The answer to “How does intercessory prayer work?” is often given as, “I don’t know, but it works. When I turn on a light switch I don’t understand how electricity works, but the light still comes on.”  God does not use force, and I have heard that by intercessory prayer we invite God to make radical changes by invitation; so that it is not force. That is a theory but whether it is true or not, I know intercessory prayer works.

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When I was in my early twenties I was a part of a Bible study group. A certain young lady in our group stopped coming to the study and then dropped out of church all together. Our study group started praying for her. I also prayed on my own. Every night I would pray, “Lord please send your Holy Spirit to work on *Tammy’s heart.” I prayed that night after night for I can’t remember how long. Then one night my phone rang. It was Tammy, telling me she was tired of what she referred to as her heathen friends. She said she wanted to come back to church. We decided to meet that evening at a restaurant. At the restaurant Tammy said, “I want to tell you something but you will think it’s crazy.” I assured her I would not think she was crazy. She told me, “I just feel like the Holy Spirit has really been working on my heart!” I was overjoyed! She repeated back to me the very words I had been praying every night. Intercessory prayer works. Now remember that God never uses force. The people we pray for still have free will, but God surely leaves nothing undone that can lead to conversion. Tammy came back to church and our Bible study group. 

In Matthew 9, a group of friends boought their friend to Jesus on the mat he was lying on. He needed physical and spiritual healing. It is interesting that Scripture says, 

Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “Be encouraged, my child! Your sins are forgiven.” Matthew 9:2 NLT 

He did not just see the man’s faith who was sick. I’m not even sure he had faith. But when Jesus saw their faith He worked miracles in the man’s life. Again I may not be able to explain how intercessory prayer works, but I can observe it working. 

The story of Job tells us how important intercessory prayer is. Let’s take a look,

After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.  So take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf. Job 42:7-8 NLT 

God would not accept Eliphaz’s sacrifice unless Job prayed for him. Interesting. The book of Job also gives an example of how God blesses us when we pray for our friends. 

When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before! Job 42:10 NLT

When we intercede and pray for others they are blessed and we are blessed too. 

*The name “Tammy” is an alias. 

Amen!(0)

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At the end of the vision of the 2,300 evenings and mornings, the prophet is astonished because he cannot understand it (Dan. 8:27, NKJV). Ten years later, Gabriel comes to help Daniel “understand” the vision (Dan. 9:23). This latter revelation supplies the missing information and reveals that the work of the Messiah is to be accomplished toward the end of a period of seventy weeks. According to the year-day principle and the course of the events predicted, the seventy weeks must be understood as 490 years. And the starting point for this period is the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem (Dan. 9:25).

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This command is issued by King Artaxerxes in 457 B.C. It allows the Jews under the leadership of Ezra to rebuild Jerusalem (Ezra chapter 7). According to the biblical text, the seventy weeks are “determined” or “cut off”. This indicates that the time period of 490 years has been cut from a larger time period, that is, from the 2,300 years designated in the vision of chapter 8. It follows from this that the 2,300 years and the 490 years must have the same starting point, namely, 457 B.C.

The prophecy of the seventy weeks is divided into three sections: seven weeks, sixty-two weeks, and the seventieth week.

The seven weeks (49 years) most likely refer to the time during which Jerusalem will be rebuilt. After these seven weeks, there will be sixty-two weeks (434 years) leading to “Messiah the Prince” (Dan. 9:25). Thus 483 years after Artaxerxes’ decree, that is, in the year A.D. 27, Jesus the Messiah is baptized and anointed by the Holy Spirit for His messianic mission.

During the seventieth week, other crucial events will take place: (1) “Messiah shall be cut off” (Dan. 9:26, NKJV), which refers to the death of Christ. (2) The Messiah “shall confirm a covenant with many for one week” (Dan. 9:27, NKJV). This is the special mission of Jesus and the apostles to the Jewish nation. It is undertaken during the last “week”, from A.D. 27 to 34. (3) “But in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering” (Dan. 9:27, NKJV). Three and a half years after His baptism (that is, in the middle of the week), Jesus brings the sacrificial system to an end — in the sense that it no longer has any more prophetic significance — by offering Himself as the final and perfect sacrifice of the New Covenant, thus voiding the need for any more animal sacrifices. The last week of the 70-week prophecy ends in A.D. 34, when Stephen is martyred and the gospel message begins to reach not only the Jews but the Gentiles as well.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

Amen!(1)

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