Crisis Intercessors

Crisis Intercessors*

'Paramedics of Prayer'

Crisis Intercessors are 'in touch' with urgent needs and are on line with God at all times. Crisis Intercessors are the 'paramedics of prayer', rushing in and out of the throne room with urgent requests for the Father on behalf of others. When this gifting is combined with a spiritual warfare anointing, crisis intercessors are the watchmen who intercept and do battle with trespassers in the war between kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness.

Crisis intercession is not only for leaders, but also for healings, finances, family, nations or any other pending issue on the Father's heart. Although crisis intercessors are usually called upon to pray for problems occurring in the 'now', there are times when God will give them an intercessory burden today, to ward off tomorrow's trouble.

Our heavenly Father not only knows trouble's timing, but He also when where and when to position crisis intercessors at just the right time, to enable them to partner in prayer for the situation. Often these intercessors don't know why they are feeling called to prayer - only that they have a strong sense that they are 'in place'. Details often come to them, as they respond to the urgency to pray and begin to cry out. The key is stay prayerfully close to God. God can streamline our steps to get us to appointed places of intercession, even when we can't understand why we are there. Even mature crisis intercessors tho, can fail to recognize God's signals and obey them at these times. There are many times when God is wanting to prepare the spiritual ground for protection long before an incident or need has occurred, by aligning the prayers of crisis intercessors. One of the hardest things for a crisis intercessor tho, is we do not always know 'who' we are praying for – we only know we've heard the 'alarm' – PRAY!

Crisis Intercession coupled with warfare can bring down walls or break assignments, in one swift instant! But like King David, we need to learn that being the man of the hour in crisis intercession is not something to base your future on. Remember he was given a prayer strategy of crisis intercession when he cuts of the arrogant head of Goliath? Yes, his heroism made him a target of jealousy. David spends years after that moving from crisis to crisis, which built his character and taught him how to identify with the hurting and rejected people. Though he was a man who knew how to fight, he also became a man of mercy and worship!

Crisis intercessors have a similar DNA – they have a desire to bring healing tho those who are hurting. The key is to lean first upon God for strength and strategies. ( Ps. 60:11, 108:12) When our hearts are fully knit to God's, He will generally bring along trustworthy friends, who can confirm His messages and strategies during crisis intercession. Only when we are in right relationship with God and others, can we be sure we are exactly where we belong and are hearing correctly from God.

Are you A Crisis intercessor?
-Are you commonly awakened with an urgent need to pray about a person, place or problem?
-In your regular times of prayer, are you often struck with a sense of pending emergency?
-Do you thrive in times of crisis, when others are sinking?
-Is your daily routine often interrupted with a call to pray about a face, a name that has come to mind, or situation you've witnessed?
-Do you find you have no rest in prayer until the crisis is over and you've got the assurance you're assignment is completed?

Pitfalls of Crisis Intercessors:
Believing you are in the right place for the right reason is often a challenge for crisis intercessors. It's common to second -guess yourself, wondering if it's just your imagination compelling you to go and do or say something, or whether it is really the Lord. ..Let's explore some other pitfall that can present challenges to a crisis intercessors:

-Feeling guilty for not responding when the opportunity to intercede is neglected
-Looking for a crisis in every situation
-Neglecting to use wisdom in corporate intercession and instead interrupting with any idea or impression rather than a true crisis.
-Running on adrenaline form crisis to crisis instead of being faith focused
-Getting a drug-like high from the crisis'
-Procrastinating or putting oneself in dangerous situations or time crunches, and then crashing at the end.
-Moving from crisis prayer to crisis prayer without spending time in a loving, intimate relationship with the Lord
-Refusing to release the situation because you don't see, hear and feel the results, EVEN THO the Holy Spirit has given you the inner witness to do so
-Carrying guilt for life and death situations that are not manifested in victory
-Basking in the past and so you end up missing the present
-Falling prey to the enemy's ' if onlys' and accusations for not praying long enough or hard enough
-Accepting judgement from others when you've already prayed it through, receive the peace of God and cannot muster up another prayer
-Taking on the burden personally

One challenge for Crisis intercessors is to conqueror our 'fear of man' in order to hear and obey the strategies of the Lord. Remember that crisis intercession flows out of an intimate love relationship with God, rather than from a service mentality. Allow humility to become your defense, by recognize your complete dependence on God, and make sure your motives have been submitted to the Father before you intervene in a crisis. Don't step outside of the boundaries God has set for you, and give yourself permission to make mistakes! Everyone makes them – none of us is perfect! If you need to grieve over the mistakes, do it, but set a time limit on the grieving. Always remember that the glory belongs to the Lord and not about 'us' and our prayers .

