"I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone" (1 Tim. 2:1).*

HY WOULD WE NEED TO INTERCEDE WITH GOD ON behalf of another person? Since God's love for us is as high as heaven (Ps. 103:11), isn't He already doing everything He can to move us to be saved? Isn't God, who gave up His Son for us, already giving us all things (Rom. 8:32)? Yet James adds, "You do not have, because you do not ask God" (James 4:2). Why does asking cause God to be moved to do more for us than He already is doing? Is God "limited" without our prayers?

The confusing questions swirled through me like autumn leaves in the wind, begging for answers. I looked up every Bible text about prayer, carefully categorizing each by what it revealed. It was an intensive study.

What I discovered was that intercessory prayer is vital.

"God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you" (1 Sam. 12:23, KJV), Samuel wrote. Isaiah wrote, "The Lord looked. . . . He was appalled that there was no one to intervene" (Isa. 59:15, 16). Moses' intercessory prayer moved the heart of God in behalf of Israel (Ex. 32:9-14). And as I began reading books on prayer, I kept hearing similar testimonies. One woman, for example, prayed entire nights for specific lost people until they responded.¹

Yet I could not grasp why humans should intercede for others before an all-loving God. I began to pray for understanding, balking at the idea of a God who was "limited" and dependent. It seemed a sacrilege! What I was slow to discover was this: God voluntarily "limits" Himself.

The God Who Holds Back
Although God has given all of us a "measure of faith" (Rom. 12:3), and although He draws us each to Himself (John 6:44), He simply will not rescue us from sin without our choice. He has given us the right to reject Him.

Imagine, then, the pain God must go through, having the ultimate power to save the humans He deeply loves, yet holding Himself back in order not to violate their freedom!

But it goes deeper. God allowed humans to decide who would be their world leader when He placed the tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden. We may think of it today as a "voting" tree. And by their choice Adam and Eve cast a deciding vote for Satan.

Of course, God reigns over the nations as the King of kings (Ps. 47:8; 1 Tim. 6:15). And although He allows equal access to both good and evil forces during this, so to speak, continuing behind-the-scenes election campaign, He is in absolute control overall. He regulates how much freedom Satan has (see Job 1) and decides when evil has gone far enough (Gen. 6:5-8). But the fact remains that our first parents elected Satan as our world leader. To change that picture we must, of our own free will, cast a decided vote for God. Until then, God restrains Himself to allow our own free will to emerge.

God also "limits" Himself to take into account Satan's wrongful accusations. In the book of Job, for example, we hear the devil posing the following challenge: "'Does Job fear God for nothing? Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face'" (Job 1:9-11). And we know the rest of the story.

In effect Satan was saying, "Look, God, You're not playing fair. Job is voting for You only because You protect Him. Let me at him and see what happens." So God held back His protection, allowing Satan to bring evil on Job.

And so it is for all Christians today. God wants that there be no doubt that He is fair, even if He thereby runs the risk of being accused of not caring by the very ones He loves.

God Waits Until Asked
How does prayer remove the restrictions on God? As I see it, we "unlimit" God when we ask Him into our lives, thereby voting for Him to be our ruler. In that act we put our trust in His promise that "all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28, KJV). And "all things" includes even what Satan intends for evil. It's not that God is moved to do more for us when we pray-His all-consuming motivation is already there! But "God must wait until He is asked before He can do what He wants to do-not because He is powerless, but because of the way He has chosen to exercise His will."²

Prayer "unlimits" God to work with power. How much power? Paul wrote, "I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know . . . his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead" (Eph. 1:18-20). God "is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us" (Eph. 3:20). "God . . . waits for our requests for help so that He will then have the legal right in the sight of the inhabitants of the universe to move with power into Satan's domain and rescue his captives."³ "Your prayers move God to change the world. You may not understand the mystery of prayer. You don't need to. But this much is clear: actions in heaven begin when someone prays on earth."⁴

Interceding for the Unwilling?
But can we invite God into the lives of people who aren't asking? Wouldn't that be violating their freedom of choice?

Notice the following passage in Job: "His sons used to take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would send and have them purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, 'Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.' This was Job's regular custom" (Job 1:4, 5).

Job felt that if he interceded for his children, God would respond and forgive them. Incredible!

Oswald Chambers said, "By intercessory prayer we can hold off Satan from others' lives and give the Holy Spirit a chance to work with them. No wonder Jesus put such tremendous emphasis on prayer!"⁵ In Prayer Warriors Ron Halvorsen states: "Intercession is our signed invitation to God to intervene in the lives of others-to protect them from the enemy and heal the wounds he has made. Spread the protection of intercession over our children. During the crucial preteen and adolescent years, emerging adults are under great pressure and in great spiritual danger. They are not always mature enough to pray for themselves. Sponsor teenagers before God, pushing back the powers of darkness. If instead of shaking our heads at how 'young people are going to the dogs,' the church were to go into prayer battle for them, we would see miraculous changes in the lives of young people around us. Don't criticize-intercede!"⁶

One Experience
An older man regularly attended our church. He knew the Bible thoroughly, but had never accepted Jesus. I had come to love him deeply even though I knew of atrocious crimes he had committed-crimes that most people would label as unforgivable. When he was diagnosed with a fatal cancer, with just about two years to live, I began praying for him intensely. No longer was it a here-and-there prayer. I prayed! I asked God to send him the Holy Spirit with power, filling him with grace. Sometimes he seemed ready to accept, then resolutely clung to belief in his worthlessness. He couldn't get past the thought that he was too bad to save.

As death approached, I began visiting him daily. Then, abruptly, he became delirious. I spent the next three days crying out for God to save him and to let me know it before he died. On the third day I found him sitting in a chair in his right mind. He looked at me and said, "I've given my heart to God. I'm ready." Immediately he fell back into delirium and died three days later. But my heart was at peace.

We should pray that the strongholds of Satan-"the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does" (1 John 2:16)-will be bound.

Intercessory prayer is crucial.

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¹ Ellen G. White, Life Sketches (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1915), pp. 41, 42.
² B. J. Willhite, Why Pray? (Altamonte Springs, Fla.: Creation House, 1988).
³ Roger Morneau, Incredible Answers to Prayer (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald Pub. Assn., 1990), p. 57. (Italics supplied.)
⁴ Max Lucado, The Great House of God (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1997), p. 91.
⁵ Oswald Chambers, On My Knees (Bloomington, Minn.: Garbourg's, Inc., 1997), Nov. 7.
⁶ Ron Halvorsen, Prayer Warriors (Fallbrook, Calif.: Hart Research Center, 1995), pp. 100, 78, 79.

* Scripture references are from the New International Version, unless otherwise indicated.

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Dolores J. Moore is the prayer ministry leader and kindergarten leader of the Grass Valley, California, Adventist Church. She is also a foster mom and involved in Bible study and missions.