THE INTERCESSION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

According to 1 Kings 8:59, God maintains the cause of His people at all times. How does He do that? By constant intercession ascending to the Father, flowing like a river from the Son of God and from the Holy Spirit. Most believers know that Jesus is our High Priest who “ever lives” to make intercession for us (Heb. 7:25, See Ro. 8:34). Few realize that the Holy Spirit also petitions the Father in our behalf. This is a sound Biblical truth that we need to expand. Consider Romans 8:26-27:

Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses.

For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

According to this passage the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with aching groans, burdened sighs, too deep for words. Those who are sensitive to the spirit of intercession (also called “the spirit of…supplication”—Zec. 12:10) feel this overflow at times from the Holy Spirit. Paul referenced this when he informed the Galatians, “My little children, of whom I travail again in birth until Christ be formed in you” (Gal. 4:19 KJV) This was a Spirit-inspired, inward groaning—an intercessory longing for growth and maturity to come in the believers of Galatia.

Of course, the Holy Spirit is NOT confined to just unutterable waves of deep emotion. He also intercedes in precise language, especially through inspired Scripture. Let us establish this fundamental and powerful truth first by referencing two passages that verify the inspiration of the Bible.

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (2 Timothy 3:16)


Knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20-21)

So there you have it: the Bible is God speaking to His people, not just men sharing ideas about God. This truth blossoms into an incredible revelation that will revolutionize our thinking on the subject of intercession. Dwell on this for a moment—if the Bible is God’s inspired Word, then the epistles are not just letters from Paul, Peter, James, Jude or John to individual churches existing in their day, they are letters FROM THE HOLY SPIRIT to the ENTIRE CHURCH stretched out over two millennia.

If that be true (and it is), then the prayers contained in those epistles are not just appeals to the Father flowing from the heart of the epistle-writers, they are intercessory appeals flowing from the Holy Spirit, petitioning the Father for the ENTIRE CHURCH throughout the New Covenant Age. And irrefutably, the Holy Spirit has NEVER prayed a prayer that the Father did not answer. There is never an instance in which Jesus appealed to the Father with no return response, and the same MUST be true concerning the Holy Spirit. If Jesus or the Holy Spirit prays over us, the Father will respond and will answer according to the request.

So let us search out every general prayer of intercession found in Scripture and claim it as a personal intercession of the Holy Spirit over our lives, FULLY EXPECTING it to come to pass. With each inspired petition we read, instead of saying, “God, please do it”, we should boldly say, “I claim that; I receive it by faith in the Name of Jesus!”

Though there are Old Testament prayers for God’s people we can claim, like Number 6:24-26, the majority of prayers are found in the New Testament. Here is a list of twelve Holy Spirit inspired prayers, just from the epistles, that cover many major areas of our need. Look them up; read them; memorize them and quote them, fully expecting their manifestation in your life:

1. Patience, consolation and unity—Romans 15:5-6:

Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you
to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus,
that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

2. Grace and mercy—Galatians 6:15-16:

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy
be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.

3.Revelation knowledge concerning the hope of our calling, the greatness of God’s power and the riches of our inheritance in Christ—Ephesians 1:16-19:

Do not cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers:
that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power.

4. Strength in the inner man, comprehension of the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, and being filled with the fullness of God—Ephesians 3:14-19:

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

5. Love, knowledge, discernment and infilling—Philippians 1:9-11:

And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, that you may approve the things that are excellent, that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ, being filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

6. Sanctification and preservation—I Thessalonians 5:23-24:

Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

7. Peace—2 Thessalonians 3:16:

Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way.
The Lord be with you all.

8. Completion, fulfilling of God’s will, pleasing to Him—Hebrews 13:20-21:

Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

9. Being perfected, established, strengthened and settled—1 Peter 5:10:

But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.

10. Prosperity and health—3 John 1:2 (Note that the Greek word translated “wish” in the King James Version—euchomai—is also rendered “pray” in other places—so Holy Spirit was saying through the Apostle John, “I pray above all things” not just wishing something for us—which is a much weaker word in English.):

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health,
just as your soul prospers.

11. God’s keeping power—Jude 24:

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy.

12. God’s ability to do things for us beyond our capacity to imagine— Ephesians 3:20-21:

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

I urge you to read these passages often, especially when you are in prayer, and praise God for their fulfillment. Don’t beg or plead on these issues. If the Holy Spirit inspired these prayers (and He did) you can FULLY EXPECT their manifestation and fulfillment. Yes, God really does maintain the cause of His people, but how much more powerful it is when we come into agreement with Him in prayer.

—Mike Shreve