The Prayer of Intercession and Agreement
Chapter 11
Today we’re going to look at two other kinds of prayer, the prayer of intercession and the prayer of agreement. We’ll start with the prayer of intercession.
The word “intercede” means to act between two parties with the thought of reconciling the two of them.
Kenneth Hagin in Chapter 11 starts out using Old Testament examples of when Abraham and then later Moses interceded on behalf of whole cities or whole groups (the Israelites) of people for God to not destroy them (save them). I am going to remind you that we now live in a better Covenant, a New Covenant with God, because Jesus came to fulfill the law. There is much to be learned, and much to study from the Old Testament, the Old Covenant, but for prayer of intercession, I believe we should stick to the New.
1 Timothy 2:5 (AMP) 5 For there [is only] one God, and [only] one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,
As believers we can’t just pray from our prayer closet for God to “save” the world, Jesus commissioned us that we should go out and preach the Good News and lay hands on the sick. . .
Matthew 5:16-18 (AMP) 16 Let your light so shine before men that they may see your moral excellence and your praiseworthy, noble, and good deeds and recognize and honor and praise and glorify your Father Who is in heaven. 17 Do not think that I have come to do away with or undo the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to do away with or undo but to complete and fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until the sky and earth pass away and perish, not one smallest letter nor one little hook [identifying certain Hebrew letters] will pass from the Law until all things [it foreshadows] are accomplished.
We need to remember that Jesus is the New Testament Intercessor who ended all Old Covenant intercession. There’s now no need to beg for mercy or to tell God to repent and not to destroy a nation, because “God has already so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son.” A New Testament believer praises God for what He’s already done and offers oneself as a vessel for the Lord to work through.
I need for you to remember that in John 20:22 Jesus commanded us to receive the Holy Spirit. And, in Mark 16
Mark 16:17-18 (KJV) 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
So, as we go on to read the testimonies that Kenneth E. Hagin used further in the chapter of intercession, we find that The Holy Spirit will sometimes bring someone to our mind that He is prompting us to pray for, a lot of the time we will know this because it may be someone that we know, but not really someone that is regularly at the front of our thoughts, and we may not know all the details as to why and what for.
The Holy Spirit Helps Us Intercede
Romans 8:26-27 (AMP) 26 So too the [Holy] Spirit comes to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and groanings too deep for utterance. 27 And He Who searches the hearts of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is], because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints according to and in harmony with God's will.
Note 1 at Romans 8:26: The word “likewise” (“So too” in the AMP) is stressing that in the same way that hope helps us endure until the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:23), so the Holy Spirit helps us through the frailties of our flesh by interceding for us.
Note 2 at Romans 8:26: The word “helpeth” was translated from the Greek word “SUNANTILAMBANOMAI,” and it means “to take hold of opposite together, i.e. co-operate (assist)” (Strong’s Concordance). It describes a union, not the Holy Spirit doing all the interceding for us. The Holy Spirit “bears us up” as we are interceding, but He doesn’t automatically do it for us.
Note 3 at Romans 8:26: The Greek word that was translated “infirmities” in this verse is “ASTHENEIA,” and it means “feebleness (of mind or body); by implication, malady; morally, frailty” (Strong’s Concordance). This same word was translated “weakness” five times (1 Corinthians 2:3, 15:43; 2 Corinthians 12:9, 13:4; and Hebrews 11:34), so it is easy to see that this word is describing mental and moral weakness, not sickness.
Paul went on to describe what these infirmities are when he said, “For we know not what we should pray for as we ought.” The infirmities this scripture is speaking of are the weaknesses that come from not knowing how we should pray.
Even Jesus drew on this ministry of the Holy Spirit. It is written in John 11:33 and 38 that Jesus groaned in the Spirit twice when He raised Lazarus from the dead. What infirmity did Jesus have that He needed this ministry of the Holy Spirit? Jesus had no sin, but He did have an infirmity–His physical mind. Even a sinless human mind could not comprehend raising a man from the grave after four days.
If Jesus needed the Holy Spirit to help Him when He didn’t know how to pray, then certainly this should be an important ministry of the Holy Spirit in our lives.
Note 5 at Romans 8:26: This intercession of the Holy Spirit is with “groanings which cannot be uttered.” Some Spirit-filled Christians have said that this means groaning that cannot be uttered in our normal speech and therefore have said this is referring to speaking in tongues (see note 13 at Mark 16:17 and note 9 at Acts 2:4). Yet this is referring to an intercession that is different from speaking in tongues.
In John 11:33 and 38, Jesus groaned in the Spirit twice. This is the exact terminology that is used here in Romans 8:26, and in John 11, it is easy to see that no words were uttered. It was exactly as the Scripture states, a groaning in the Spirit.
All those who have the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit have or will have this happen to them. Paul was referring to this in Galatians 4:19 when he spoke of travailing in birth for the Galatians. As explained in note 16 at John 11:33, this groaning of the Holy Spirit is not just of grief but a groan of anger and resistance against Satan’s devices in people’s lives. Many times Christians don’t discern this, because they think they are the only ones grieved with their situations. But this is the Holy Spirit desiring to get into intercession with people against their problems.
