Bible Verses About Intercessory Prayer
Introduction
Intercessory prayer is the practice of bringing the needs of others before God: standing in the gap between the need and the God who can meet it on behalf of someone who may not be standing there themselves. It is one of the most ancient and most consistent practices in the biblical tradition, and it is the practice that most clearly demonstrates the character of the God who is being prayed to: a God who invites the creature to participate in his work by bringing the needs of others before him and who actually responds to those prayers.
The biblical foundation of intercessory prayer is the character of the God who is both moved by prayer and sovereign over all things. The tension between these two truths is one that the Scripture holds rather than resolves: Abraham bargaining with God over Sodom (Genesis 18:22-33) and Moses standing in the breach to prevent the destruction of Israel (Psalm 106:23) are the pictures of the God who is genuinely affected by the prayer of the intercessor rather than the God whose decisions are made without reference to the human participation. The intercessory prayer is not the bending of the immovable will of the distant God but the participation of the creature in the work of the God who has chosen to work through the prayers of his people.
The New Testament's most important statement about intercessory prayer is Paul's letters, in which the sustained intercession for specific communities and individuals is one of the characteristic expressions of his pastoral care. The opening of nearly every Pauline letter includes the specific content of Paul's intercessory prayer for the recipients: the theological richness of Ephesians 1:17-19's prayer for the spirit of wisdom and revelation, the knowledge of the hope, and the incomparably great power is the content of the specific intercession that Paul brings to God for the people he is writing to. The intercessory prayer is the specific form of the love that the pastor and the community bring to the person for whom no other help is available.
These verses speak to anyone wanting to understand the full biblical picture of intercessory prayer, anyone whose intercessory prayer life has become the list of requests rather than the standing in the gap that the biblical model describes, and anyone who needs the specific biblical resources for the sustained intercession that the community and the individual are called to.
What the Bible Means When It Talks About Intercessory Prayer
The Hebrew word paga describes the intercession as the meeting or touching: the intercessor is the person who meets the need of the other in the presence of God. The word is used in Isaiah 53:12 for the suffering servant who intercedes for the transgressors: the intercession is connected to the bearing of the burden as the form of the love that the intercessor extends.
The Hebrew word palal describes the prayer that is the intercession: the hitpael form of the word suggests the bowing down of the self before God on behalf of another. The Greek word enteuxis describes the petition on behalf of another: the same word used in 1 Timothy 2:1 for the intercession for all people and in Hebrews 7:25 for the intercession of Christ for those who come to God through him.
Bible Verses About the Intercession of Christ
Hebrews 7:25 — ("Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to make intercession for them.")
The he always lives to make intercession for them is the specific statement of the ongoing intercessory work of the risen Christ: the salvation that is complete includes the current, continuous intercession of the one who has saved. The always lives establishes the permanence: the intercession of Christ is not the finished historical act but the present, continuous priestly work of the risen Lord. The intercessory prayer of the believer is participation in the intercession that Christ is already making: the human intercession is the joining of the prayer that Christ himself is bringing before the Father.
Romans 8:34 — ("Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died — more than that, who was raised to life — is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.")
The is also interceding for us alongside the died and raised to life and at the right hand of God is the specific statement of the present intercessory work of Christ: the one who accomplished the salvation is the one who is currently interceding for those the salvation has secured. The no one condemns is the direct consequence: the intercessory work of Christ before the Father is the specific provision against the condemnation that the accuser brings.
Romans 8:26-27 — ("In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God.")
The Spirit who intercedes through wordless groans is the specific provision for the person whose intercessory prayer does not know what to ask: the Spirit takes the inarticulate burden and carries it to the Father in accordance with the will of God. The intercessory prayer of the Spirit is the ground of the intercessory prayer of the believer: the Spirit who is interceding within the person is the resource for the intercession that the person brings on behalf of others.
