Intercessors pray:
They release the Holy Spirit and the angels to do the Fathers will on earth.
They stand together to resist the attacks of the enemy on behalf of a church, a city or a nation.
Prophets speak:
They explain God's purpose for churches, cities and nations to his people.
Some warn God's people of danger and explain how they should respond to it.
A few speak to the world and warn of judgment and describe how it can be averted (Jonah and Nineveh).
Intercessors and Prophets will sometimes receive a revelation of coming disasters, but the purpose will be different.
Revelation to Prophets
Prophets will sometimes receive a revelation of a future disaster.
They are called to speak to God's people and explain how God wants them to respond during the crisis. Following this guidance will lead to blessing.
In some situations, they might need to flee to survive.
In other situations, God will want them to stand their ground and suffer in the face of evil.
A few prophets will be called to speak to a city or nation and warn of a danger that is coming as a consequence of sin. When they do this, they should also call the city or nation to repentance. They should also give guidance to God's people about how they should respond.
The revelations received by prophets will mostly be conditional. If the city or nation responds, appropriately, the event will be held back. The conditions for this should be clearly specified.
Prophets should not be speaking out words about the future, just to show that God is clever. He does not play that game.
Prophets speak with purpose. Without guidance, conditions or a challenge, a prophet is just a clanging gong.
When prophets receive a revelation of trouble in the future, they should not speak immediately, but test the word with other people they trust.
The prophet should also pray about when, how and to whom the word should be spoken. They should pray about what God wants his people to do and how he wants the city or nation to respond. Without these things, the prophetic word is not complete.
God shows prophets things that will happen and explains what the people should do.
For prophets, explaining what people must do is as important as warning of what will happen.
Revelation to Intercessors
God often reveals the plans of the enemy to intercessors, so they can stand against them in the Spirit and prevent the evil from occurring.
God is showing them something that will not happen, if they are doing their job.
These revelations can be scary, so intercession is not for the fainthearted.
Intercessors should guard their revelations carefully and not hand them around casually (Matt 7:6).
Intercessors should share and test their revelations with other intercessors who are strong enough to handle the revelation.
When these revelations are circulated widely among Christians, they create confusion within the church. Even if the intercessors do their job and prevent the event from taking place, the enemy uses it for evil by inspiring fear.
A revelation given to inspire intercession has several characteristics that can be confusing to other Christians.
They usually do not take place, so Christians assume the revelation was wrong, without understanding that it was not fulfilled, because the intercessors did their job.
They are sometimes symbolic. Ezekiel saw the sun, moon and stars going dark. This was not fulfilled literally, but was a description of Egypt's Pharaohs being defeated by the Emperor of Babylon (Ezekiel 32:7). Intercessors need to be skilled in interpreting these symbolic messages.
God does not give guidance about how to live through the evil events he reveals to intercessors, because he does not intend them to happen. When these revelations get into the hands of other Christians, they get confused, because they do not know what to do. The revelation is there with nothing around it.
Most of the revelations received by intercessors will be things that God's wants to do. They will happen if the intercessors pray seriously. Intercessors will need to be skilled in discerning between things that God wants to accomplish and the plans of the enemy that he wants to be thwarted.
Merged Roles
The role of prophet and intercessor sometimes merges in one person. When this happens, the person should be very careful to be clear about what they are doing. When they receive a revelation about the future, they should seek guidance from God about whether it is for the prayer closet or the prophetic platform. They should also sort out if it is something God wants to do or a plan of the enemy that he wants to foil.
Clear Voice
The absence of a prophetic voice in a city creates uncertainty about the cause of traumatic events and whether they have any spiritual significance. Most of the commentary on the events usually come from pastors whose focus is on providing pastoral care to people who had lost homes or family members. Their main goal is to put guilt and guidance out of scope, so they leave God's purposes out of the situation.
Unfortunately, many other Christians find this explanation inadequate and are uncertain about how they should respond to these events. They see Jesus applying spiritual significance to physical disasters (Luke 13:1-5) and want the same for their time.
