Kenneth Copeland - How To Pray a Prayer of Intercession
Prayers of petition and then prayers of intercession. Let's go to the book of Matthew, please. Chapter 12. And let's begin reading. Verse 31, "Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit. O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things. But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the Day of Judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned".
So what is an idle word? Okay, I'm glad you asked me that. Verse 36. "I tell you, on the Day of Judgment, men will have to give account for every idle, inoperative, non-working word they speak". Well, I'll see y'all later if a train don't hit me. Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Now the reason I bring that up, there's a man that said that, and said that, and said that, and said that, and said that, and a train hit him. destroyed his car. Thank God, he wasn't killed. That's an idle word. But every word, every word, words are spiritual containers. God created the universe with his Word. Why is this the Word of God? The Holy Bible. Bible just means a gathering up of facts. But a Holy Bible is God's Word. It is his bond. He's not a man that he should lie. Neither the Son of Man that he should repent. The Son of Man came, could have lied, and didn't.
So now, the prayer of intercession is going... Charles Finney, there's one time he walked into a machine shop. He just walked in there. All these men were working on different things, and they all just fell on the floor. But nobody talks about his intercessor. Yes sir, yes ma'am. He had someone that went in ahead of time and prayed the power down on the place, and all Finney had to do is show up. Glory to God. And I had the Lord tell me one time, I was doing some fasting and praying and just going before the Lord about these things. And this is not word for word, but this is what came out of it. My people know little to nothing about intercession. They don't know how to intercede or make supplication for someone. He said, you can intercede for a city. You can intercede for a church. You can intercede. You make supplication. Standing in the gap. That's what the Bible calls it. Standing in the gap.
And in the first covenant, it said, I have no one to shout, restore. Restore, restoration. Yes. Restore this to him. Restore this to her. Restore this to this church. Intercession. Intercession, supplication. Standing in the gap. This is why it is so vitally important to be able to pray in the Holy Spirit. I like what the Apostle Paul said. I pray with my understanding. I pray with my spirit by the Holy Spirit within me. That's what the Amplified said. I sing in the Spirit. I sing by the Holy Spirit within me. Praying in tongues is the gateway to the supernatural. Interceding. Just crying out for someone. So we go to the eighth chapter of the book of Romans. Dear Lord, by your words you're justified. Thank You, Jesus. By your words. And that's where you know it or not. Every human being that's old enough to know how to talk, that is old enough for accountability. I don't care what language you guys speak. They're held accountable by their words. Particularly those, the more revelation of the Word you have, then you have more accountability. Amen.
So now, in this eighth chapter of Romans, Verse 20. "The creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption under the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. Not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even when we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption to know the redemption of our body". Glory to God. Did Jesus ever do that? He groaned in the Spirit and said, "Father, I know you always hear me. Roll the stone away. Lazarus, come forth". Somebody said if he hadn't called his name, all of them would come up. He groaned in the Spirit. What is he doing? Same thing. Hallelujah. Glory to God. Thank You, Jesus. Thank You.
Now, here we go. Verse 24. "For we are saved by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man sees, what does he yet hope for? But if we hope for that which we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities". Now, I learned from Brother Hagin and then from Rick Renner, there's three Greek words there, takes hold together with us against. The Spirit himself takes hold together with us. The Spirit takes hold together with us, our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray for as we ought. We know what to pray for, but I don't know how, but how do I pray for this? What prayer do I use here? What do I do? Do I pray the prayer of faith? Do I pray the prayer of faith and intercession at the same time? Well, he knows. And he takes hold together with me.
"The Spirit, glory to God, takes hold together with us against my infirmities. We know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searches the heart knows what the mind of the Spirit, because he makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God". Hallelujah. Glory to God. Oh. Thank You, Jesus. "And we know that all things work together for the good". Oh, yes, that car wreck was for my good, you know. "We know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren".