Bible Verses About the Biblical Models of Intercession
Genesis 18:23-32 — ("Then Abraham approached him and said: 'Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?... What if there are fifty righteous people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not spare the place for the sake of the fifty righteous people in it?'")
The Abraham who approaches God and bargains down from fifty to ten righteous people as the ground of sparing Sodom is the most dramatic intercessory conversation in the Old Testament: the intercessor who stands between the judgment and the city and argues for its sparing. The will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked is the appeal to the character of the God being addressed: the Abraham who knows the character of the judge of all the earth uses that character as the ground of the intercession. The intercessory prayer is not the manipulation of the God whose mind is fixed but the genuine participation in the work of the God who is moved by the prayer of the one who stands in the gap.
Exodus 32:11-14 — ("But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. 'LORD,' he said, 'why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand?... Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.'... Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.")
The Moses who stood in the breach and the LORD who relented is the specific picture of the effectiveness of the intercessory prayer: the God who was intending to destroy Israel changed what he was going to do in response to the intercessory prayer of Moses. The Moses who appeals to the reputation of the LORD among the nations and to the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the intercessor who knows the grounds of the intercession: the character and the promises of the God being addressed are the specific basis of the argument.
Job 42:8 — ("So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly.")
The I will accept his prayer is the specific provision: the intercessory prayer of the person who has himself been through the deepest suffering is the prayer that the LORD accepts on behalf of those who need the intercession. The Job who has argued with God and wrestled with the suffering is the specific person whose prayer the LORD designates as the effective intercession: the intercessory authority is given to the one who has been honest with God rather than to the one who has performed the religious correctness.
Bible Verses About Paul's Intercessory Prayers
Ephesians 1:17-19 — ("I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe.")
The specific content of the Ephesians intercession is the pattern for the theologically rich intercessory prayer: the spirit of wisdom and revelation, the knowing of the hope, the knowing of the riches of the inheritance, and the knowing of the incomparably great power are the specific things Paul is asking God to give the Ephesians. The I keep asking is the persistent character of the intercession: not the single petition but the sustained asking. The content is the formation of the community into the knowledge of the full dimensions of their life in Christ.
Philippians 1:9-11 — ("And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ — to the glory and praise of God.")
The that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight is the specific intercessory prayer for the formation of the community: the love that is not the undifferentiated sentiment but the love that grows in the knowledge and discernment that enables it to be expressed well. The filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ is the destination: the intercessory prayer is the prayer for the community to be what God has called it to be.
Colossians 1:9-10 — ("For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God.")
The we have not stopped praying for you since the day we heard about you is the sustained, consistent character of the Pauline intercession: the prayer is not the occasional petition but the continuous standing in the gap for the community. The fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives is the specific content: the intercessory prayer is the asking of the one thing that produces the life worthy of the Lord.
Bible Verses About the Call to Intercede for Others
1 Timothy 2:1-2 — ("I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people — for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.")
The intercession for all people, including kings and all those in authority, is the comprehensive scope of the intercessory prayer that the community is urged to practice: the all people is the scope that goes beyond the community of faith to include the entire human community. The for kings and all those in authority is the specific political application: the intercessory prayer is the practice that the community brings to the most powerful and the most distant as well as to those nearest and most personally connected.
James 5:16 — ("Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.")
The pray for each other so that you may be healed is the specific instruction for the intercessory prayer within the community: the mutual intercession is the practice that accompanies the mutual confession and produces the healing. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective is the specific declaration of the effectiveness of the intercessory prayer: not the prayer of the perfect person but the prayer of the person who is living in the right relationship with God that the righteous describes.
Ezekiel 22:30 — ("I looked for someone 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 no one.")
The I found no one who would stand in the gap is the specific lament of the God who looked for the intercessor and did not find one: the absence of the intercessor is presented as the condition that the destruction comes in. The build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land is the image of the intercessory work: the wall-building and the gap-standing are the dual tasks of the person who prays for the community and the place. The God who looked for the intercessor is the God who responds to the intercessory prayer when the intercessor is there.