Without a clear trumpet call, the people will go and look for own answers. They get muddled and grab what they can. The dreams and voices that circulate from the fringes of the church where people go for insight, usually produce fear and confusion.
Revelations that God has given to intercessors often circulate as prophecies about the future. This creates confusion, because the revelations contain no guidance to Christians about how to respond. There is no call to repentance for the people of the world or condition that must be met to avert the disaster. This is not surprising, because that was not their purpose.
The intercessors should focus on doing their job by standing in prayer against the plans of the enemy that God has revealed to them. If the intercessors and are fulfilling their calling, these events will not take place. God has revealed these things to the intercessors, because he does not want them to happen.
The thirst for revelation that emerges during a crisis cannot be quenched by the revelations received by intercessors.
Where there is no revelation, the people are left naked (Prov 29:18).
Unfortunately, scraps from tables of the intercessors will not satisfy this hunger for revelation.
The problem is lack of revelation. We should be praying that God will release a clear prophetic voice that we may have better understanding of God's purposes. If God is giving warnings about events that are going to happen, the prophets should be listening and seeking guidance about his plans for his people and asking what changes must take place to avert the disaster.
Not a Real Ministry
In the last century, thousands of Christians have taken up this role (maybe millions), but I am not sure that we have seen the return on the effort that we would expect.
My problem is that this ministry does not exist in the New Testament. There was plenty of prayer and intercession, but no one who devoted themselves full-time to this role. The only full-time intercessor in the New Testament is Jesus following the ascension. He stands beside the Father interceding for us (Heb 7:25).
The people described in the New Testament were active in prayer and intercession, but it was part of their broader calling. Jesus often withdrew to pray. He did this to refresh his spirit and to seek his father’s will so he would know what he should do during his encounters with people in the busy days that would follow. His times of deep intercession were balanced by periods of intense activity healing the sick, casting out demons, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom.
Judging by Paul’s letters, he also engaged in intense intercession (Eph 1:15-23; 3:16-21) but that was only a small part of his ministry. He was intensely involved in apostolic activity, preaching the gospel, discipling new believers, training leaders, writing letters. His intercession sustained his activities, rather than being the focus of his ministry.
I am coming to believe that intercession that is not balanced with active ministry can lose its way. The massive number of people who felt called to intercession and the huge increase in intercession has not brought the fruit that would have been expected if God was fully in it. Despite the highly-dedicated efforts of the intercessors, the church in the West has mostly gone downhill over the last century.
I suspect that one reason for this lack of effectiveness is the failure of intercessors to understand how authority functions, and their lack of it. The problem is that God has given all people freedom, so he will not force people to things that they don’t want to do. He will send angels and the Holy Spirit to put thoughts in their minds and he can constrain evil spirits that are manipulating them, but he will not force them to do what they do not want to do, no matter how much intercessors and are praying that they will.
The reality is that it is very difficult to bring real change in human behaviour from a prayer closet. Real personal change comes through encounters with other people demonstrating love and speaking the truth.
Political leaders have to be stubborn people, so it is almost impossible to change their behaviour by prayer alone, because God cannot force them to do things that they do not want to do. In a democracy, real political change can only come if many people modify their behaviour, so the prayer closet becomes even less effective, if not supported by other activity.
Real changes in behaviour towards God’s way will often come through:
- evangelistic people sharing the good news.
- pastoral people speaking balm to their hurts and fears.
- prophetic people challenging their false beliefs.
Our intercession is far more effective in the lives of people who have submitted to our authority, because they are family members, or they have recognised the value of our gifts and calling. People who are actively exercising their evangelistic, pastoral, prophetic or apostolic gifts/calling will be more effective in intercession, than people who remain hidden in their prayer closet, because people have submitted to them have given real authority to their intercession for them.
The ministry of intercessor might be a refuge for introverts, but if they remain in their prayer closet away from people, their authority will be limited and the effectiveness of their prayers constrained.
