God's divine order is that we put others first. Psalm 37:4 “says if we delight ourselves in the Lord, He'll give us the desires of our heart.” Someone who's always seeking his or her own desires and needs to be met are not delighting themselves in the Lord. To delight yourself in the Lord is to be like Him, to delight in His attitudes, in the nature of His own character. Jesus' nature was to put others first, he always sought the best for others. It was first the Father and then others. It needs to be the same with us.
If we are delighting in God, we'll be so busy praying for the needs of others we won't be worrying about our own. Psalm 37:4 gives us the peace and assurance that that doesn't mean we'll be forgotten but as we're lost in the needs of others He'll be taking care of ours. As faith talking, spirit walking Christians, the majority of our prayers and confessions could be made for others. The balance of Mark 11:23-24 is 1 John 3:22 those things that are pleasing in His sight include praying for others.
Deny self:
Self denial means to put others first out of a heart of love and; with joy. Not as a religious exercise and an attitude of "I must kill the flesh and force myself to do this for so and so or God will be mad! That attitude is no better than legalism or working for God's approval. What is your purpose of heart? The bible says we should have strong purpose of heart.
We break divine order when we put ourselves first. We stop abiding in His nature when we break divine order and it will hinder our prayers. We're still saved and we can still pray in tongues, we just stop abiding in His Nature because his nature is not to be first, and the word says that only when we abide in Him do we ask what we will and it shall be done.) Abiding in Jesus initially is being grafted into the tree but then, the fiber of the branch and the fiber of the tree reach out to one another and intertwine until the branch is fully grafted in and knitted together with the fabric of the tree. The thoughts and attitudes of God need to be intertwined with our thoughts until we become like Him.
In Acts 6:.38, the bible teaches give and it shall be given unto you. God stirs men’s hearts to give unto you when you're praying for others out of a right motive of joyful love, giving back because God gave to you. Not forcing yourself so you'll get a blessing or so you'll get in good with God. He knows your heart your dead works don't mean a thing, they'll be burned up at the judgment. So, 1 Timothy 2:1-4, Pray 1st for government. We don't pray for them because they're good or bad, or we like them or we don't, we pray because of Jesus. He gave His life for them too, verse 4; He wants ALL men to be saved. So, we pray for our government so that we can live, in peace, in godliness and honesty, and spread the gospel.
We’re here to magnify the goodness of God and the goodness of God, leads men to repentance Romans 2:4. We are the salt, or the preservative, our job is to keep the grace and the mercy of God moving among the world to give them every opportunity to be saved. We do that by intercession. We are intercessors. Our whole life is intercession. Jesus was an intercessor here on earth and is still interceding at the right hand of the Father today. It is the ministry of standing in the gap between the new covenant and a lost and dying world; and being in a position of intercession/praying them into a state of openness where they will come and open the door and let Jesus in to their lives to change their hearts. We're not soul winners, we're intercessors.
We're no longer getting people to be convinced in their minds, but changed in their hearts; and only Jesus can do that. See: 1 Samuel 16:7, 1 Kings 8:39, Proverbs 17:3, Jeremiah 17:10, John 2:23-25, Acts 1:24, 1 Thessalonians 2:4, Revelation 2:23 - The Lord knows the heart of man, no amount of talking will change a man's heart, only his mind. We may bring them to a place of openness and knowledge with witnessing and talking and teaching, but only through intercession will we touch men's hearts. Only through intercession can the debris be cleared so that Jesus can change and transform hearts and lives.
In Ezekiel 22:30-31, there was no intercessor. If there was an intercessor, one man to stand in the gap, the wrath of God would never have come upon them. Just one!
The law of sowing and reaping took effect God had held back this law. By his Grace, these people had sown wickedness, lying, murder, corruption, etc. and they were way overdue for payment and God had kept back what they sowed from coming upon them. Finally He said is there anyone who'll pray for these people because I can't hold it back any longer. Please pray and ask me not to do it and I won't do it! But, there was no one.
God doesn't just do what He wants He can't just do anything. He can't break spiritual law; or His own covenant, or His Word. We have a part in the covenant, we do our part, and He does His. He won't do ours (He can't do ours), and we can't do His. The Father sent His Son into the house of bondage and brought you out. There are others still there. He wants you to go in, through intercession, and bring them out. Not just the lost and dying world, but your own brothers and sisters, bound, hurting, and walking in areas of darkness!
