Eight years ago I wrote in my journal,   “Lord, I feel a failure as an intercessor.” I was feeling guilty.

“I don’t see you that way.” He said.  “The One who lives in you always lives to intercede.  As I move on your heart, intercession comes.  It’s not a to-do-list kind of activity.  It’s a natural flow from My heart to yours.  Your life doesn’t have to look like someone else’s.”

“You don’t earn “glory points” for how many people or how many hours you intercede.”

“Are you doing what My Spirit is calling you to do this minute?”

Lord, I don’t know.  Am I?

“Yes, you are spending time with Me.”

Another time, while I was volunteering in Israel, I told the Lord that I didn’t feel like I was doing the intercession I’d intended to do there.  He asked me, “Are you out in the streets with the people?  Are you interacting with them and sharing My love?  When you are in the office, are you serving in a way that blesses Israel?”

I answered, “Yes,” to all of these questions.

“Then you are interceding.  Your love, your service, your reaching out to those you meet is intercession.  You are uprooting and tearing down old mindsets and revealing more of who I am.  Intercession is prayer, but it is also how you live your life.”

~~~

The Holy Spirit is our Guide.  When He nudges us to pray, we pray.  When He nudges us to give a hug, or sweep a floor, give some money, or lay hands on in prayer, and we are obedient, we are in His will.  Whether it is hugging your child or ministering to thousands, the pay is the same when we are walking in His will.  

Jesus lived His life as an intercessor.  Everything He did or said filled the gap left by hundreds of years of misinformation about who God was.  He re-presented God to every person He met.

Let’s kick religion and task lists to the floor and live in the freedom and power Jesus died to give us.  No more guilt.  But holy joy as we partner with Him in whatever He asks.