“To open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”
Acts 26:18 (Bible Gateway)
To Intercede, is to intervene between two parties in other to reconcile their differences. In other words, this simply means to stand in gap for someone who have missed their way or purpose or helpless in situation pertaining to the purpose of God concerning their life or to help connect someone who is unable to find his or her way to their source. To be sincere, whoever is lost whether in physical or the spiritual realm is in danger, it’s a stage whereby confusion is what they have left, he or she needs nothing but that which could bring them peace and deliverance.
From the biblical stand point, the person who is lost is someone who is not yet saved from eternal destruction, someone whose ways are far from reaching their maker (God). A person or group of persons who are yet to see the light of christ or to hear the word of God or might have been hearing God’s word without doing what the word says or instructs.
The Bible called these people the lost because they’re very far from the light and the salvation of christ, they are missing their right track.
I will like us to take the book of John 1:1-5 for more understanding but my emphasis would be from verse five.
John 1:1-5-
It says In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Verse five,
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
Who exactly was in the beginning and who then is the life and the light?. Jesus Christ the son of the living God is the word of God, He was from the beginning, He is the life and the light of men.
HOW DO MEN, THE LOST IN PARTICULAR GET THE LIGHT?
They get life, when they see the light and come into the knowledge and submission to the light, confess and forsake their ways and ask for the life of the light and when this is duly done they would receive the life!! When they come into submission, they’ll receive the knowledge of the light and the truth of the light.
This is what it means when we talk about the lost or when the bible makes mention of the lost, they have to be persuaded or convinced of about the word, they have to hear about the word before they can believe, they are yet to comprehend the light, simply because they are under the influence of darkness. They remain in the dark until they come into the full knowledge of the light, they can not receive anything from the light, they’ll continue living in that dark and being swept away by the danger of that darkness because they have are yet to understand who the Light is. (The person, God)
So to bring us back home with the length of this knowledge, interceding for the lost is one thing, reaching out to them physically is another thing and both are extremely important. Interceding for the lost can be done right from your closest, in the church, anywhere etcetera, we must pray.
“For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
Luke 19:10 (Bible Gateway)
Ist Timothy 2:4,- confirmed that God wants none to be lost
“who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”. (Bible Gateway)
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO INTERCEDE FOR THE LOST OR INTERCEDING FOR THE LOST MANDATORY TO BELIEVER?
The right answer from these questions would be directed from the book of Acts 26:18 we’ve read earlier on Acts 26:18,
” To open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”
(Bible Gateway) .
From this scripture, we could see ‘THREE PITIFUL THINGS’ that drive us to intercede for the lost as far as the Bible is concerned.
One of them is BLINDNESS
2 Corinthians 4:4 (Bible Gateway)
” The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God”.
They’re spiritually and physically blinded, though their two optical eyes are working, they’re blinded because they can’t see the light of the gospel of Christ.
No two is SATAN, they didn’t become blinded just like that there’s someone behind their blindness. The Bible spelled satan as a liar and a thief and that his work is to steal, kill and destroy. The third thing to consider about these people is SIN. We all know that when the assignment of sin is accomplished what is left behind is death; eternal damnation. With all these listed, we must constantly and earnestly intercede for the lost.
It is God’s desire that all believers intercede for the lost, do you know that there may have been someone who stood before God travailing, pleading with him for you before you became born again? the shocking thing is that, the effects of interceding or praying for the lost can be surprising. Oh, that effect changes in realms and levels we can not even begin to fathom. We can see the benefits we are now receiving from giving our lives to Christ plus the joy of that salvation. Aside from it being mandatory, it is a righteous and joyful thing to intercede for other people that are still wallowing in sin, depression and in darkness of this world. It’s like the joys of motherhood, like carrying a pregnancy, it may be inconvenient but the joy when that child is finally born is unmatched. It’s always so joyful to see the reward of answered prayers.
2 Timothy 2 :25-26 says,
_”Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, verse 26, and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.”_
(Bible Gateway).
Finally brethren, the question for us today is are we going to stand in the gap?
Written By Bro Francis Essang (Team Watchmen)