For the last few weeks we have been focusing on prayer, and the ways that praising God, showing our thanks, and confessing our sins bring healing to our souls and lets God know our love for him. Today, our subject is intercession, the part of prayer where we pray for others, and it’s a toughy. So far, we’ve been talking about talking with God. Now, we’re getting to the kind of talking that results in God DOING.

      And this is exactly what we find Paul doing in this passage that was just read. He is praying for the believers in Ephesus. We learn that his prayer is that they will be strengthened in the Holy Spirit, that Christ would dwell in their hearts by faith, that they would be grounded in love, and finally, that they would know the height, depth, breadth, and length of God’s love for them, that they would truly know Christ’s love so that they would be full of the good life available in a relationship with God.

      A beautiful intercessory prayer. The author wants them to experience the power and reality of God in their lives, to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that they are loved and to grow and respond as a result of that love. But this not just a general prayer; he prays this for a reason, as he indicated as the very beginning of our passage. And the reason is found in the several verses leading up to it.

      The author admits that he is in prison and suffering as a result of sharing the gospel, and he’s afraid that this will cause the Ephesians to back off on their work for God. He’s trying to insure this doesn’t happen, that they stay strong, boldly proclaiming Christ with their lives and words. Why does it matter to him? Is Paul worried about his reputation as a successful pastor, worried that if the church dies out it’ll reflect badly on him? Is he concerned about his career? Of course not. We find the answer in v.10:so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. It is through the church that the wisdom of God is to be made known. The church is supposed to be the proof of God’s wisdom, the display of God’s wisdom, not only to those on earth, but also to all those in heaven and hell. That’s quite a bit of pressure. Bu that’s why the author is praying that they would have Christ in their hearts and know God’s love. It’s not for him, it’s not only for their own benefit; he wants the whole world and all of heaven to see God’s wisdom. That’s an amazing responsibility. It also makes our passage today a very important prayer. 

      This is all nice and good and I’m glad it’s Scripture. But personally, I haven’t found prayer, especially praying for others, to be as easy as the author makes it sound. There’s so many actions that go into being a Christian. Kindness to strangers, comforting loved ones, challenging friends to walk deeper in their faith, controlling our mouths, building Portable Medical Clinics. All this outward living stuff, and I’m in. But Prayer? Taking all of it inward and upward to God? For me, prayer is one of the most difficult, if not THE most difficult thing. And as a reader, mining this passage for God’s truth, I’m hit with a wave of questions and uncertainties.

      First, prayer is just difficult to do. In some ways it’s gotten better since I started considering conversations and journaling and thinking with the spirit as prayer, which they are. But there’s still this thing about prayer that even if you believe God is listening, it can feel pretty lonely. It still feels sometimes like you’re talking to yourself, you wonder if your prayers get any farther than the ceiling.

      When we narrow it down to talking specifically about intercessory prayer, praying for others, even more questions and uncertainties come up. It often seems easier to fix a problem myself than to pray about it. God calls us to act in love. It’s easy to tangibly help a friend, forgetting that one way to help is to pray. I can sometimes catch myself thinking that prayer is not as important.

      And really, this is going to sound strange coming from a pastor, but at the root of that, is the question of whether or not I believe that prayer makes a difference.  Not only the question of whether God hears us, but does God respond? Does God act as a result of our prayers? And what’s going on if the prayers we pray are not answered in the way we ask for them to be? What determines if God responds or not, or how God responds? There’s just so much dang uncertainty when it comes to prayer.

      I don’t know if it has ever happened to you, but I have had people who were hurting or ill, and I didn’t know if I should pray for healing or just for God’s will to be done, and wondering if I was praying “your will be done” because I meant it, or if it was a cop out because I didn’t believe God would do anything. Or I’m praying and wondering at the same time if it even makes sense to pray for God’s presence for others when we know God has already promised to be present with us always through the Holy Spirit? Am I praying for guidance for my friends because I actually want that for them, or just because I don’t know what else to pray? Do I know enough about my friend’s marriage trouble or a national political situation or whatever else to be able to pray for the right thing, or if God answered my prayer the way I asked would it make things worse? If God is unchangeable, if God already knows what’s going to happen, what impact do my prayers for others have anyway? And if God already knows what I’m thinking and what I want for someone else, why bother praying about it? That’s the question that gets in my face when I read a prayer like Ephesians 3: why bother praying for others?

      And so I take all of that, and I mull over it. And sometimes, I’ll get smart and decide to look over what Scripture has to say. And what I find there are answers, but they are no less confusing. In James 5:16 we’re told the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Mark 11:24 “ So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” In John 15:7 we find the words: “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” In John 14:14 Jesus states, “If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.” James 5:15 we learn that the prayers of faith will save the sick. These passages indicate two things: 1) God does hear our prayers. And 2) It is possible for our prayers to affect God’s actions.

      And there are plenty of stories in Scripture that back those beliefs up.  Exodus 17, Moses raises his arms over the battle Joshua leads, and as a result of his prayer, Joshua and the Israelites win. Isaiah prays on behalf of King Hezekiah, that Jerusalem will be saved from being taken over by Sennacharib, and they are. In 2Kings 4, Elisha prays that the Shunammite woman’s son is brought back to life, and he is. The testimony is there. And yet, it doesn’t always seem to work that way for us. Or even for people in Scripture. Because we also find the story of Josiah, the most righteous king since David. He finds the book of God’s law, celebrates the Passover, and asks God to not send the Babylonians to destroy Judah. But God still allows it to happen.  

