What Is Intercession?

Intercession literarily means intervention or mediation; to intercede is to intervene between parties with a view to reconciling differences. Intercessory prayer therefore is the art of standing before God for another party (person, place, community, cause, etc.) to pray for a positive change.
In Ezekiel 22:30 God said; “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.”
These people have obviously sinned against God and therefore deserved to be punished according to God’s standard and ordinance. Why then was God looking for an intercessor to stand in the gap? The simple answer is that God is a God of love.
The best way to illustrate this is to imagine a little girl who has done something which her mom has warned everybody in the house not to do. If the woman keeps quiet and allows the child to get away with it, she may lose her dignity and integrity; people may not take her words serious anymore and her children will probably assume the she is not capable of enforcing discipline. However, remember that she is the mother of the child and she loves her. Not too many mothers can stand their little kids crying, so in this situation, she is stuck between two driving forces (love and discipline). When she lifts up her hand to spank the child, she is defending her integrity (being a woman of her words and an advocate of discipline), but in her mind she is expecting an intervention by somebody who will plead on behalf of the child (that is an intercessor). If there is no one to intervene, the child will eventually be spanked.
Have you ever seen a woman spanking her child and laughing about it at the same time? I guess the answer is No. The truth of the matter is that it hurts the mother too, but in the absence of an intercessor, she has no choice.
I believe this illustration will help you to understand what intercession is and why it is of great importance to God. In Isaiah 49:15, the love of God to mankind is compared to the love of a woman for her child and God affirmed that it is even greater than that; this makes the above illustration to be more relevant. The man, the nation, the church or the government that is going in a wrong direction is still loved by God because He is a God of love, but the scripture cannot be broken.
“…for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.” – Ephesians 5:6
”The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” – Ezk.18:20
However, this is not God’s ultimate desire.
“…I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” Ezk.33:11
He (God) therefore needs an intervention from an intercessor, who will plead for God’s mercy and pray down God’s perfect will into the situation. The issue of intercession is so important to God that in Ezekiel 22:30 He said “just one man” is enough to cause a change through prayer. Intercession is the channel through which God’s will (plans, desires, actions, etc) flow to become a reality on earth. When we pray (intercedes), God works. What happen if we don’t?