*taken from the the book 'Intercessors' by Tommi Femrite, E. Alves, K. Kaufman

Financial Intercessors

Financial Intercessors *
Faith for Funding

I will be spending a bit more time on Financial Intercessors, simply because of the current economic climate! This is a season, where the world is fretting about provision and finances...and I believe that God is going to use this time, to show His provision! It will be during this season, I believe that more and more financial intercessors are going to be raised up released into different assignments that need heaven's funding, both on personal levels and business levels.

Many of us know the name of “George Muller” - his autobiography is inspiring for Financial Intercessors. George become one of God's greatest financial intercessors. God redeemed his earlier penchant towards money ( through conning people and stealing). His purification toward money resulted in financial power and throughout his lifetime he refused to ask or even tell another human being about the material needs of the many orphanages and schools he founded . Yet, every need was met through prayer!

For some the term 'financial intercessor' conjures up wrong picture. Now a days we are hearing the term, “Market Place” ministry and 'Market Place' intercessors are being raised up and released to work along side kingdom businesses and business people. These intercessors have been anointed by God to line up under heaven's financial corridors to summon funds on behalf of others. The anointing to believe for large sums of money is not to be confused wit the gift of giving – which does require resources. The amount of money financial intercessors have is irrelevant: these people are rich in faith for financial miracles for others! God will, however, use the prayers of financial intercessors to move on the heart of others who do have the gift of giving. At times the heavenly Father will even anoint them to pray in ideas that will promote prosperity, for those they pray for in the market place. God also partners with Financial intercessors to protect the finances of others!

God's word tells us that Satan seeks to 'steal, and kill and destroy ( Jn.10:10), the body, soul and spirit of each of us. One way he seeks to extinguish us is by imploding our individual and corporate financial structures so that we will not be able to underwrite the ministries that need our help. If Satan cannot succeed in victimizing our businesses, he then attempts to infect our minds with a lust for materialism or afflict our bodies so that our finances are funneled in preserving our physical frames,rather than building up Christ's Body. The church has lost sight of how our business people need to be covered in prayer . This is why God has raised up financial intercessors.

Financial intercessors can commonly see the blockage preventing financial breakthrough. For example, a couple of years ago I did an experiment: I matched up intercessors with business people, for a 3 month time period. I asked the business people to send me thru their kingdom vision for their business and also what their 3 biggest blockages or problems they were currently facing. The intercessors were never given the 'name' of the business, simply the first name of the business person and the vision etc. They were released to pray...and I was the co-coordinator of information between the two group. Within weeks, those business people who were 'using' their financial intercessors and sending thru more information, both of breakthroughs and warfare, began to see a shift in the blockages. One very prominent business man from the U.S., had a breakthrough with some banking finances that he'd been 'hitting a wall' on , for over three years! Partnering financial intercessors with business people is just one way that financial intercessors can be used to release heaven's blessings! God longs to give us the wealth of nations, to promote His kingdom on the Earth!

Sometimes God will raise up financial intercessors to give them supernatural ideas. The Kraft Foods company began with the desire to perpetuate the gospel. Chocolate lovers are aware that Hershy started with a desire to sweeten the lives of abused and orphaned children. Welches developed a grape juice that is used in Communion services globally. Its Christian roots sprouted from a desire to send missionaries overseas. Sam Tam, author of the book “ God Owns My Business” become one of the only people in the world to legally deed a $40 million business over to God! Weathly businessman R.G. LeTourneau said, “ It's not how much of my money that I give to God that counts. It's how much of His money that I keep for myself.” Financial Intercessors recognize it all belongs to Father God. Those whose motives have been purified have no problem asking the Lord to finance heaven's plans upon earth.

When Financial Intercessors Meet Corporately:

Tommi Femrite gives the example that after teaching on the various prayer annointings one day, she gathered those in the meeting to come forward. She called all the financial intercessor to the front, to ask the Father how much HE wanted to provide in the offering that day. The other intercessors were to pray for the financial intercessors to hear clearly and have faith to believe for that amount. She then asked the financial intercessors to set their faith in agreement with the Lord for that sum. Next, they were to pray that the other intercessors would hear the amount they were to give and be obedient to the voice of the Lord. They then all prayed that the gift of financial giving would be released. The buckets were passed and they broke for lunch. During the break the offering was counted. After lunch she called the financial intercessors together to share what amounts they were believing for. Their answers ranged from 7,00- 50,000 Swiss franks. One intercessor insisted, “ Whatever the highest amount is, double it because God always wants to do more than we expect.” ( can you hear the faith of a financial intercessor!!?) When the offering was counted, the total was ( now remember the highest amount given)......$105,000 .00 Swiss franks!

Are you a Financial Intercessor?

-Do you have bold faith to believe God for large sums of money?
Do you carry a burden for the financial needs of others?
-Do you get excited about seeing individuals, groups or organizations prosper?
-Does God ever give you dreams or visions that would further His kingdom?
-Has He ever used you to network others for financial prosperity?

