Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints; That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed.
(
Romans 15:30-32)
Ingredient 1: Motive. Intercessory prayer, in order to be effective, must be engaged in with the proper motive. It is 'for the Lord's sake, and for the love of the Spirit.' We intercede for others 'for the Lord's sake', that is, because the Lord intercedes for us, because the Lord helped us out, because the Lord cared for us and was willing to put in the time and effort to help us, yea even to AGONIZE for us. Because He did so for us, we are willing to do so for others. It is 'for the love of the Spirit', because the Spirit begets in our hearts a sincere and fervent love for our brothers and sisters, indeed for all our 'neighbors'. It is because the Spirit is love Himself, and because we love to be filled with the Spirit of Christ, because we love more than anything to be in the Holy Ghost as God, through us, intercedes for our fellow man.
Ingredient 2: Method. There is a method to effective intercessory prayer. A Biblical, apostolic 'manner' of praying. Paul said 'strive together' with him. The word is
sunagonidzo, it means literally to agonize together with. To agonize means to expend massive energy. It is a term used in physical contests, like wrestling. If you have ever wrestled, you know how physically demanding it is.
It requires a near constant output of total energy and effort. If you have never wrestled, then consider this: If you have ever had to push a car off the roadway, you lean up against the trunk or rear bumper, grab hold, and begin to exert everything you've got, continuously, until the vehicle is moved to a safe place. Paul wanted the saints at Rome to agonize together with him in prayer. Do you know what it means to agonize in prayer? It means to wrestle, to exert strenuous spiritual effort to move spiritual obstacles. This is not 'now I lay me down to sleep' prayer. This is agonizing, travailing prayer. This is not firing off a tweet to God, this is the prayer equivalent of Jacob wrestling with the angel. This is a spiritual cage fight against the forces of the enemy.
Are your prayers for others like that? Would you be able to honestly describe your prayers for others as 'agonizing'? Not in the sense of 'painful', but in the sense of 'near total output of energy until victory is achieved'? Are your prayers fervent (volcanic, fiery, burning hot, boiling temperature)? Or are they lukewarm, tepid, weak, ineffectual? Do your prayers move mountains, heaven and earth, all the forces of hell arrayed against you? Or would they be unable to move a feather on a still day? Do you build memorials before God as if you invaded heaven and crashed the Divine Court with a massive construction project that even God Himself couldn't afford to ignore? Or are you taping sticky notes outside the gates of heaven hoping maybe someone will notice and then maybe mention them to God? If you want to intercede EFFECTIVELY, do what Jesus did, do what the prophets did, do what the apostles did, and learn to AGONIZE in prayer ('continuous expenditure of massive amounts of energy').
Notice, too, that Paul wanted them to agonize in prayer WITH HIM. Truly effective intercessory prayer is praying WITH the person, not just for them. If you want someone to agonize in prayer for you and your desperate needs, you need to agonize in prayer as well. Don't expect others to do all the work!
Ingredient 3: Mission. There needs to be a definite mission, or goal or purpose in prayer. Paul wanted them to pray for certain specific things. 'Lord, bless them!' is not intercessory prayer, unless that is all you know to ask for. But even if you don't know what specific things to pray for on behalf of someone, Paul himself gives four general guidelines:
A.
Deliverance. More to the point, deliverance from them that believe not. People need to be delivered from unbelievers. Not that people would be isolated from them, Paul certainly did not have that in mind. But deliverance from the influences and power of unbelievers. Unbelievers can exert inordinate influences on people. How many do you know who have 'fallen in with the wrong crowd'? Did you pray, did you AGONIZE in prayer, for their deliverance from such unbelievers? How many are persecuted in this world by unbelievers? Maybe not so much here in America, but countless numbers of Christians spend each day with their very lives in jeopardy because of the antichristian hatred of violent unbelievers. How many people, whether they believe or not, are accosted by wicked and violent people, muggers, rapists, robbers, etc? Those muggers, rapists, robbers and such are not those who believe. Regardless of what they profess, such persons are definitely those who 'believe not'. People need deliverance from evils, from the plots of the wicked, from persecutions. Pray for their deliverance from ungodly influences, 'deliver them from the Evil One.' Jesus told us to pray for that, you know.
B.
Acceptance. Paul desired that his ministry, his service, would be acceptable to the saints. He was trying to help them, in bringing an offering for the poor saints in Jerusalem. But he was worried that his service would be rejected (he was a controversial figure, as we all know). Have you ever tried to help someone, genuinely help them, and they rejected your help? Was it distressing to you? Did you wonder 'I don't understand, I'm only trying to help?' Did it sadden you? Would that all our service and ministry to one another would be acceptable! Would that it would be accepted by those whom we are trying to help! You sing a song, hoping it will bless others and point them a little more directly to Jesus. And they reject it, because it isn't professional enough, you hit the wrong note, or they just don't like you. Surely you would want them to receive it, because you aren't looking for accolades, you are just trying to help. Wouldn't you want those for whom you pray, to accept your prayers and not reject them, and you? Then you should pray for others, that THEIR service is acceptable to the saints, that it is received by the saints,
that whatever God would like to do through that person will be successful and gracefully received by the church.
C.
Fellowship. People need to be in fellowship with the rest of the Body. So we should pray for others, that they would WITH JOY be in fellowship with one another, in the will of God. Fellowship outside the will of God, regardless how happy it might make us, is not desirable, obviously.
But fellowship in the will of God, with Holy Ghost joy, is what God desires for His people. Too many people feel cut off from the other saints. 'I don't fit in.' It ought not to be. So there's something to pray for, to agonize in prayer with them for - that they would have righteous fellowship in the joy of the Lord with other saints. Paul desired to fellowship and be with the saints at Rome - but only 'in the will of God'. There is no true fellowship for saints of God, outside of the will of God. We cannot be joined to idolatry, false doctrine, false worship, immorality, sin, pride, emulation, strifes, or any of the works of the flesh. But we ought, indeed we MUST, be joined together in fellowship in the will of God. And it should bring joy to us! Some folks don't find fellowshipping with their brethren all that joyfull. Pray for them! Agonize together with them!
D.
Refreshing. Paul wanted to be refreshed. He said 'that I may with you be refreshed'. He wanted mutual refreshing. He wanted to receive the refreshing from the Lord together with the saints at Rome, he wanted them to be refreshed as well. Don't we all want to be in the presence of God? Don't we all desire to be refreshed with the wonderful Holy Ghost? 'Like a mighty sea, comes the love of Jesus sweeping o'er me!' And isn't it a thousand times better to receive this refreshing along with others? Anyone who receives the baptism with the Holy Ghost, a REAL genuine Holy Ghost experience, wants so much for others to have it too. Anyone who has truly been in the manifest presence of the Lord desires greatly for others to come on in and experience the same thing. And by the way, the refreshing is not just a 'feeling of love and peace' or what have you, although such things are not at all uncommon.
It is the manifested presence of the Divine Saviour in our midst. A Holy Ghost meeting, with the operation of the gifts of the Spirit: prophesying, revelation, healings, miracles, wisdom and knowledge, faith, praying an singing in the Holy Ghost, and many other manifestations, is a meeting unlike any other. Nothing can compare. And shouldn't we desire such meetings? And desire to be part of such meetings? Then pray, agonize in prayer for others to be refreshed TOGETHER WITH YOU by an outpouring of God's precious Holy Ghost.
Let each of us determine, for the sake of the Lord Jesus and the love of the Spirit, to strive together in our prayers for one another, for deliverance, for acceptance, for fellowship, for refreshing!
Threaded Mode