A Simple Way to Pray These Verses
Intercessory prayer is most honestly practiced from the specific knowledge of the specific person or situation being brought before God. These verses can become the framework for the intercession rather than the substitute for it.
Ephesians 1:17 — ("Give them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that they may know you better.") Response for someone specific: "God of our Lord Jesus Christ, give [name] the spirit of wisdom and revelation. Let the eyes of their heart be enlightened to know the hope they have been called to. I am bringing them before you and asking for the thing that will matter most."
Romans 8:26 — ("The Spirit intercedes for us through wordless groans.") Response: "I do not know how to pray for [name or situation] with the words that the need requires. Take what I am bringing and let the Spirit intercede with what I cannot articulate. The burden is real even though the prayer is inadequate. Carry it to the Father."
James 5:16 — ("Pray for each other so that you may be healed.") Response: "I am standing in the gap for [name]. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective: let this prayer be the standing in the gap that the situation needs. I am here. I am asking."
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Bible say about intercessory prayer? The Bible presents intercessory prayer as one of the most consistent and important practices in the biblical tradition: the standing in the gap between the need and the God who meets it on behalf of another. The models include Abraham bargaining for Sodom (Genesis 18), Moses standing in the breach for Israel (Exodus 32), and Paul's sustained intercession for specific communities throughout his letters. Christ is described as the one who always lives to make intercession for those who come to God through him (Hebrews 7:25) and who is currently at the right hand of God interceding for believers (Romans 8:34). And the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God (Romans 8:26-27).
Does intercessory prayer actually change things? The biblical testimony is that intercessory prayer is genuinely effective: the LORD relented from the disaster he threatened in response to the intercession of Moses (Exodus 32:14), and the Ezekiel 22:30 lament that no one was found to stand in the gap implies that the standing in the gap would have made a difference. James 5:16 declares the prayer of the righteous to be powerful and effective. These texts do not explain the full theological relationship between the sovereignty of God and the effectiveness of prayer: the Scripture holds both truths rather than resolving the tension. But the consistent testimony is that the intercessory prayer is the real participation in the work of God rather than the pious exercise that does not affect anything.
What should I pray for when interceding for others? The Pauline intercessory prayers provide the specific content for the model intercession. Ephesians 1:17-19 prays for the spirit of wisdom and revelation, the knowing of the hope, and the knowing of the incomparably great power. Philippians 1:9-11 prays for the abounding of love in knowledge and discernment. Colossians 1:9-10 prays for the filling with knowledge of the will of God so that the person may live a life worthy of the Lord. These prayers are the specific model: the asking of the one thing that will produce the life that the person needs rather than the list of circumstantial improvements. The intercessory prayer is the asking for the formation of the person in Christ rather than only the favorable movement of the circumstances.
How do I sustain a life of intercessory prayer? The Paul who has not stopped praying since the day he heard about the community (Colossians 1:9) and the I keep asking of Ephesians 1:16 are the specific models of the sustained intercession: the prayer that has become the consistent practice rather than the occasional response to the urgent need. The specific practices include the keeping of a list of the people and situations being brought before God, the use of the Pauline prayer content as the framework for the intercession rather than the attempt to generate the content in the moment, the willingness to pray the wordless prayer of Romans 8:26 when the words fail, and the community practice of James 5:16's praying for each other that distributes the intercessory burden across the whole community.
What is the relationship between my intercession and Christ's intercession? The Hebrews 7:25 Christ who always lives to make intercession establishes the prior and primary intercession: the human intercessory prayer is the participation in the intercession that Christ is already making rather than the independent effort of the human being who is trying to move the divine will. The Romans 8:34's is also interceding alongside the died and raised and at the right hand establishes the current, active character of Christ's intercession. The believer's intercession is the joining of the prayer that Christ himself is bringing: the intercessory prayer is the most intimate participation in the priestly work of Christ that the believer is invited into.
