Intercessory Prayer Is Like The Strategic Air Command

I was proud to be a part of The Strategic Air Command. Its emblem was an iron fist in the sky that was gripping three thunderbolts.

Intercessory prayer can look much like that. When God was about to bring judgment upon Sodom, Abraham stood on a hill in conversation with the Lord. That man of God reached up a hand in prayer and took hold of the thunderbolt of judgment that was flying toward that city, and held it through the day while he pleaded with God to take it back.

Our planes were heavy and sometimes needed extra thrust to take off. There are times when the burden of prayer is so heavy that we need extra thrust to get it airborne. We especially need it in a time when many have become anemic in prayer. There can be a lack of courage, no largeness, and no richness toward God. As a result we pray small.

The kind of intercessory prayer that is powerful is not our ability to present a great argument to the Lord. It is in the fact that we care enough to pray long and hard for the brokenness of a people that God truly loves. The greater sin in our prayer life may be the sin of unmercifully not caring about the thunderbolt as long as we think it is pointing toward someone else.

Thank you Savior for taking in your hands the nails that should have been ours. Because Jesus cared to plead and die for me, I can sing, “It is well with my soul, It is well, it is well with my soul.”