Pitfalls of Financial Intercessors
Faith is a key to financial intercession, however a financial intercessor should not think that he/she must engineer a place for harvesting the amount of money needed. Also...be care of getting yourself into debt because God did not release the funds you'd hoped He'd supply. Here's some other pitfalls:

-Thinking that you have to be rich to believe for great amounts of money for others.
-Condemning and doubting self while taking on responsibility and pain for meeting the debt, when only God can supply the need.
-Attempting to manipulate God through works when He does not deliver in accordance with your timing.
-Refusing to allow God to purify the motives of the recipient before funds are released.
-Sharing with doubters who water down your faith.
-Encouraging others to make pledges based on emotion rather than the basis of what God has dictated.
-Freezing with fear when the Lord calls you to become a channel for an amount of money or an idea that is bigger than you ever thought you could believe for.

Remember, God's financial intercessors are called to be rich in faith for the funding of the dreams of others! In being obedient to that call, they often realize the fulfillment of their own dreams. Why not cast your prayers for someone else's funds upon the water and see what comes back?!

* from the book ' Intercessors' by T. Ferrite, E.Alves, K. Kaufman.

Soul Intercessors

Soul Intercessors *
“God's Midwives”

These are intercessors who carry almost a deep anguish for souls to be birthed into the Kingdom. They prayerfully stand in the gap between the two kingdoms: light and dark! They are very aware of those who are lost, and their deepest passion to pray prayers that will direct them to the Kingdom of light! Soul intercessors can often be in prayerful travail for those that they are believing to experience a spiritual birth .

Those called to be soul intercessors need to be especially aware of 'timing' - like the kind found in Ecclesiastes 3. While interceding for the lost, you cannot 'force' a birth, nor can you wait too long ! In the natural there are consequences of this lack of timing and the same is true of spiritual consequences. Remember Ecclesiastes 3 says there is ' a time to be born'. It's important for soul intercessors to know the timing of God in their intercession as they pray and perhaps witness to those God is calling them to pray for.

Soul intercessors have a big grasp on the horrors of hell, and so they cry out on behalf of those who will spend eternity there. These intercessors can be used to pray the worst enemies of society into the Kingdom of God because they have such a grasp on the torment that await the unsaved. If you are a soul intercessor the picture or 'sense' you have of hell, truly motivates you to pray for the lost at any cost.

Also, soul intercessors have a sense of 'lost souls' that is far more encompassing that the average person. You can be one who has a heart for the lost on the overseas mission field, but at the same time, you can be aware of those in your own neighborhood, city, place of work or school . They are aware that the 'lost' are not just the poor, but can be the financially wealthy. A soul intercessor has an awareness that the 'lost' are all those who have no connection with the Heavenly Father or His family – regardless of geographical location, financial or educational status!

Soul intercessors are the ones who need to be up front when an altar call is given. They are the ones who want to ensure that those that come to the Lord are given the Word ( right away) as well as warm loving arms! Part of the 'birthing experience' ( for soul intercessors) is also to make sure that new babes are passed on to loving shepherds.

Are you A Soul Intercessor?

-Do you have a burden to pray for the lost on a regular basis?
-When you're with a stranger, do you find yourself wanting to know if the person is saved? Are you burdened to pray until he or she is?
-Do you long to see more altar calls in your local church?And so you want to be up there praying with those that come forward?
-Are the lost drawn to you?
-Are scriptures for the lost easy for you to remember?

Pitfalls of Soul Intercessors:

Birthing is an arduous and fatiguing process – not one for the one being birthed, but also for those standing alongside as the 'midwife'. As you can see God's midwives are called to an extraordinary measure of persistence, but the fruit of their efforts will last throughout eternity. Here's some of the pitfalls the soul intercessor can face:

*feelings of futility over the number of lost still be saved
*being discouraged form not hearing praise reports
*judging rather than identifying with those that are in sin
*experiencing apathy caused by inabliity to understand the horrors of hell
*falling prey to condemnation for taking on the personal responsibility of another's right to choose
*being bored from repeatedly speaking to the same verse but to no avail ( no fruit)
*becoming fatigued from praying for days, months and years without results
*lacking follow-through in prayer when a soul has been birthed.

Remember, our responsibility as a Soul Intercessor is not to change others; it is to pray that their circumstances will be aligned so that they will have the opportunity to choose. When we enter into praying for souls, we enter into the ministry of Christ – reconciling the lost to the Father. The reality is tho, not everyone will receive the gift of salvation and you need to be prepared for that truth – however painful it is! BUT...there will be those that do....and that hope and joy, is what keeps a Soul Interessor fueled!

* from the book “Intercessors' by T.Femrite, E.Alves, K.Kaufman – for a more indepth teaching on Intercessors, please pick up this book from your local bookstore, or if it's out of print, order from Amazon.com