Prophetic Intercession: The Invitation

Jeremiah 33:3

“Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”

Prophet- One who utters divinely inspired revelation:  One gifted with more than ordinary spiritual and moral insight.

Intercession- The act of a person praying on behalf of another person, place or thing.

Prophetic Intercession-One who prays divinely inspired revelations on behalf of another person, place or thing.

As intercessors, we are invited to hear and learn the heart of God towards people, places and things.  He is a feeling and loving God.  He is emotional and responsive.  From the beginning of the foundations of the world He has invited humans to know His heart and partner with Him in shaping history.  

In Jeremiah 33:3 the Lord extends an invitation to Jeremiah to “Call to Me” and then the Lord will answer and reveal great things.  We all want God to reveal great things to us.  Often, as an intercessor, we are asking the Lord to reveal His plan/intent for our families and friends, as well as the nations.  We all have our own way of asking God to reveal Himself and His wisdom towards situations to us, but what does it mean to “Call” on Him?

The Greek word for “Call” is Kaleo which literally means to “invite loudly”.  In Jeremiah 33:3, the Lord is inviting Jeremiah to invite Him to reveal great and mighty things that he does not know.  That same loving command and promise is extended to us.  But how do we make the shift from asking to inviting?  What is the difference?

Invite:   
To make a polite, formal, or friendly request to (someone) to go somewhere or to do something.

Ask:     
Say something in order to obtain an answer or information.

I am struck at how an invitation is so much more personal than just simply asking.  To make a request politely is to ask sweetly, to be formal is to show respect and to take it seriously, a friendly request is happy and light hearted.  God is so infinitely wise even in the words He chooses in telling us to invite Him into an intimate relationship with Him through prayer.  We were never meant to pray from our own limited understanding or imaginations of how things should be.  We were created to walk intimately with the Living God, partnering with His heart towards people and situations.  When we pray from a place of revelatory insight, intercession becomes exciting and new every time.  We break out of the hopeless, mundane task of making a difference with seemingly empty words that hit a deaf ceiling to uttering the very will and purposes of God and witnessing a transformation in the lives of the people around us as we enter into Prophetic Intercession. 

Practical Application:  Find a quiet place today and focus on “inviting” the Lord to reveal Himself to you, to show you His intentions for your life, for your family, for your city.  Focus on the invitation, rather than the response.  There are rewards in the seeking... not just the finding, in the knocking... not just the opening, in the inviting... not just the revealing.