, communities, or even for a complete stranger. In the life of our congregation, intercessory prayer takes its most visible form in the Central Lutheran Church Prayer Chain.

Intercession is more than just praying and asking God to meet someone else’s needs. Intercessory prayer implies a sincere and grateful acknowledgment of God’s presence already in the life of the person being prayed for, and affirms the continuing power of God’s grace and the emergence of the Divine Will in that situation or life. While some people will pray for specific outcomes during intercessory prayer, many people who pray will ask only that God’s will be done, an acknowledgement of our own inability to understand fully the will of God for others.

There are as many ways to intercede in prayer for another as there are people who pray. Perhaps all that is truly required is a genuine  desire for God’s will to be manifest for that person or in that situation. A sincere heart, “directed toward God”, in an effort to obtain good for another, is the heart of intercessory prayer.

Author: Boyd S., a member of the Prayer Ministries Team at Central Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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