Intercession is a form of prayer extremely pleasing to God and has a long tradition from the early stages of the Bible history. The Hebrew word for intercede originally meant "to strike upon", and thus comes to mean 'to assail anyone with petitions. ' When such assailing was done on behalf of others this was called intercession (Cf.Wycliffe Bible Dictonary)
We know from the Bible the names of a number of intercessors like, Abraham who interceded for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses who prayed for his people on Mount Sinai, Elijah who implored the Lord to turn the peoples' hearts back to worship Him alone (Kg 18: 36-37).
In the New Testament we see the early Church interceding for the deliverance of Peter from the prison (Acts 12: 5). Paul always interceded for Christ's Church (2 Cor 13:7) saying, "but we pray to God that you may not do anything wrong (2Cor. 13:9). In several of his letters we read how much he was praying for the Christian communities and for the spread of the Gospel (Eph 2: 17;Col 4:3; 1Thess.3:10). He instructs Timothy about a mode of intercession saying, "First of all, then, I urge That supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions...." (Tim2 :1-4).
We know from the Bible the names of a number of intercessors like, Abraham who interceded for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, Moses who prayed for his people on Mount Sinai, Elijah who implored the Lord to turn the peoples' hearts back to worship Him alone (Kg 18: 36-37).
In the New Testament we see the early Church interceding for the deliverance of Peter from the prison (Acts 12: 5). Paul always interceded for Christ's Church (2 Cor 13:7) saying, "but we pray to God that you may not do anything wrong (2Cor. 13:9). In several of his letters we read how much he was praying for the Christian communities and for the spread of the Gospel (Eph 2: 17;Col 4:3; 1Thess.3:10). He instructs Timothy about a mode of intercession saying, "First of all, then, I urge That supplications, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions...." (Tim2 :1-4).
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