We Pray Because We Love

I was at home on a day off, several years ago, when the phone rang. It was our pediatrician’s office. My wife, Dianne, had taken our eleven-year-old daughter in for a checkup. She hadn’t been feeling well and though it appeared to be fairly routine, we wanted to be sure. “Hello,” I said, picking up the phone. “Mr. Warner?” a woman asked urgently. “It’s the doctor’s office. Is your wife and daughter home?” “No,” I said, a bit confused. “I expect them soon.” “Okay. We’ve tried to reach her, but the call goes immediately to voicemail.” “What’s going on?” I asked. “We’re not sure yet,” she said. “The moment they get home, you need to take your daughter to the hospital. Please, Mr. Warner, I can’t stress how important this is. The moment they get home, take her to the emergency room at Children’s. I’ll call ahead to tell them to expect you.”

Come to find out, when the doctor examined our daughter that morning, she sent her home with a prescription for what she thought was mild flu symptoms. But then, as they were leaving the office, she felt prompted (thank you, Jesus!) to take blood and run some tests. The tests raised an initial alarm for what turned out to be a very rare form of kidney disease. I don’t remember much from that first day. The details have been lost under the torrent of what came next — hope and heartbreak, confusion and prayer, transplants and touch-and-go moments, not to mention endless hours of dialysis. But I do remember arriving at the hospital, rushing into the emergency room, to be greeted by a handful of people from our church who had heard the news through our prayer chain. “What are you doing here?” I asked one of the men, not putting two and two together. “We heard about your daughter,” he whispered. “We’re here to pray.”

And pray they did. In fact, I can hardly remember a time in the first six months when someone from the church wasn’t in the waiting room interceding on our behalf — before work in the morning, late in the afternoon, sometimes late into the evening. As word spread, family, friends, friends of family, friends of friends, and eventually total strangers prayed for us faithfully, each playing a part in the ongoing miracle of God’s grace that is now our daughter, her husband, and their three adopted children. The prayers of God’s saints will never be forgotten. They helped sustain us in a season where our world had tilted off its axis, when all was tenuous and nothing felt solid.

What is Intercession?

The word ‘intercession’ comes from a Latin word that means ‘to go between, intervene or meditate on behalf of another.’ Intercessory prayer, then, is simply prayer offered to God on behalf of another person. Jesus was an intercessor, an advocate, the mediator, or go between God and humanity. It was a big part of his earthly ministry. As a result, we regularly find Jesus interceding on behalf of others. He prayed for Simon Peter when he was tempted. He said,

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail (Luke 22:31-32).”

He prayed for Lazarus and he rose from the dead. He prayed for the soldiers while he hung on the cross. He said,

“Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing (Luke 23:44).”

He prayed for his disciples, both present and yet to come, in John 17. And he hasn’t stopped praying for us. As Paul wrote,

Christ Jesus who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us (Romans 8:34).

And Hebrew 7:25 says,

Therefore, he [Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

The ministry of intercession was and is a regular part of the life and ministry of Jesus.

As Richard Foster wrote, “If we truly love people, we will desire for them far more than it is within our power to give them, and this will lead us to prayer. Intercession is a way of loving others.”

It’s one of the most loving things you could ever do.