INTERCESSION - Can we discover its nature.   Is it a Gift or a Calling? 

Wait on the Lord [xii]
To spend time waiting[xiii] on the Lord, without offering suggestions for prayer is, for me, the hardest prayer.  It has to be a prayer of "His will" not mine and so "my prayer" too, has to be surrendered .  Those with active minds, who “think seriously” about things will find this hard work and will feel that it goes against all their natural inclinations.      

Relationships are built slowly.   It helps to meditate on scriptures, such as John 14 and his first letter.  But I learned the most powerful lessons from Ephesians.   In the middle of writing of the love of husbands and wives Paul suddenly says,  "This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church." [xiv]   Both men and women have to learn of that submission if they are to be part of the Bride of Christ.

The words  "with my body I thee worship" might help here, for it is a total giving and surrender to another.   It also leads us into the area of praying with the whole body.    It might be dance or it might be the posture we adopt.   Are we willing to prostrate ourselves before the King of kings?

The Venn diagram shows the usual expectation of prayer and worship, they overlap.    The region of overlap is both prayer and worship, in this region we know that we are in the presence of God.    I am suggesting the possibility of a complete overlap as the place of contemplation, the place of "union with God".   It might be brief but there we have fully surrendered and wait on the grace of God’s Love.

                    Prayer          Worship                        Prayer AND Worship

Manifestations, Favours or Psychological effects.
When the Holy Spirit takes over anything might happen, as indeed it has in recent times.   The Mystics' stories are full of "experiences" but if we want to make progress we must follow their advice and "take no notice", for it is easy to be distracted and look for "favours".[xv]    Psychology seeks to explain what goes on in the head and I know that the chemical makeup of our brains causes all sorts of feelings.   Therefore it can be expected that when we concentrate on God the same chemicals trigger reactions.  The largely inactive part of our brain might well be available for God's use.   Some of the things that happen in prayer are similar to the effects of self hypnosis, for example hand movement and gentle tears; alpha waves can dominate at such time and so shut out all other stimuli.   This "state of consciousness" is not sleep but rather a place of intense concentration.   The head is not empty it is focussed on God and Love as we allow the Holy Spirit to control the mind.[xvi]    There can also be various aches and pains, illnesses even which may have psychosomatic or spiritual origins.[xvii]   The soul being made up of body, mind and spirit communicates with the brain and it is in times of God given contemplation that we "know" God and know mystical things that we cannot understand by reading of them.   I found that  A Carthusian  writes "The region of our souls where mystical grace is received is beyond the realm of our faculties:  it remains inviolable, and is always accessible to God."[xviii]     I find this strangely comforting it assures me of safety.

Springs of Living Water[xix]
There are six references to "Living Water" in the Bible.[xx]   This Living Water is God himself and the most amazing reference is,  "Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."    How can that be except to understand God as Love who will flow from within us.    That has to be the reservoir that St.Bernard of Clairvaux spoke of.   That is what the world needs, that is what God wants, are we willing to give up everything for it to happen?

Intercession - A Calling
I have found it helpful to learn from the Mystics and I know that there are many ordinary Christians who have the time to spend with the Lord.   Today fewer seem to be called to the monastic life and it would seem that God is now using people, especially women whose family responsibilities are reduced, to fill the gap.  These have been described as intercessors, sometimes they stand out as their prayers are frequently answered[xxi], often they walk a solitary desert path and enjoy the Lord's company, they are people who can touch the heart of God.   The way for each one is different, it is impossible to pray for everything so we must each respond where He leads.    For these I have no doubt that Intercession is a calling  but I now believe that to be part of much deeper prayer.

Intercession - A Gift
Most in the Church who recognise a calling would identify with other forms of service.   Perhaps as an evangelist, pastor or teacher but such work demands that much time is spent in prayer[xxii].   Often our clergy are  overworked and the churches leave them insufficient time to be alone with God.   The Daily Office has its value but does not eliminate the need for other forms of prayer.[xxiii]   A time of Solitude brings blessings and the gifts that the Gift would impart.   Only God knows exactly where intercession starts but within this gift of space, God cleanses us and equips us for service.

Of the normally accepted Gifts of the Spirit[xxiv], wisdom, knowledge, discernment, prophecy and tongues are of obvious value.  The intercessor uses such gifts to pray according to the will of God but the fluency with which one sometimes prays aloud at a gathering, is pure gift to the church.  God uses the channel that he has created.    The purifying of those who spend much time in the presence of the Lord will bring forth the fruit [xxv], the qualities of Christ himself.  Every intercessor welcomes joy and peace, but we need the humility for which many strive.   This can only be received slowly as a gift as we learn to surrender all.

In conclusion
I sought to discover whether intercession is a gift or a calling because different people see it in different ways.   What I have discovered is that the Lord wants us all to draw closer to Him and be sanctified.   The call to us all is to become like Jesus.     No Christian will dispute this, but there is a cost - a commitment: how much of ourselves are we prepared to give?   Before one can hear the call to live a life of intercession it is necessary to have already moved close enough to acknowledge that one hears God speak.    We can expect to be gifted with all that is necessary for intercession.    

Studying the lives of those we recognise as intercessors we discover, not so much how to intercede or even what it is but examples of men and women who spent much time in God's company.   The gift He gives is love but more than that he gives HHHHimself.    The Mystics recognised this and at the same time gave completely of themselves.   This brought about a union which seems to be rare.     We look to Christ, The Intercessor as the ultimate example and seek to imitate Him[xxvi].    What God does with the union is out of our control but what is in our hearts matters as it is the raw material of our part in the process.[xxvii]    This suggests that intercession is both a gift and a calling.    Closeness to God, waiting on him brings the gift of intercession, for it is here that the Gift acts.    Hence we can say "all Christians can intercede".    However there have always been those who have been called to "a life of prayer", for them intercession is a calling but it may better be described as a contemplative life.    For St.Teresa, and others, prayer became this ultimate contact with God namely infused contemplation.    This is that rare gift.

Others speak of this rare gift and we can desire it, yet immediately it slips away as it is the Giver whom we must seek; for He is the "giving Gift"[xxviii]    He willingly gives Himself, can we want more?    Our desire for understanding causes us to analyse this, to define intercession and perhaps lose the mystery.    This raises more questions:   Can we receive Him?   Do we have enough capacity?[xxix]   Is He withholding something that we can't be trusted with?      Is there a gift that He doesn't often give "because of our fears, our blindness, our ignorance, our hatred of risk"[xxx]?

Therefore I return to safer ground and encourage all to journey as far as they are able on this path of prayer resting in the certainty that God gives good gifts[xxxi], and the calling of us all is to believe in Christ[xxxii].  For as St.Thomas à Kempis  wrote:

"Faith is demanded of you , and a simple life;  not intellectual height nor deep knowledge of God's mysteries...................................................................................God walks with the simple, reveals himself to the lowly, gives understanding to the little ones, opens the meaning to pure minds, and hides grace from the inquisitive and conceited.    Human reason is weak and can be misled;  but true faith cannot be deceived.   All reason and natural research should follow faith, not go before it.  [xxxiii]

The things of God are beyond our understanding and yet He graciously invites us to share in Intercession.   It seems to me that if I trust Him and surrender my whole being[xxxiv] then I have done all I am asked to do, in fact I can do no more    In the end it is only by His grace that we are called and can come into this special place.  Then we dare not deny him, this is the "Fear of the Lord and the beginning of Wisdom".[xxxv]

As you stand in the gap holding a situation in your heart you offer yourself and God blesses by allowing you to receive Him - that is the Gift of Intercession.

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