Without a vision the word says the people perish. The vision of the Father is others intercession. God wants all men saved. Why doesn't He just do it? Because, he still needs an intercessor. There are forces in the world whose job it is to prevent the revelation of the truth of God's word from getting to people, because if it did, it would be the end of their rule. We need to tune ourselves into the will of God and get in line with it in intercession.
Through intercessory prayer, the hosts (angels) of heaven are brought to your aid, and when you intercede for others, it causes not only the Holy Spirit, but also angels to come and minister to those you're praying for. By effective Intercession you can surround people with the power of God. You can't make a person get saved because their will is involved, but you can create an environment for them such that if at anytime a hole opens up in their heart and they begin to turn towards God. He'll be right there. If they will turn their heart to the Lord the Holy Spirit will reach in and get hold of the cords of their heart and begin to draw them.
Many are so buried in darkness, layers and layers of darkness. We need to, through intercessory prayer, clear the layers of darkness or demon forces away from the recipients, of our prayer, enabling the Holy Spirit to bring light. How? You pray down spiritual strongholds, spiritual blindness, spiritual deafness, and dullness of heart. That's Intercessory prayer, that's spiritual warfare.
What kinds of Strongholds?
Spiritual bondages that hold us in darkness in the soul's realm the mind, will, and emotions, Stubbornness, rebellion, rejection, fears, traditions, idolatry, pride, lust, alcoholism, drugs, sluggishness of mind, selfishness, unbelief, doubt, religious error, etc. The prayer of binding and loosing comes in here too. You bind these things from operating in their lives and loose the truth of the word, the light of the Lord in their lives.
You pray for God's mercy to cover their sin. Pray for His Mercy and Grace to hold back, their reaping what they're sowing. When you wrestle in intercessory prayer and in groaning to deep to be uttered, {Romans 8:26-27), Amplified, you're not wrestling with God! You're wrestling with demon powers.
Always use your helper in intercession. Let the Holy Spirit help you, he comes to our aid the bible says. He doesn't do the praying, that's our responsibility. He'll give you what to pray, the words (He helps) but you have to make yourself available, open your mouth, and pray! It's not the Holy Spirits responsibility to pray, it's yours. Verse 27 says "he who searches the hearts" we already gave scripture to show that God is He who searches the hearts. And God knows how to design an effective prayer for each person, let the Holy Spirit help you.
Jesus is the Intercessor. He is the intercessor for all creation and we are intercessors with Him. We are His vessels, we are what He is, (1 John 4:17), in this world. He's an intercessor at the right hand of the Father, and so are we in this world.
A spirit of humility is very important in intercessory prayer. Abraham was humble before God when he pleaded for Sodom and Gomorrah. You're coming before God with serious matters, however, don't crawl in like a worm in front of God either. You're a son and an heir, clothed in His righteousness; come with respect, gratitude and boldness.
As an intercessor, you're taking the place of another, standing in the gap. You’re pleading their case. Sometimes you'll feel their pain and sorrow too. Jesus, the bible says, can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, that means weaknesses. We are intercessors with Him, and we can be touched by others pain, sorrow, and weakness too. Only man can intercede. Jesus is a man and God. The Holy Spirit does not intercede, He helps. This is how you get people "saved", on your knees, standing in the gap, praying, interceding.
Get rid of the God can't bless me/I/us attitude. That's not His attitude, that's not abiding in Him. That is not an intercessors attitude. God's grace is holding back the law of sowing and reaping upon the world today through intercession of the saints. It's the wall of intercession offered up the saints that keeps men from receiving for their evil doing, and brings them to a point where they will acknowledge God and repent. The Galatians had received the truth and then turned back to the law and practicing legalism instead of grace. In 4:19, Paul says, "I labor again until Christ be formed in you.
There's no birth into the kingdom without the labor and travail of intercession (just like natural birth). The reason intercession is important is because satan holds these people in bondage, even though he is defeated by robbing and lying to them, and he won't give them up with out a fight. You need to forget your needs, leave them in God's hands, 1 Peter 5:7, and take up the needs of others in prayer.
Praying in the Spirit:
II Corinthians 14:14-15, you don't always know what you're praying for. In intercessory prayer we need to pray both with the mind and the spirit, the understanding and the lack of it. There are many things you could never intercede for with the understanding. Pray in the Spirit.
Start somewhere. Take some time and faithfully intercede. Make the effort to be steadfast. You are a steward of your prayer privilege. Ezekiel 22: 30 “And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none.”