Beloved, I am happy to share with you today, some examples of intercession prayers, as well as remarkable fervent cries to God. We are also sharing on importunity in prayer. Also are included some positions for a person in prayer.
The Almighty God uses his mercy to grant our intercession prayers, especially whenever we are crying to Him with a sincere and humble heart.
A-Examples of intercession from a man in favour of his next one:
Genesis 37: 21, 26 21 But Reuben, hearing these words, got him out of their hands, saying, Let us not take his life. 26 And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is there inputting our brother to death and covering up his blood?
Genesis 44 : 33 So now let me be my lord’s servant here in place of the boy, and let him go back with his brothers.
1 Samuel 19 : 4 And Jonathan gave his father Saul a good account of David, and said to him, Let not the king do wrong against his servant, against David; because he has done you no wrong, and all his acts have had a good outcome for you:
1 Samuel 25 : 24 And falling at his feet she said, May the wrong be on me, my lord, on me: let your servant say a word to you, and give ear to the words of your servant:
Jeremiah 38 : 9 My lord the king, these men have done evil in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have put into the water-hole; and he will come to his death in the place where he is through need of food: for there is no more bread in the town.
B-Specific examples of intercession prayers :
1-Moses, in favour of Israel
Exodus 32 : 32 But now, if you will give them forgiveness–but if not, let my name be taken out of your book.
Numbers 14 : 17-18 So now, may my prayer come before you, and let the power of the Lord be great, as you said: 18 The Lord is slow to wrath and great in mercy, overlooking wrongdoing and evil, and will not let wrongdoers go free; sending punishment on children for the sins of their fathers, to the third and fourth generation.
Deuteronomy 9 : 26 And I made prayer to the Lord and said, O Lord God, do not send destruction on your people and your heritage, to whom, by your great power, you have given salvation, whom you have taken out of Egypt by the strength of your hand.
2-Moses, in favour of Miriam
Numbers 12 : 13 And Moses, crying to the Lord, said, Let my prayer come before you, O God, and make her well.
3-Samuel, in favour of Israel
1 Samuel 7 : 5 Then Samuel said, Let all Israel come to Mizpah and I will make prayer to the Lord for you.
4-A man of God, in favour of Jeroboam
1 Kings 13 : 6 Then the king made answer and said to the man of God, Make a prayer now for the grace of the Lord your God, and for me, that my hand may be made well. And in answer to the prayer of the man of God, the king’s hand was made well again, as it was before.
5-David, in favour of Israel
1 Chronicles 21 : 17 And David said to God, Was it not I who gave the order for the people to be numbered? It is I who have done the sin and the great wrong; but these are only sheep; what have they done? let your hand, O Lord God, be lifted up against me and against my family, but not against your people to send disease on them.
6-Hezekiah, in favour of the people
2 Chronicles 30: 18-20 18 For a great number of the people from Ephraim and Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not made themselves clean, but they took the Passover meal, though not in the right way. For Hezekiah had made prayer for them, saying, May the good Lord have mercy on everyone. 19 Who, with all his heart, is turned to God the Lord, the God of his fathers, even if he has not been made clean after the rules of the holy place. 20 And the Lord gave ear to Hezekiah, and made the people well.
7-Other examples of intercession prayers:
Job 42 : 10 And the Lord made up to Job for all his losses, after he had made prayer for his friends: and all Job had before was increased by the Lord twice as much.
Psalms 106 : 23 And he was purposing to put an end to them if Moses, his special servant, had not gone up before him, between him and his people, turning back his wrath, to keep them from destruction.
Ephesians 1 : 16 Give praise without end for you, keeping you in mind in my prayers;
C-Examples of prayers of man near Christ:
Matthew 8 : 6 Saying, Lord, my servant is ill in bed at the house, with no power in his body, and in great pain.
Mark 7 : 32 And they came to him with one who had no power of hearing and had trouble in talking; and they made a request to him to put his hands on him.
Luke 4 : 38 And he got up and went out of the Synagogue and went into the house of Simon. And Simon’s wife’s mother was very ill with a burning heat; and in answer to their prayers for her.
Luke 9 : 38 And a man from among them, crying out, said, Master, I make a request to you, give a thought to my son, for he is my only child.
John 4 : 47 When it came to his ears that Jesus had come from Judaea into Galilee, he went to him and made a request that he would come down to his son, who was near to death, and make him well.
D-Examples of cries to God:
Exodus 2 : 23 Now after a longtime the king of Egypt came to his end: and the children of Israel were crying in their grief under the weight of their work, and their cry for help came to the ears of God.
Exodus 14 : 10 And when Pharaoh came near, the children of Israel, lifting up their eyes, saw the Egyptians coming after them, and were full of fear; and their cry went up to God.
Exodus 17 : 4 And Moses, crying out to the Lord, said, What am I to do to this people? they are almost ready to put me to death by stoning.
