How to Understand Intercessory Prayer In Four Easy Steps
1: We must pray.
"You do not possess because you do not ask." - James 4:2
" But if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God who gives to all generously and ungrudingly, and he will be given it. But he should ask in faith, not doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind." - James 1:5-6
Here we see that we must seek requests of God through prayer. Surely He could do anything He wishes, but He has specifically mandated that we will not receive unless we pray, for prayer is the means through which God interacts with us. Scripture proves this truth beyond all shadow of a doubt.
2: Intercessory prayer is efficacious.
"First of all, then, I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority, that we may lead a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity. This is good and pleasing to God our savior, who wills everyone to be saved and to come to knowledge of the truth." - 1 Timothy 2:1-4
Here we see that Paul encourages us in a call to prayer on the behalf of others (intercessory prayer). Why? Because God desires that all men should be saved, and once again we see that prayer is the means through which God will grant this salvation. From this passage we can then conclude that if we do not pray for these men, that it will affect whether or not God saves them. Hence, intercessory prayer is indeed a very powerful tool.
3: The Righteous are answered by God.
"The fervent prayer of a righteous person is very powerful. Elijah was a human being like us; yet he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain upon the land. Then he prayed again, and the sky gave rain and the earth produced its fruit." - James 5:16-18
"The prayer of the upright is his delight" - Proverbs 15:8
"He hears the prayers of the righteous." - Proverbs 15:29
Hence, the more righteously we live, the more God is pleased with us, and therefore the more our prayers will be answered by Him. Likewise, if we sin, then God may not listen to us (as illustrated by the following verses):
"When you spread out your hands, I close my eyes to you; Though you pray the more, I will not listen." - Isaiah 1:15
"Likewise, you husbands should live with your wives in understanding, showing honor to the weaker female sex, since we are joint heirs of the gift of life, so that your prayers may not be hindered." - 1 Peter 3:7
So, now that we know that not everyone is equal in their righteousness, and we realize that God wills us to pray for others and that the only way God will answer us is if He is prayed to, it is a simple matter to come to the conclusion that since all these things are true, that if we are smart about it, we'd want the most righteous people we know praying on our behalf! God is greatly affected by the prayers of holy people (Exodus 32:9-14 and Exodus 33:11-19), and it would be foolhardy not to ask them to assist us as we pray to God.
"Well, that is all well and good," you might be asking. "But where do the saints and Mary come into play in all this, aren't they dead?"
If you mean "dead" as in "passed from this mortal realm into the grace and fullness of God and His eternal kingdom" then Yes the saints have passed on. But you see how I qualify this statement, for to say that the saints are dead in the strictest sense of the word, that would be a denial of Christ and His suffering and His death... which is something I don't think any of us believe. Therefore, all that remains is our fourth and final step...
4: The saints and angels in heaven can hear our prayers.
"For in Him we live and move and have our being." - Acts 17:28
And we know that that life is eternal, bought and paid for by the death of Jesus Christ. Heaven is the state of being in the presence of God, and if God is here with us, so are the saints. And so is Mary, for it is preposterous to think that the Mother of Jesus Christ would not have benefited from the sacrifice undertaken by her own Son.
"I brought a reminder of your prayer before the Holy One; and when you buried the dead, I was likewise present with you... I am Raphael, one of the seven holy angels who present the prayers of the saints and enter into the presence of the glory of the Holy One." - Tobit 12:12-15.
"See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven." - Matthew 18:10
"...the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, Each held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones." - Revelations 5:8
All three speak of contact between us in this world, and God in heaven. In all these cases, there is mediation either through angels, saints or both. In Tobit and likewise in Revelations we see that the prayers of the holy ones presented forth to God.
So, in conclusion: We know we must pray to God for Him to hear us. We know the power of intercessory prayer. We know that the prayers of the righteous please God and we know that the saints and angels can and do present our prayers to God. Hence, if we know that we have this valuable means with which to communicate with God, why would we not use it? This is not to mean that we should never seek God directly, for surely such prayer is beneficial, however God has set up these channels for which we can read Him, and to deny their existance does not honor God, it actually dishonors Him. But when we pray to God, through the saints, we honor this intercession He has established on our behalf.
Praise be to God!
In writing this treatise, I relied on two main sources. The first, which I borrowed heavily from to draw up the first three points, is attributed to Mr. Robert Sungenis and his chapter in The Catholic Answer Book of Mary entitled A Protestant Discovers Mary In the Bible (pages 110-118). I basically used all of the Bible verses he pointed out, but then rewrote the text between the steps. So all the footwork is his, and I want to make sure that everyone realizes that. The last step (number four) was written with the help of Mr. David Armstrong and his website article entitled The Communion of Saints.
