Intercessory Prayer

Word Study

Hebrew

Pray

Hebrew expression: palal

Pronunciation: paw LAHL

Strong’s Number: 6419

KEY VERSES

Genesis 20:17; 1 Kings 8:30; 2 Chronicles 7:14

Prayer is one of the activities that make human beings unique among God’s creatures. Only human beings can pray to their Creator and Redeemer—animals and plant life can not pray. In fact, prayer is the highest kind of human spiritual activity. In times of great joy (Ps. 136) or times of great distress, people will pray (Ps. 107:23–28).

The Hebrew verb palal means “to pray,” or “to intercede.” It comes from the root, pll, which carries the idea of “intervening” or “interposing.” One who prays “interposes” himself or herself between God and some other thing, condition, or person. The Bible assumes that people will pray to their God, since they are dependent upon Him for everything (our sin makes prayer even more of a necessity). The power of prayer is simply amazing because it changes not only the world, but also the person praying. It touches not only the supplicant, but also the very heart of God. During Solomon’s dedication of the Temple, Solomon spoke of the power of prayer (2 Chr. 7:13–16). Through prayer (palal), people who are called by the Lord’s Name can move God to hear them, forgive them, and heal them and also their land. Prayer must be accompanied by humility—a serious search for God and a genuine rejection of evil. Only if these attitudes and actions are present will prayer be heard—and only when this kind of attitude accompanies prayer will it be effective. Abraham prayed for Abimelech with this attitude, and God heard him (Gen. 20:7). Moses prayed for the people of Israel (Num. 21:7), and God heard him. Hannah prayed to have a child, and God heard her (1 Sam. 1:19, 27). Elisha prayed for his servant, and God heard him (2 Kgs. 6:17–18).

We, the believers, are in a better situation than the Old Testament people of faith because we have the Holy Spirit in us, moving us to prayer (proseuchomai in Greek) and praise. Yet, James makes it clear that our prayers must be accompanied by faith in God (Jas. 1:5–8). We must believe in the Almighty God we are petitioning. He cites Elijah’s courageous prayer for rain as a model of a great prayer of faith (see Jas. 5:17–18). Jesus Himself took time to teach His disciples to pray and encouraged them never to give up praying (see Luke 18:1). In summary, prayer is a precious gift from God—a gift none of us should ignore. With it, we can enter God’s presence and present our thanks and humble requests. God promises to hear us and answer.

Greek

Prayer

See also: Pray, p. 138

Greek expression: proseuchē (verb proseuchomai)

Pronunciation: prawss ew KAY; prawss EW kaw migh

Strong’s Numbers: 4335, 4336

KEY VERSES

Matthew 6:9; Acts 2:42; Philippians 4:6

All believers want to know how to pray effectively. The place to begin is with Christ’s teaching and example. Christ’s dependence on His Father expresses itself in repeated prayer, culminating in His prayer after the last supper and the agony of Gethsemane, followed by His prayer from the cross (John 17). The parables on “prayer” (proseuchē in Greek) are another important source of Christ’s teaching. These parables emphasize persistence (Luke 18:1–8), tenacity (Luke 11:5–8), simplicity and humility (Luke 18:10–14). A significant source of teaching about prayer is the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:9–13). The requests given in the Lord’s Prayer are concerned first with God, His kingdom and His glory, and then with our need for forgiveness and for daily support and deliverance.

Christ stated that when the Holy Spirit came, the disciples would pray to the Father in the name of Christ (John 16:23–25). Accordingly, we find that after the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost the early church is characterized by prayer (Acts 2:42). The Spirit enables all Christians to come to God with all their needs. Prominent among these needs, in the mind of the apostle Paul, are a deepening of faith in Christ, love for God, and a growing appreciation of God’s love in turn (Eph. 3:14–19). Prayer is also part of the Christian’s armor against satanic attack (Eph. 6:18). Furthermore, believers are encouraged to pray for all sorts of things, with thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6), to be free from anxiety.

The Christian’s prayer is rooted, objectively, in Christ’s intercession; subjectively, in the enabling of the Holy Spirit. The church is a kingdom of priests, offering spiritual sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving (Heb. 13:15; 1 Pet. 2:5), but Christ is the great High Priest. Nowhere in Scripture is it suggested that there is any other mediator between God and people except Christ (1 Tim. 2:5). Nowhere in either the Old Testament or New Testament is there any encouragement to pray to individuals other than God. Thus, the church is encouraged to come to God boldly in prayer, receive God’s mercy through Jesus Christ, and be reassured that grace will be provided when it is needed (Heb. 4:14–16; 9:24; 10:19–23).