Judges 3 : 9 And when the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord, he gave them a saviour, Othniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother.
Judges 4 : 3 Then the children of Israel made prayer to the Lord; for he had nine hundred iron warcarriages, and for twenty years he was very cruel to the children of Israel.
Judges 6 : 7-8 And when the cryof the children of Israel, because of Midian, came before the Lord. 8 The Lord sent a prophet to the children of Israel, who said to them, The Lord the God of Israel, has said, I took you up from Egypt, out of the prison-house;
1 Samuel 7 : 9 And Samuel took a young lamb, offering all of it as a burned offering to the Lord; and Samuel made prayers to the Lord for Israel and the Lord gave him an answer.
1 Kings 17 : 20 And crying to the Lord he said, O Lord my God, have you sent evil even on the widow whose guest I am, by causing her son’s death?
1 Chronicles 5 : 20 And they were helped against them, so that the Hagarites, and those with them, were given into their power. For they sent up prayers to God in the fight, and he gave ear to them, because they put their faith in him.
2 Chronicles 13 : 14 And Judah,turning their faces, saw that they were being attacked in front and at the back; and they gave a cry for help to the Lord, while the priests were sounding their horns.
2 Chronicles 14 : 11 And Asa made prayer to the Lord his God and said,Lord, you only are able to give help against the strong to him who has no strength; come to our help, O Lord our God, for our hope is in you, and in your name we have come out against this great army. O Lord, you are our God; let not man’s power be greater than yours.
Psalms 34 : 6 This poor man’s cry came before the Lord, and he gave him salvation from all his troubles.
Psalms 61 : 1 Let my cry come to you, O God; let your ears be open to my prayer.
Lamentations 2 : 18 Let your cry go up to the Lord: O wall of the daughter of Zion, let your weeping be flowing down like a stream day and night; give yourself no rest, let not your eyes keep back the drops of sorrow.
E- The seven remarkable crying out to the Lord God:
1-calling for help : Jacob
Genesis 32: 11-12 11 Be my saviour from the hand of Esau, my brother: for my fear is that he will make an attack on me, putting to death mother and child. 12 And you said, Truly, I will be good to you, and make your seed like the sand of the sea which may not be numbered.
2-the intercessor’s cry: Moses
Exodus 32: 31-32 31 Then Moses went back to the Lord and said, This people has done a great sin, making themselves a god of gold; 32 But now, if you will give them forgiveness–but if not, let my name be taken out of your book.
3-the request for wisdom: Solomon
1 Kings 3: 7-9 And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in the place of David my father; and I am only a young boy, with no knowledge of how to go out or come in. 8 And your servant has round him the people of your selection, a people so great that they may not be numbered, and no account of them may be given. 9 Give your servant,then, a wise heart for judging your people, able to see what is good and what evil; for who is able to be the judge of this great people.
4-the request for purification: David
Psalms 51 : 1-2 1 Have pity on me, O God, in your mercy; out of a full heart, take away my sin. 2 Let all my wrongdoing be washed away, and make me clean from evil.
5-the request from the soul in agony, the repentant criminal.
Luke 23 : 42-43 42 And he said, Jesus, keep me in mind when you come in your kingdom. 43 And he said to him, Truly I say to you, Today you will be with me in Paradise.
6-appeal for salvation of the Philippi’s prison keeper
Acts 16 : 30-31 30 And took them out and said, Sirs, what have I to do to get salvation? 31 And they said, Have faith in the Lord Jesus, and you and your family will have salvation.
7-the deliverance request of Paul
2 Corinthians 12 : 8-10 And about this thing I made request to the Lord three times that it might be taken away from me. 9 And he said to me, My grace is enough for you, for my power is made complete in what is feeble. Most gladly, then, will I take pride in my feeble body, so that the power of Christ may be on me. 10 So I take pleasure in being feeble, in unkind words, in needs, in cruel attacks, in troubles, on account of Christ: for when I am feeble, then am I strong.
F-Examples of importunity in prayer:
1-Abraham
Genesis 18: 32 And he said, O let not the Lord be angry and I will say only one word more: by chance there may be ten there. And he said, I will have mercy because of the ten.
2-Jacob
Genesis 32 : 27 Then he said, What is your name? And he said, Jacob.
3-Moses
Deuteronomy 9: 18 And I went down on my face before the Lord, as at the first, for forty days and forty nights, without taking food or drinking water, because of all your sin, in doing evil in the eyes of the Lord and moving him to wrath.
4-the woman of Canaan
Matthew 15: 27 But she said, Yes, Lord: but even the dogs take the bits from under their masters’ table.
Luke 11: 8 I say to you, Though he will not get up and give to him, because he is his friend, still, if he keeps on making his request, he will get up and give him as much as he has need of.
