Prophetic Intercession

1.  "I have posted watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they will never be silent day or night.  You who call on the Lord, give yourselves no rest, and give him no rest till he establishes Jerusalem and makes her the praise of the earth" (Isaiah 62:6&7).

An intercessor is one who reminds God of the promises and appointments yet to be met and fulfilled.  The watchmen are the intercessory people.  Intercessors study the Word of God and remind Him of the promises that have not yet been met.  They pray the prophetic promises into being.

2.  "Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey.  The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.  He saw that there was no one, he was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm worked salvation for him, and his own righteousness sustained him" (Isaiah 59:15&16).

An intercessor is one who takes up the case before God on behalf of another.  An intercessor is one who is picking up the burden and carrying the case of justice before God in behalf of another.

3.  "Your prophets, O Israel, are like Jackals among ruins.  You have not gone up to the breaks in the wall to repair it for the house of Israel so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the Lord" (Ezekiel 13:4&5).

An intercessor is one who builds up the hedge or the wall of protection, he builds up the wall in the time of battle.  Build up the wall around your geographical area to keep the enemies out.

4.  "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none.  So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign Lord" (Ezekiel 22:30-31).

An intercessor is one who stands in the gap between God's righteous judgment and the need for mercy on people's behalf.  The intercessory people have a place to stand between God's judgment that is due and yet the need for mercy on the people's behalf like Abraham did for Sodom and Gomorrah.  The intercessor identifies with the condition of the people and cries for mercy.

To be a prophetic intercessor it will take being secure because at times you're going to see something, you're going to hear something, you're going to be alerted to something.  That's the prophetic element and then out of the intercessory capacity, God uses you and others to nullify what you just saw.  It makes you look like you heard wrong, you saw wrong, you proclaimed wrong.  Jonah is an example of that.  He proclaimed destruction to Ninevah and then the people repented and God postponed that destruction.

God is looking for a generation of prophetic people, "But Moses replied, 'Are you jealous for my sake?  I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and the Lord would put his Spirit on them!'" (Numbers 11:29),  the supernatural arena to hear and see in order to speak.  There are three places of operation:  The assembly of believers, out into the streets and marketplaces, and in the prayer closet.

In the Old Testament the priest pleaded the needs of the people to the Lord.  The prophet pleaded the interests of God before the people.   The priest was responsible for "the sending word" and the prophet for "the descending word" - speaking God's burden.

Prophetic intercession is where the prophet and priest unite:  "If they are prophets and have the word of the Lord, let them plead with the Lord Almighty........." (Jeremiah 27:18).

Prophetic intercession paves the way for the fulfillment of the promise.  The Spirit of God plead the covenant promises of God to His people throughout history, every unfulfilled promise is to be pleaded before the throne of God.  It's an urging to pray, given by the Holy Spirit for situations or circumstances with which you have little knowledge in the natural.  You pray for the prayer requests that are on the heart of God.  He nudges you to pray so He can intervene.  He'll direct you to pray His will on the earth as it is willed in heaven.  It becomes a joining of the gifts of revelation, of the word of knowledge that is then brought into the prayer room, brought into your personal life.  It's when the word of knowledge happens outside of the assembly of believers.  When the burden comes on, it doesn't lift until you've prayed.

Prophetic intercession is the ability to receive an immediate prayer request from God and pray about it in  a divinely anointed utterance.  Prophetic intercession is waiting before God in order to hear, or to receive God's burden (God's Word, His concern, a warning, a condition, a vision, or promises), responding back to the Lord and then to the people with appropriate actions.
(Anna in Luke 2:36-38).

"Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets" (Amos 3:7).

You share your secrets with the person you trust, who isn't going to say everything they know and God is the same way.  Instead of saying it, you pray it, and you pray for mercy in the situation, "Mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2:13).

God quits when man quits.  Genesis 18:17-32 is the story of Abraham bargaining with God over Sodom and Gomorrah.  Abraham stopped at 10 and so did God.  When Jesus sees a need, He touches someone to intercede, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, prays through that person in order that His will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.  Don't quit until the burden lifts.

"In the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years" (Daniel 9:2 referring to Jeremiah 29:10).  Daniel looked for the conditions that had to be met so that the promises could be fulfilled.  The result was, he entered into confession and intercession, and he began to confess the sin of his people as though it was his own, though it was not.

We receive the burden through a place of revelation:

"The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received........I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.  Then the Lord replied: 'Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it.  For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false.  Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay" (Habakkuk 1:1; 2:1-3).

Habakkuk went to a quiet place to be alone and become still.  He went to his place on the wall and waited there.  To be an effective prophetic intercessor, you have to get into the Mary mode and out of the Martha mode.  "Be still, and know that I am God....." (Psalm 46:10).  You must come into communion and an intimate knowing place.

"Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed" (Mark 1:35).  Remove all external distractions, (phone, tv, etc.). Don't take your own burdens with you, cast your cares on the Lord.  It's worth the battle getting to that place where you can hear.  Confess your sin, clothe yourself with the robe of righteousness.  Speak to your mind and say no so you can focus on the vision of Jesus within.  Pray in the spirit if you have difficulty getting in touch with your heart, "But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit" (Jude 20).

You have to be careful of secret pride when God shares His secrets with you.  Be prepared to lose your dignity because you may weep and travail.  You may agonize if touched with pain in your body.  When you get God's heart, your heart will be broken.  There are burdens given for an immediate response and there are others you will carry with you over a period of time.

"But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.  You have come to thousand upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.  You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel" (Hebrews 12:22-24). The blood of Abel spoke of vengeance, the blood of Jesus cries for mercy and that's how we respond to the burden.

In Amos 7:1-9 Amos receives five revelatory visions.  When God reveals His judgments to us, intercede and plead for His mercy.  Remember, "Mercy triumphs over judgment", but God is the judge and He will decide.

Father, I present my heart to receive Your heart.  I present my life to be used to stand in the gap for others.  Would You use me to remind You of Your promises and appointments yet to be met and fulfilled?  Would You use me by giving me a heart in justice and take up the case of another?  Would You use me to build up a wall of protection in the day of battle?  Would You use me to fend You off to withhold Your righteous judgments?  As Isaiah prayed, so do I.  Here I am Lord, send me.  As Samuel said, so do I.  Speak Lord, Your servant is listening.  Amen

(excerpts taken from Prophetic Intercession by Jim Goll, Ministry to the Nations)