“He(God) … wondered that there was no intercessor …” Isaiah 59:16

The reason many of us stop praying and become hard toward God is that we usually have a personal or emotional interest in prayer. Some of us like to pray but for the wrong reasons: we've read books on prayer which tell us that prayer is beneficial — that our our souls are uplifted and appeased with the assurance that God will take care of us and will answer our prayers, though in His own ways that He sees best for us. However, Isaiah implied in this verse that God is amazed at this kind of prayer, which does not focus on interceding for God's will and for others but on ourselves. Intercession in its very core definition is to pray or intercede for others. By nature, we are all quite selfish, self-centered and interested mainly in our own affairs and our prayers are mostly centered on ourselves, our immediate family, relatives, and friends. Yet, this is not the patterns and the teachings we find throughout the Bible concerning prayer. Another instance is found in Ephesians 6:18 which says, "praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints." Note that the object of prayer mentioned here is not ourselves, but "all the saints!" The Church is what the Lord is seeking to gain in an among the saints; thus, we are exhorted to pray for the saints for the accomplishment of God's eternal purpose in obtaining a glorious Church that expresses His the fulness of Christ (Eph 1:23).

Furthermore, we need to pay special attention to the fact that worship and intercession must go hand-in-hand; one is impossible without the other, because intercession is only effective when we raise ourselves up in worship to the point of being one with the mind of Christ regarding the person for whom we are praying (Phi 2:5). Yet instead of worshiping God, we have a tendency to give speeches and instructions to God about how He is supposed to work. Are we worshiping God or disputing Him when we say in our prayers, 'But Lord, I don’t see what You are accomplishing through all these trials or how You are going to answer our prayers by this means?' This is a sure sign that we are not worshiping. When we lose sight of God, we naturally set our eyes on ourselves and our ways. Consequently, we cast our petitions at His throne and dictate to Him what we want Him to do. This is not worshipping God, nor are we seeking to conform our minds to the mind of Christ, which is marked with self-sacrifice rather than self-centeredness and bent on doing the will of God at all cost. Thus when we are self-disposed, we will intercede on behalf of the interests of others as we ought(Phi 2:4).

We need to pray by way of worshiping God that raises us up to where we have such intimate contact with Him that we unite with His mind about the ones for whom we pray. Do you find yourself thinking that there is no one interceding properly? Then we need first be that person ourselves and intercede that God would raise us more intercessors or prayer warriors whom the Lord can use to accomplish His will on the earth and to bring in His kingdom. This is how we can be a person who truly worships God and are true intercessors before Him. May the Lord not find a shortage of people who are true intercessors in these last days as He did in the days of Isaiah the prophet. Get involved in the real work of intercession, remembering that it is the most productive work that we can do for God and it truly requires work — work that demands all your energy and much time, but work which is most beneficial and fruitful. Preaching the gospel, teaching the Word of God, taking care of the practical needs of the saints and other outward works in the Church are necessary but they are very limited in what spiritual benefits can be derived from them; however, worshipping-intercessory prayer is the kind of work and cooperation that God is seeking after the most among His people and which is most lacking. May we all heed the pleading of God through His prophet and His ministers about this lack and rise up to fill up this lack through the Grace of Christ.