Luke 18: 5 Because this widow is a trouble to me, I will give her her right; for if not, I will be completely tired out by her frequent coming.
5-Jesus
Luke 22 : 44 And being in great trouble of soul, the force of his prayer became stronger, and great drops, like blood, came from him, falling to the earth.
6- the royal officer of Capernaum
John 4 : 49 The man said, Sir, come down before my boy is dead.
7-The primitive Church
Acts 12: 5 So Peter was kept in prison: but the church made strong prayer to God for him.
James 5 : 16 So then, make a statement of your sins to one another, and say prayers for one another so that you may be made well. The prayer of a good man is full of power in its working.
8-Elijah
James 5 : 17 Elijah was a man of flesh and blood as we are, and he made a strong prayer that there might be no rain; and there was no rain on the earth for three years and six months.
F-Positions of persons who are praying:
1-bent head
Genesis 24: 26 And with bent head the man gave worship to the Lord;
Exodus 4 : 31 And the people had faith in them; and hearing that the Lord had taken up the cause of the children of Israel and had seen their troubles, with bent heads they gave him worship.
Exodus 12 : 27 Then you will say, This is the offering of the Lord’s Passover; for he went over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he sent death on the Egyptians, and kept our families safe. And the people gave worship with bent heads.
Exodus 34 : 8 Then Moses quickly went down on his face in worship.
2-kneeling
1 Kings 8 : 54 Then Solomon, after making all these prayers and requests for grace to the Lord, got up from his knees before the altar of the Lord, where his hands had been stretched out in prayer to heaven;
2 Chronicles 6 : 13 For Solomon had made a brass stage, five cubits long, five cubits wide and three cubits high, and had put it in the middle of the open space; on this he took his place and went down on his knees before all the meeting of Israel, stretching out his hands to heaven.
Ezra 9 : 5 And at the evening offering, having made myself low before God, I got up, and with signs of grief, falling down on my knees, with my hands stretched out to the Lord my God,
Psalms 95: 6 O come, let us give worship, falling down on our knees before the Lord our Maker.
Isaiah 45: 23 By myself have I taken an oath, a true word has gone from my mouth, and will not be changed, that to me every knee will be bent, and every tongue will give honour.
Daniel 6 : 11 Then these men were watching and saw Daniel making prayers and requesting grace before his God.
Luke 22 : 41 And he went a little distance away from them and, falling on his knees in prayer, he said,
Acts 7 : 60 And going down on his knees, he said in a loud voice, Lord, do not make them responsible for this sin. And when he had said this, he went to his rest.
Acts 9 : 40 But Peter made them all go outside, and went down on his knees in prayer; and turning to the body, he said, Tabitha, get up. And, opening her eyes, she saw Peter and got up.
Acts 20 : 36 And having said these words, he went down on his knees in prayer with them all.
Acts 21 : 5 And when these days came to an end, we went on our journey; and they all, with their wives and children, came with us on our way till we were out of the town: and after going on our knees in prayer by the sea,
Ephesians 3:14 For this cause I go down on my knees before the Father,
3-falling on your face before God
Numbers 20 : 6 Then Moses and Aaron went away from the people to the door of the Tent of meeting; and, falling on their faces there, they saw the glory of the Lord.
Joshua 5 : 14 And he said, No; but I have come as captain of the armies of the Lord. Then Joshua, falling down with his face to the earth in worship, said, What has my lord to say to his servant?
1 Kings 18 : 42 So Ahab went up to have food and drink, while Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he went down on the earth, putting his face between his knees.
2 Chronicles 20 : 18 Then Jehoshaphat went down with his face to the earth, and all Judah and the people of Jerusalem gave worship to the Lord, falling down before him.
Matthew 26 : 39 And he went forward a little, and falling down on his face in prayer, he said, O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup go from me; but let not my pleasure, but yours be done.
4-standing up
1 Kings 8 : 22 Then Solomon took his place before the altar of the Lord, all the men of Israel being present, and stretching out his hands to heaven,
Mark 11 : 25 And whenever you make a prayer, let there be forgiveness in your hearts, if you have anything against anyone; so that you may have forgiveness for your sins from your Father who is in heaven.
Luke 18 : 11 The Pharisee, taking up his position, said to himself these words: God, I give you praise because I am not like other men, who take more than their right, who are evil-doers, who are untrue to their wives, or even like this tax-farmer.
We pray that the Lord Almighty strengthen you in your efforts in going towards His path and on how to intercede.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite anyone who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me as follows :
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I acknowledge that I have sinned against you and ask forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as my Lord and personal Savior. I acknowledge that you died on the cross of Calvary and that you rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me each day to eternal life you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal to me and strengthen my heart and my faith so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me in your divine family so that I too can contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
To you all adoration, power, and glory, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to revert in your queries before sharing next week on God’s promises to human beings.
May the Almighty God bless you in abundance.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.