Although the groaning is unutterable, it can be discerned, and many times people react to this with audible groans or other outward acts. This has led to religious doctrines and traditions that are offensive to many people and are unscriptural. There is nothing wrong with people reacting to the inner working of the Holy Spirit as long as they don’t confuse their reactions with the Holy Spirit’s actions. This intercession cannot be uttered.
Any counterfeits that religion may have produced only serve to illustrate that there has to be a genuine. The genuine groaning in the Spirit is priceless.
Romans 8:27
Note on Romans 8:27
“He that searcheth the hearts” is speaking of God the Father, and He knows perfectly well what the Holy Spirit is communicating. The Holy Spirit is always leading us and interceding with us for God’s perfect will to come to pass in our lives. We don’t always say things correctly, but when we intercede, the Holy Spirit translates our hearts’ cry to the Father. The Father and the Holy Spirit communicate perfectly.
Andrew Wommack's Living Commentary.
Paul tells us here that sometimes we just do not know how we ought to pray for a person or a situation, but we do know that God does. And so he admonishes us to pray “in the Spirit” or “in tongues” in these situations. And, again this scripture does not mean prayer is something that the Holy Ghost does apart from you. That would make the Holy Ghost responsible for your prayer life, and He isn’t. You are responsible for your own prayer life, and we are told to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. So we should pray for them, as well as praying for ourselves.
Groanings in the Spirit
Also, in Romans 8:26 we see the phrase “groanings to deep for utterance”, groanings that come out of your spirit and escape your lips are the Spirit of God helping or assisting you in prayer. There are some things that come out of your heart that can’t be expressed in words and are therefore expressed by groaning too deep for articulate speech.
These groanings are inspired by the Holy Ghost. They come from within you and escape your lips. Praying with groanings is one way of making intercession. Remember, intercession is praying for another, not for yourself. An intercessor takes the place of another.
The Prayer of Agreement
As Jesus taught it in Matthew chapter 18.
Matthew 18:18-20 (KJV) 18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
When we keep these verses in context, we find them sandwiched between the discipline of going and asking your brother for forgiveness, and Peter asking Jesus how many times should we forgive our brother, in which Jesus answered 70 times 7. . .
This puts these verses in the context primarily of dealing with intercession for other people who are needing to “get right” with the Lord, or with the church, or with each other as believers, but I believe it is also important to see the context of it being people that we are in direct contact with somehow on a regular basis.
Binding and Loosing
John 17:22-24 (AMP) 22 I have given to them the glory and honor which You have given Me, that they may be one [even] as We are one: 23 I in them and You in Me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and [definitely] recognize that You sent Me and that You have loved them [even] as You have loved Me. 24 Father, I desire that they also whom You have entrusted to Me [as Your gift to Me] may be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory, which You have given Me [Your love gift to Me]; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
I heard someone the other day put it this way: We need to start telling the problem about our God, instead of begging God to solve our problem. Jesus gave us back dominion. He commanded us to use it and we need to learn to walk in and use it for His glory as God’s children.
Remember our prayer from the third chapter of this book Praying in Jesus’ Name—Part 1, “In the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, you foul demon that binds ______________’s soul, I bind you in the Name of Jesus. I claim _____________’s deliverance and salvation in the Mighty Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
I believe that if we are praying for someone who has been saved and is obviously in a spiritual battle of some sort, we can pray deliverance from more specific things (e.g. spirit of addiction to ___________, spirit of poverty, spirit of sickness), again the Holy Spirit is needed to direct our prayers for others, and so sometimes we need to just give over to praying in tongues or groanings.
Acting on God’s Promises Brings Results
I do believe that the “prayer of agreement” can be used in the context of asking for blessings, again I want to reiterate that God wants to bless us. He wants for His people to glorify Him.
John 16:23-24 (KJV) 23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.
Matthew 7:7-8 (KJV) 7 Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: 8 For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
“In My Name” also goes back to Jesus being the mediator now under the New Covenant. . . “That your joy may be full” to me says a lot about the kinds of things that God has in store for us if we will just ask, and when we agree in prayer with someone else it just becomes that much more powerful, because God is glorified that much more.
John 14:12-14 (KJV) 12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
God dwells in the “Body of Christ” which is the believers. God wants the world to believe and receive His Son as their Savior. He sent His Son for the atonement of the world. The way the world sees God’s glory is through believers. God wants to bless us, beyond our wildest belief. But we have to ask, believe and receive the gifts that He has for us. He says that if two or more come together and ask for anything that lines up with His promises, He shall do it.
Deuteronomy 28:2-13 (KJV) 2 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. 3 Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. 6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. 7 The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways. 8 The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 9 The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways. 10 And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee. 11 And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 12 The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. 13 And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and to do them:
Jesus came to fulfill the law, not do away with it. So when we follow the greatest commandment: which is found in
Mark 12:30-31 (KJV) 30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
As New Testament believers we live by faith, through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, Christ covers us with His righteousness, for none could or can ever measure up to the fulness of the law. So, God judges the heart of man, through Christ, and if our hearts are right under grace and we are walking by faith then. . .
Let’s Put Our Lessons to Work
Who, within our group or within our sphere of influence, needs prayed for? What do we need to bind and/or loose? Who do we need to lay hands on?
Comments