You have to read all of it. You don't just take little, it's like skipping a rock across a pond. The rock will finally sink. And so will you. Or I will sink just by bouncing across some scriptures here and there. And if you find a scripture like that, then go back and read that whole chapter. There are conditions. "So, when shall we say to these things, if God be for us, who can be against us"? Don't leave that out. "He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is he that condemns? It is Christ that died, yea, rather is risen again. It is Christ that died, yea, rather risen again. It is Christ that died, yea, rather risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who makes intercession for us all".
So, why don't we get in agreement with him? Any two, he's making intercession for us all. "So, God, who also makes intercession for us, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword, as it is written, for thy sake we're killed all day long, we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Knowing all these things, we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels or principalities or powers or things present or things to come nor height nor depth nor any creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord". Whoa!
Now, what are those? Those are intercession words. You can take those words and go before the king. That's what he was doing. He didn't get this on the fly. He said, "I speak in tongues more than you all". One translation said, "I speak in tongues more than all of you put together". But there's such things decent and in order. You can take those words right there. Open your Bible and go to the king. I kept hearing one time, this is many years ago, of course, I kept hearing the devil say, "This ministry is going down the drain. This ministry is going down the drain. It's going down the drain". I said, "No, it's not going down the drain. I have the plug to the drain right here".
So I put my Bible down on the floor and stood on it and said, "I am not going down the drain". You just fight him on your ground. Not his. So let's go to the book of Hebrews chapter two. These are the words that God used to raise Jesus from the dead. Did you realize that? "For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, today have I begotten thee, and again I'll be a Father and he's again. Again. Again, I will be to him a Father and he shall be to me a Son". Because he was separated from God. You can read that and read it, read it from the Amplified in the 22nd Psalm. My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? It is finished. All right. "Again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, Let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angel, he maketh his angels and spirits and ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son, he saith, thy throne, O God, is forever and ever".
Can't you just see this? I mean, he's in hell... suffering there for you and me. Oh my. Can't you just hear it ringing down through hell itself? "Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. And a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity. Therefore, God, even thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above your fellows and thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the works of thine hands. They shall perish, but you remain. They'll all wax old as doth a garment and as a vesture shall thou fold them up and they'll be changed. They are the same. Your ears shall not fail, but which of the angels said he at any time, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemy thy footstool. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation"?
Glory to God. Verse four, "God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will"? So we can come down here. Verse eight, "Thou has put all things in subjection under his feet that thou has put all suggestion under his feet. He's left nothing that is under him. But now we see not all things under him. We see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angel, a fallen angel for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man".
I'm talking about intercession. He shall taste death for every man. He tasted death for every human being. Now a born-again human being, you can't taste it when you die. You taste the joy. You can't taste it. You can't smell it. You can't see it. You can't hear it and you can't feel it. You just depart. If you're not born again, then other arrangements will be made for you and you will taste it and you will feel it. And the fear of death will, the death of an infidel. Those people that it impossible to bring them to repentance. What about Judas? Jesus said, "Whoa to the man that betrays me. It'd have been better if he had not been born".
And when he came up, Jesus called him friend. Oh, friend. But the words he used are covenant words. In some translations that friend is capitalized, friend. He could have backed out. He could have repented later. But he committed suicide in that condition. And in that condition, when he tried to hang himself, the limb broke and he burst in the middle. But all that had been prophesied. And Jesus was trying. But notice in the 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 chapters of John is all record of that meal. When you go back and read it, Jesus got him out of there before he made any more instructions. He said, "What you have to do, do quickly".
So in this case, well, let's go over here. Oh, wait a minute. I want to go a little further with this. "It became him for whom are all things by whom are all things bringing many sons to glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect or mature through sufferings for both he that sanctifies and they that are sanctified are all of one for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren". Oh, that's what hit me. That's what hit me when I had that little book by E.W. Kenyon, The Blood Covenant that hit me right there. Jesus of Nazareth is my blood brother. Yes. There's a blood connection between us and I don't speak that blood lightly. Hallelujah. Very reverent to that blood, but I use it. It is a weapon. The blood and the name together. Hallelujah.