      We can hold on to the promise that God hears us, and that God can and sometimes does respond, whether we can see it or not. We know from Scripture that God is filled with joy when we pray. But the why’s of how God acts is another story. I think there must be a lot of factors that go into how God responds to our prayers. The first has to do with aligning our will with that of God. In John 14 and 15, Jesus says that IF you abide in me, and IF in my name you ask, then you will receive. This is not a promise to get whatever we want, but a promise that when we fully abide in God, our prayers will be answered. As Dan Daniels, an amazing man of prayer in this church told me, the real question is Are we praying in faith for His answer or Are we praying in faith for our answer?

      Another factor is free will; God will not respond in the way we ask if it requires God to override someone else’s free will; like the difference between asking God to give someone salvation and asking God to put things in one’s path to help open their hearts.

      Another is our persistence. Jesus used a parable to teach us about that. In Luke 18, Jesus speaks of a woman who goes to the courts, asking the judge to give her justice regarding someone who has wronged her. The judge ignores her for a long time, but eventually says, “because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming.” I like to think that God is nicer than that judge, but Jesus’ point is that persistence in prayer matters.

      God’s far-sighted vision is also much better than ours. God can see farther into the future than we can, and God’s actions are governed by things we can’t yet know about. But there’s also just the fact of a certain amount of mystery when it comes to God.

      Some of us, when we think of prayer, wonder why we should pray for others if God already knows our thoughts. I imagine that it’s like being a parent. Some things, you’re going to give your child whether they ask or not. Some, no matter how many times they ask, you will never give. But some things, if they ask enough tiems, over and over and over again, you will give to them, because you see over time how important it is to them, and you love them. Even though God knows our thoughts, God still wants us to intentionally direct those thoughts to him. That’s part of our free will; to bring our thoughts to God, or not.

      Intercessory prayer is difficult. I read these Scriptures, and I’m over here (PULPIT), on fire, ready to pray, excited to see myself getting to partner with God through prayer. I know it’ll take a lot of spiritual maturity to understand it better, but at least I know God is listening and might act on my requests for my friends and family and those we are foolish enough to think are our enemies.

      But then, in another moment, I’m here (LECTURN) feeling like I don’t understand anything at all. Feeling how Kip described it in a prayer earlier this week, “Sometimes, we bow our heads and close our eyes and realize that we don’t know what we’re doing.”

      Most of the time, I’m somewhere in between. And it’s uncomfortable. And there’s no equation that gives me all the right answers. It’s uneasy to talk with an unfathomable God.

      But I have found one thing that is actually shedding some light on intercessory prayer. It was a revelation to me: we are not the only ones interceding! Hear these words from Romans 8: “the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words. And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” And several verse down, “Who is to condemn? It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us.” Also, in Hebrews 7: “Jesus is able for all time to save those who approach God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.”

      The Spirit intercedes in us! Jesus intercedes for us! Sometimes when we don’t know what to pray for, there’s this experience where words or feelings seem to bubble up from inside us and speak for us; that’s what Paul is talking about when he refers to the Spirit. But there’s also several places in Scripture that state that after Jesus was resurrected, he didn’t stop participating in life with us. Now, instead of walking and talking among us, Jesus intercedes for us in heaven. Have you ever wondered how Jesus spends his time now? Jesus intercedes on our behalf, just as we are encouraged to intercede on the behalf of others. It is the fact that Jesus intercedes for us that enables our intercessions to matter, to be effective.

      As Richard Foster said, “Our ministry of intercession is made possible only because of Christ’s continuing ministry of intercession…Even more: he straightens out and cleanses our feeble, misguided intercessions and makes them acceptable before a holy God”. When it comes to not knowing what to pray for or how to pray, we don’t have to worry. We can trust Jesus to take our prayers and make them pure and holy as they are brought to the Father’s ear. That probably has something to do with why the results of our intercessions might be different than we expect; Jesus intercedes for our intercessions, makes them right. That’s probably also why intercessory prayer has such an impact on the one praying. Jesus changes, blesses, and affirms us when we pray for others.

      As we intercede for others, Jesus intercedes for us all. So why bother praying for others? If Jesus cares enough to intercede for us, we can intercede in prayer for others, even in the midst of uncertainties. Believing that he hears us and may act as a result of our prayers, we can endure the questions of why, God? And why not now? Believing that our prayers are powerful and effective, we can lift our prayers for others up to Jesus, trusting I him to make them right. We can choose to bravely delve deeper into our faith by speaking honestly with God on behalf of others. We can follow Jesus’ example and be intercessors.

      So, after swirling through all the questions and uncertainties and settling back into this Ephesians text, what do we find? We know Paul was a believer in it. Intercessory prayers are offered in every letter he wrote. In this particular prayer, when praying for the Ephesians, Paul’s not praying for physical healing. He’s praying that Christ intercedes for them, in them, spiritually. He is asking for their hearts to be filled with the goodness of God, strengthened in the Spirit. He wants the best for them that God has to offer. That God would enable them to comprehend the length, breadth, height and depth of the love of God for each one of them. And this love, just like prayer itself, surpasses our knowledge.  As far as intercessory prayer goes, this is a pretty good place for us to start.