THE POWER OF INTERCESSION

What is intercession?
A simple definition is, the action of intervening on behalf of another.
Intercession or intercessory prayer is the act of praying to a deity on behalf of others. In Western Christianity, Intercession forms a distinct form of prayer, alongside adoration, confession and Thanksgiving.

Now what does it mean to make intercession?
The act of interceeding, prayer, petition or entreaty in favour of another.

Intercessory prayer involves taking on another's burden and carrying on their behalf to the feet of Jesus.

We intercede for others without even knowing, those little or short prayers you pray for your family, the needy, the world are all intercessory prayers.

It is a common practice to see members of the church going to their pastors, priests or to their spiritual leaders to pray for them even after praying for themselves because of a certain belief or another, maybe because of their level of Righteousness or closeness with God and most times we can say these spiritual heads are intercessors.

Anybody can pray for another person but it does not mean that God hears or answers all prayers. There are certain factors that can hinder one's prayers.
An intercessor in all things must be holy and righteous and in general we all must go to God with a righteous heart (John 9: 31 and 1Peter 3:12)

There are many intercessory prayers recorded in the bible, even without you knowing and the intercessors also but we will be talking about some of the important ones

1 Samuel 7:8 And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the LORD our God for us, that he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.
At that time, the Israelites were unholy and serving other gods and they knew the only person who could talk to God was Samuel the prophet, their spiritual head at that time.

Now I am not saying we cannot pray for ourselves but there are situations we find ourselves in, we fall drastically to sin, find ourselves in very difficult situation and we become very low at that point in our lives so we run to an intercessor to pray to Jesus for us on our behalf.

• Just like Paul, God wanted good for Paul and desired his salvation and that was exactly what he provided. In difficult situations, it is so easy to become discouraged and frustrated and so the Philippians prayed for Paul wholeheartedly.
  Philippians 1:19 For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ

Oftentimes, we don’t always feel we can go to God confidently in prayer because we worry we might pray the wrong things, truthfully we will sometimes because none of us can discern the will of God.

Romans 8:26-27 tells us that even when we don’t pray for the right things or not knowing what to pray at all, the Holy spirit interceeds for us according to the will of God. 
Romans 8:34 also tells us that Jesus Christ is also interceeding for us as well!

When our Lord Jesus was alive, he prayed for so many people, even right there in His death.
Luke 23:34 says "Forgive them Father for they do not know what they are doing"
This is an example of an Intercessory prayer for our Persecutors.
The bible also said in Matthew 5:44 "For I say unto you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you"

Also during the time of Jesus’s crucifixion, before Jesus’s Christ was arrested, He prayed for Peter.
Luke 22:31 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 22:32 But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

Another great intercessor in the world we live in today are our parents especially Mothers though
The popular saying "My mother's prayers keep me going" at one point in our lives, this has turned out to be true. We see in 1Chronicles 29:19, David said "And give unto Solomon my son a perfect heart, to keep thy commandments, thy testimonies, and thy statutes, and to do all these things, and to build the palace, for the which I have made provision".

I am a catholic and I don't know if there are Catholics here but we pray to our mother Mary to intercede for us also because she bore our Lord Jesus Christ whom we pray to and we believe she has a strong connection with her son Jesus Christ even after death, so hence she's an intercessor.

Another powerful intercessory prayer we see in the bible is Abraham pleads with God for Sodom and Gomorrah.
God already made up his mind to destroy the city and he told Abraham about it but Abraham began asking for the city to be speared if there be any righteous people, unfortunately there wasn't even a single one except for the mercy upon his Nephew Lot and his family (Genesis 18: 16-33)

During Moses long leadership of the Isrealites in the wilderness, dangers from without and murmurings from amongst the people themselves gave frequent occasion for deprecating God’s wrath and invoking his help; and Moses never failed to rise to such occasions. His intercessions are amongst the most instructive of any on record (Deuteronomy 9: 25-27)

There are different kinds of Intercessory prayers, ones which were recorded in the bible
- Intercessory prayers which were commanded (James 5:14)
- Intercessory prayers for ministers, just like Paul (Philippians 1:19)
- Intercessory prayers for Children (Matthew 15:22)
- Intercessory prayers for the church (Psalms 122:6)
- Intercessory prayers by ministers for the people (Ephesians 1:16)

In Conclusion, asides the intercessory prayers listed here, there are so many others in the bible. Intercession is indeed very powerful. When we pray for others to God with all sincerity and knowing the right prayers too, God answers and grant those requests.
We see that with Abraham, Moses, Samuel and the likes.