March 15, 2004

"Does Intercession Really Work?"

Intercessors very rarely know the outcome of their intercession, but there are times when God is strengthening our faith or teaching us that He will let us know the outcome.  That's up to Him.  When He thinks that letting us know the outcome of our intercession would be helpful and give us more determination and courage, then He will let us know.

The first time I experienced God letting me know the result of my intercession was when I was still in the cloister.  Cloistered nuns know nothing about what is going on in the outside world.  There isn't a TV or a newspaper.  Superiors are very careful what they share.  There are family visits for a few hours once a year so there isn't much news there either.  You're getting everything from God.  There was a man in the state penitentiary in New Jersey and for some reason, my superior wanted me to read a book about him.  This was very unusual because it was a secular book.  I read his story and the Lord let me understand that this man was innocent.  He was sentenced to death and had already been on death row for fifteen years waiting electrocution. 

I thought, "Lord, obviously You want prayer for this man because He's innocent."  His mother had gone to work and was working around the clock, doing everything possible to earn money to get better attorneys so they could have more appeals.  But now the money had run out.  There just wasn't anything else that anyone could do except God.  You know, God's always the last resort.  Have you ever noticed?  When there isn't anyone else to turn to, we turn to God.  I wonder why we waste so much time, but that's how we are. 

I got about three of the cloistered sisters to pray with me.  We targeted him as our special focus to really get the grace for him.  As we prayed and made special sacrifices for him, I began to wonder, "Lord, we'll never know.  We'll never know if he's going to die or live.  He's in New Jersey; we're in a cloister in St. Paul, Minnesota.  We'll never know."  Or so I thought!  One night our superior said, "I know that you haven't seen television and that we don't have one here, but I know some of you like William Buckley and he's on television tonight.  I am bringing a little portable TV into the cloister for those sisters who want to watch this program."  It was called "Fireside Chat."  There were just a few of us who wanted to see this program, and it was really interesting.  When the program began, William Buckley said, "Tonight, we are not broadcasting from the studio.  We are at the entrance to the New Jersey State Penitentiary because Eddie Smith is being released."  Isn't that beautiful!  So God will let us know the result of our intercession when He thinks that we need to know.  We can press on. 

Excerpt from Powers and Principalities Conference, "Sword of Power: New Covenant Prayer," Omaha, NE, 2003.