This month, God has called me into a season of intercession. “Intercession” is a type of prayer in which you ask God for something or to do something. This is honestly not natural for me. I learned growing up that God isn’t a vending machine from which I get whatever I want, so though I’ve prayed and asked God for things in the past, asking for things has always been a veeeery small percentage of my prayers. Thanksgiving and adoration are so much more comfortable to me, and I love spending my prayer time thanking God and telling Him how amazing He is.
God called me to intentionally pray for for three things every day: a person in my past who hurt me and towards whom I still have struggled with anger and bitterness; my boyfriend, Jon, and God’s will for our relationship; and my parents and their preparation for their Parent Vision Trip at the end of the month when they come join me in Thailand.
Last week I started praying these intercessory prayers every day, multiple times a day. It was awkward at first. I didn’t know what to ask or how. It felt really impersonal, which was hard, because intimacy with Jesus is one of my other goals this month! It felt like my relationship with God had taken a turn towards “gimme what I want!” and I don’t want to love God just for what He gives me. My prayers were stiff and awkward and it didn’t feel intimate at all. But I knew He had called me into intercession, so I pressed on.
And as I’ve persisted, I’ve noticed changes.
First, in me and in my heart towards the person who hurt me in my past. I’ve been praying for God to bless this person in all areas of their life and for them to know and be known by God. As I’ve been praying for them, the anger and bitterness I once felt towards them has melted away and when I pray for blessings for them, I mean it more and more every day. God is softening and changing my heart! As I pray for this person, I am aligning more and more with God’s heart for them. Something God taught me in Malaysia was a little saying that goes, “Actions first. Feelings follow.” Interceding for someone who has hurt you requires a lot of that! And forgiveness is a lot like that, too. I’m seeing the fruit of freedom from anger and bitterness as I follow Jesus’ instructions in Luke 6:27-28 where He says, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.” I have hope for full healing in my heart, blessing in this person’s life, and maybe even reconciliation with this person.
The second change I’ve noticed from my intercession is in my relationship with Jon. I’ve seen my specific prayer requests answered in his life, and I know every single time that it is an answer to my prayer because of the specificity of it! Along with that, our relationship is flourishing right now, which is awesome because we are on complete opposite sides of the world! The other day we had a phone call for five hours, which was such a gift, because so far during my trip I’ve only been able to talk to him maybe once a week for an hour. When we’re long distance at home, we do really long calls like that, so it felt like old times and it was so sweet. We also got to have some really good conversation. I’d been praying about specific things for us, and God was prompting me to bring them up. I was nervous to share them, but Jon was 100% on the same page as me and had even been thinking the same things! Wow, thanks Jesus!! Even in the little things like the way we communicate or handle miscommunication I am seeing God’s intervention. Wowie He’s so good and faithful.
Another change has been in my parents. This is two-fold. I am seeing them walk in greater faith and confidence as they prepare to fly to Thailand to serve with me on the mission field NEXT WEEK YAY. I’m seeing testimony of how God has actually been preparing them for months! It’s way cool. At the same time, I am feeling spiritual attack toward my relationship with them. It is abundantly clear that the Enemy is trying to undermine what God is doing, but since he cannot touch my parents because of the huge hedge of protection I’ve prayed around them, he’s attacking me! Smooth move, buddy, but too bad Jesus already defeated you! Feeling attacked in this way actually gets me pumped, because that means the Enemy sees my parents and I as a threat to his kingdom of darkness! WOO! Go Jesus!
The last-for-now-but-certainly-not-final change I’ve seen through my intercession this past week has been in my relationship with God. Intercession started out as awkward, doesn’t-feel-intimate praying, but now I have total trust that God hears and responds to my prayers, which has cultivated so much more intimacy than I could have imagined! And a natural response to this intimacy and trust has been yet even more praying! Haha! I’ve found myself going to Jesus in prayer so much more than I used to, in the little moments throughout the day, and about basically everything! It’s an awesome and honestly unexpected result of this season of intercession, and I’m so so thankful.
All this to say: GUYS, INTERCESSION ROCKS!! 10/10 would recommend bringing specific prayer requests to God, not just once, but over and over and over and over. Through that time of prayer, God aligns your heart to His. You’re interceding your way into having the heart of the Father as your own! You change, and sometimes your circumstances change, too! WOO go God.
He’s so good and He gets all the glory and has such love for us to give us goodness, too. Wow.
Jess
