Zealous Intercession

Zealous Intercession

We have not stopped praying for you. Colossians 1:9

JOHN HYDE, AN AMERICAN MISSIONARY TO INDIA in the early 1900s, constantly had profound prayers weighing on his heart—so much so that the bulk of his ministry was prayer, and his work was a matter of harvesting the answers. He prayed for fellow missionaries, unbelievers, cities, and more workers to be raised up for ministry. Those who knew him told stories about seeing the light come on in his room at 2 a.m., 4 a.m., and 5 a.m. because he just couldn’t sleep without interceding for others. His evangelical outlook prompted far-reaching evangelical prayers, and God answered them.

That’s an inconvenient prayer life, but it’s also a powerful one. The God who never sleeps is certainly not opposed to our getting some rest, but Hyde was unusually sensitive to the burdens on his heart. His tears and persistence moved those around him. They seemed to move God, too. Using a wrestling term from which we get the word “agonize,” Paul wrote of Epaphras praying earnestly for the Colossians (Colossians 4:12). He also told the church he agonized for them and the Laodiceans (Colossians 2:1). He made it clear in words and by example that no matter how familiar and intimate we are with the Father, Son, and Spirit, our prayers are more than a casual matter and can accomplish a lot in the spiritual realm. Some might think us strange to spend a night on our knees. God welcomes the fellowship and the petitions.

There will be times when you are called to press through to God with that kind of intensity—probably not to the same degree as Hyde, but with the same desire to see God work in the lives of those around you. The world desperately needs the things you will pray, and God longs to move in response to them. Fill heaven with the sounds, cries, tears, zeal, and persistence of your faith, and expect answers to come. God calls his people to pick up the mission of his Son, who prayed with loud crying and tears (Hebrews 5:7). Ask God to change the world through your requests as you lift up its gaping needs to him.

I know of no better thermometer to your spiritual temperature than this, the measure of the intensity of your prayer.