Factors Taken Into Account in Leading Public Intercession

Introduction

Christians have a very important and a special practice of praying together as a church in services conducted. Intercession which originally comes from Latin word Intercedo which means “to come in between” is simply the act where Christians come together, pray as one and address to God their issues and promises made to them. Leading public intercessions is a great ministry to serve as a Christian for the reason that Jesus Christ himself forever lives to makes intercessions for all of us to God the Father (Heb 7:25). God has given us the authority and permits all Christians to say a prayer on behalf of others (Genesis 1:28). Intercession is actually a form of petition and in a nutshell it is petitioning God in place of others. Another pointed cases of intercessions in the bible is when Moses led the Israelites in prayer asking God to address their issues. Today one person will be tasked to lead the intercession before the church community and express their hopes, concerns and thanks giving. It therefore calls for deep preparation and readiness of the intercessor in order to give a productive session. The Intercessor must identify with all the categories of people attending the church service. There are a number of factors that must be taken into account by anyone leading the intercession.

Preparation of the spirit (Theology by heart)

Preparation of the heart and spirit is a key consideration in readiness to lead public intercession. The public petition to God along other must be a reflection of the speaker’s private prayer. Public intercession is not simply a matter of saying the right words and having the right flow before people but importantly sincerely speaking from the heart and connecting with God. True love of God privately gives us the public intercession leader the right heart to lead. So the public intercessor must have had sincere, deep and a regular communion with the almighty. Through this the public intercessor will be able to easily express the same deep emotional connection to God as in private and pray the things he/she does in private (excluding personal and confidential issues).

Clarity

Being clear and straight forward during public intercession is a key consideration. The ultimate aim of the intercession leader is to capture attention and get the congregation to pray along. The lead prayer must be clear. In reference to Mathew 6:5, Jesus strictly warns against random and thoughtless rambling. The person leading the public intercession must be conduct the session with simplicity and humility. The goal is the heart and prayer of the lead person resonating with the desire and hope of the congregation. It is a great idea to pick just one or two concerns then pray briefly and thoroughly about them. This way the congregation in attendance have the time and lee way to ‘‘Amen” the petitions and also gives a chance for others to lead. The kind of wording and sentence structures of prayer by the public intercession leader must also be simple and clear and conform to natural way of speaking.

Pattern/model of prayer

Offering intercession in public is distinct from private prayer since it is a matter of helping and guiding other make their own prayer in unison. It is key for the public intercessor to retain the structure and model of prayer familiar to the congregation in order to enable easily join. One of the model that can be used is an invitation to pray together or bidding. Bidding ends with the words “Let us pray to the Lord” and the congregation answers with “Lord have mercy, Lord hear

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1. Peter Adam, "Preparing To Lead Intercessions In Church - The Gospel Coalition | Australia", The Gospel Coalition | Australia, 2016 [Accessed 6 January 2020].
2. Chaplin, Doug, "Leading Prayer Through Intercessions | The Church Of England", The Church Of England, 2018 [Accessed 6 January 2020]

our prayer”. Another model is integration of bidding into prayer. The intercessor asks God to comfort those suffering in mind and spirit asking God to give them courage; the congregation joins in with “hear our prayer”. Praying more freely is another model that the lead can adopt. The intercessor makes the joining petitions using a particular format that is particular to congregation is subject.

Use of Corporate words

It is important for the leader of public intercession to consider using corporate words such as ‘us’, ‘we’ and ‘ours’. Further the person to lead the intercession must consider praying for the things or concerns that cut across and are common to all in attendance. Just like Jesus is the intercessor to all of the Christian community as a whole, the person leading the session must also use an all-inclusive corporate language. This way, he/she will be doing the intercession less for himself and more for the people.

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