intercession = crucifixion

first of all, i made it to ihop, kansas city! and i love it. the prayer room is amazing. i strongly encourage everyone to come here for a season, whether it be a month or 2 years. it's incredible what spending hours a day in focused prayer will do for your heart.

i was in the prayer room during intercession today, and the worship team was singing a song that goes, "Great Intercessor, always living to intercede. Why are You crying, heavily sighing, share Your heart with me." i got the revelation that intercession crucifixion go hand in hand. Intercession is the act of laying down your life, being crucified and dying. The ultimate intercession was Jesus hanging between heaven and earth, reconciling the 2 worlds. His plea "Father, I desire that they would be with Me where I am" cost Him His life, a price He was glad to pay. And so, when He tells us to take up our cross, part of what this means is to become an intercessor and partner with Him in His act of intercession. To lay down our burdens and take up His IS to tarry with Him, as even now He is our Great High Priest ever living to intercede (Hebrews 7). Prayer is the act of reconciling men to God, as Jesus did on the cross. So when we pray, we are entering into His burden and becoming crucified with Christ - dying to ourselves, our ambitions, and caring about another...stretching out our hands to heaven and saying "God, save their soul."