I have been thinking about intercession in a different way for quite some time. I feel as though the LORD has been showing it to me in a way I never heard taught, or read about before. So I've been listening to Him and mulling it over and thinking about teaching on it and when or where would I do this and I decided to blog about it.
Briefly, it's this idea that intercession isn't only praying all the time, praying in the prayer closet, making lists and praying for the things on the list, having a prayer meeting in your (my) home, or even praying for people God puts on your heart. It's a lifestyle. Intercession as Jesus practiced it, is being the in between person. It's being between God and another person or situation, being present with people in their pain and/or times of need. He did this all the time. Think of the woman at the well. After meeting with Jesus, she went to town and told the people there, "Come and see a man who told me everything I ever did." Jesus changed her life in one encounter. You see, she was a woman who was shunned by society. She went to the well at a time of day that she knew no one else would be there. She couldn't face the townspeople because of her shame, and they would not have looked kindly at having to draw water from the well along side this woman of sin. Jesus changed that in one afternoon. He went between this woman and God and brought her good news.
Recently, my brother-in-law died. He's resting in the arms of the Father now. His pain and suffering are finished, and he looks on the face of Jesus. He was sick for many years, and he and my sister lived their lives to the fullest during this time, in spite of the medical care that he needed. The last few months were so hard for both of them. He was in and out of the hospital many times, and then stayed home, first with supportive care, and then, very quickly, on hospice. My sister took care of his every need. During this time, we spoke on the phone a great deal. She lives in Pennsylvania and I live on Long Island. Due to the pandemic and her husband's illness, I couldn't go there to visit. So the phone was the next best thing.
I often found my self weeping after I got off the phone with her. As I prayed for them. The thing is, I wasn't weeping so much because I was sad for them, and I was, but I felt that I was weeping as a form of intercession...I was feeling her pain, her impending loss. I felt it as if it were my own.
One Friday morning, he died. She called to tell me and said it was time for me to come. We had agreed that I would NOT surprise her and just show up; I would wait until she was ready. I packed and showered and left a short time later. During the drive, I was suddenly overwhelmed with grief. It was not my own and I have never experienced anything like this before. I was feeling what she felt....
The Lord gave me a short prose as I was driving and weeping for her pain. It's short and simple, but when I shared it with her, she said this is exactly what she felt. I'll share it here and leave it at that. God stopped by while I was driving, and moved powerfully on her behalf. I have these few words .....may they convey something powerful to you and may this blog post cause you to think differently too.
Oh! The tearing apart!
spirits separating as
one leaves
one stays
no matter the hours
the length of time
how long the lingering
it's sudden
the breaking of the bond
the end of the covenant
until I see you again
