Intercession
A Story about Faithful Prayer
As a young man and new Christian one of the things I loved most about my small, rural, Methodist church was that potlucks were frequent and good. It wasn’t all about the food of course, the fellowship, while never having great depth, was still enriching. I like to think multi-generational fellowship is something that is not valued enough though we claim to champion diversity in modern times, but we had a taste of that in our small town in Georgia.
I remember one Sunday vividly. Our church was right off Main Street and across the street from the Baptist church as is the case in many towns across the south. As far as I know everyone got along all right. I know a few years after I moved away the churches even held VBS together. The Baptist church also had a potluck after the service. Which potluck is better, the Methodist one or the Baptist one, was a matter of debate that everyone has their thoughts on, but I don’t think anyone left either side of the street hungry.
Slam!
There was a loud slam of a door that was out of place in our fellowship hall during the meal. Our preacher had charged in, throwing open the door. Everyone instantly stopped eating and turned to him, wondering what the sudden intrusion was about.
“We gottah pray, y’all!” He said in his deep South Georgia drawl. He clearly had been running. “One of our sisters across the street is having a stroke, it ain’t lookin’ good, and we gottah pray.”
Our preacher was just appointed that year from another appointment. He was originally a Baptist and became a Methodist at some point in seminary. He liked to say often that he became a Methodist because he read the Bible. His preaching and praying still reflected what comes to your mind when you think of a Baptist preacher from south-central Georgia, though.
“Fawther Gawddd…” he began, the intensity and urgent-ness of his prayer reaching the depths of his throat and vocalizing into prayer. He prayed deeply for that woman with an intensity I have rarely witnessed and wasn't common of this preacher. It might be more fitting of a Pentecostal man.
God’s conquering days are when the saints have given themselves to mightiest prayer. - E.M. Bounds
No one had ever instructed me in intercessory prayer before. Still somewhat of a babe in Christ, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be doing as the Reverend prayed. I ended up just listening intently to his prayer and attempting to lift up an agreement. I don’t know what everyone else was doing, but it strikes me in hindsight what it really means to bring a person before God in intercessory prayer.
This elderly saint who was having a stroke was depending on the church, on both sides of the street, to bring her before God for a real and urgent health crisis. She herself was powerless to change her circumstances. But in that moment, we embodied intercession. At the root of the words we often translate as intercession are the ideas of an attack being made and someone running to stand in the gap and reinforce a position. Jesus embodies this when he steps between those ready to throw stones and the woman caught in adultery.
After just a minute the sirens became audible as the county ambulance was in earshot. Thankfully the county stationed one full-time at the volunteer fire station just down the street, so they arrived quickly. He prayed fervently with his booming voice over the paramedics too and the work they were supposedly doing, out of sight from us in our climate-controlled fellowship hall. He prayed for safety as the sirens wailed off into the distance. It wasn’t a short trip to the hospital in the city.
True prayers are born of present trials and present needs. - E.M. Bounds
If we had been a more charismatic congregation, the praying may have never stopped. Now that I’ve experienced more variations of our blessed faith, I can say I have seen less fervent prayers spark revivals that go on for hours and sometimes in tongues that call heaven their residence rather than earth. Nonetheless, the church stood boldly in the gap that day because our preacher dared to lead us there in faithfulness to Christ’s command to love one another.
Being honest - I didn’t like that preacher who was appointed for that year too much. He never remembered my name, and his sermons way too often were about his glory days of pastoring other churches. It could be I just never really got to know the guy, my life shifted to college and faith communities closer to there shortly after and he received a new appointment the next year. But I would learn later in life that St. James has a word or two to say about the power of prayer:
Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises. Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect. Elijah was a human being as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the land. Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the land produced its fruit. - James 5:13-18 (CSB)
I wish I remembered what happened to the lady, that part of the memory has faded. I like to think she survived. Either way, our preachers urgent intercessory prayer for the lady across the street will always remain in my memory. I’ve seen many people shirk from the moment when prayer is desperately needed. I confess I have been that man far too often. Today our culture even tells us that they don’t want our prayers anymore. But God tells us to lean in and pray in faith. We ought to.
Spiritual work is taxing work, and men are loath to do it. Praying, true praying, costs an outlay of serious attention and of time, which flesh and blood do not relish.
What the Church needs today is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use - men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men - men of prayer. - E.M. Bounds