The Miraculous Meeting

The Hebrew word for “intercession,” paga, means “to meet.” Intercession creates a meeting. Intercessors meet with God; they also meet the powers of darkness. “Prayer meetings” are aptly named!

Our meeting with God (as we pray) is to affect another meeting. We meet with Him asking Him to meet with someone else. We become the go-between: “Heavenly Father, I come to you today (a meeting) asking You to touch Tom (another meeting). Through our intercession, we bring individuals to God. Whether for a person or a nation, regardless of the reason, when we’re used to create a meeting between God and humans, releasing the fruit of Christ’s work, paga (intercession) has happened.

It might be as you are prayer-walking through your neighborhood, asking God to meet with families and save them.

It could be a prayer journey into another nation. I have sent teams of intercessors into some of the darkest countries upon the earth for the sole purpose of creating meetings between God and the people there.

I have witnessed miracles of healing as God met with people. In 1980 I was on one of my many journeys into Guatemala. On one occasion my wife, another couple, and I were ministering to an older lady who had recently been saved. We had gone to her home to share some teachings with her. 

Approximately six months earlier this lady had fallen and severely broken her ankle. As is often the case with seniors, the fracture was not healing well. Her ankle was still badly swollen and she was in much pain. While we visited with her, the other gentleman and I both sensed that God wanted to heal her ankle – right then.

After sharing this with her and obtaining her agreement, we asked her to prop her leg on a stool and I began to pray . . . sort of. 

Has God ever interrupted you? He did me on this occasion. (Oh, that He would always be so “unmannerly”!) When I stepped between her and God to affect a meeting, the presence of God came so powerfully into the room that I stopped in mid-stride and mid-sentence. I had taken one step toward her and uttered one word, “Father.”

That’s all He needed!

It’s as though God was so eager to touch this dear lady that He couldn’t wait any longer. I realize what I’m about to say may sound overly dramatic, but it’s exactly what took place. The presence of Holy Spirit filled the room so suddenly and strongly that I froze in my tracks, stopped speaking, and began to weep. My wife and the other couple also began weeping. The lady we were ministering to began to weep. Her foot then began to bounce up and down on the stool, shaking uncontrollably for several minutes as she had a powerful encounter with Holy Spirit – a meeting! The Lord healed her ankle and filled her with His Spirit. 

On the same visit to Guatemala, my wife and I along with the couple previously mentioned, were asked to pray for a woman hospitalized with tuberculosis. We found her in a ward with approximately 40 other women, the beds being only about three feet apart. It was simply an area in the hospital where the doctors and nurses could attend to the very poor. Not even partitions separated the women. And yes, this woman was coughing her tuberculosis all over those around her. 

As we talked and prayed with her, we noticed the lady in the next bed observing us closely. When we finished, she asked if we would be willing to pray for her. Of course we were glad to, and inquired about her need. She pulled her arms out from under the covers and showed us her two hands, curled back toward her body, somewhat frozen in that position. They were totally unusable. Her feet were also the same way.

While in the hospital for back surgery, the doctor had accidentally cut a nerve attached to her spinal cord, leaving her in this condition. There was nothing they could do to correct the problem.

Compassion filled our hearts as we asked the Lord to meet her need. Nothing visible happened when we prayed, however, but we encouraged her to trust the Lord, then drifted across the room to see if we could share Jesus with anyone else. No hospital employees were present, so we had relative freedom do to as we pleased.

Just as we began to visit with another lady across the room, we heard a sudden commotion and someone screaming, “Milagro! Milagro! Milagro!” We turned to look and saw the lady moving her hands wildly, opening and closing them, wiggling her fingers, kicking her feet under the covers, and shouting the Spanish word for miracle. A meeting had taken place!

I don’t know who was more surprised – the lady who was healed, the other ladies in the room, or me. I hoped for a miracle but I don’t think I truly believed for one. I remember thinking, “This sort of thing only happened during Bible days.”

The next thing we knew, every woman in the room was begging us to minister to them. We went from bed to bed – just like we knew what we were doing – leading women to Christ and praying for their recoveries. I remember thinking, “This is wild. Is it real or am I dreaming? We’re experiencing revival in a hospital ward!”  Several ladies were saved, the lady with tuberculosis was healed and another woman who had been scheduled for exploratory surgery the following morning was instead sent home, healed. In general, we just had a good time! We even sang a song or two. Probably shouldn’t have because a hospital employee heard us, came to the room, and asked us to leave. She left but we didn’t – too many women were begging for prayer. A few minutes later she returned and “graciously” escorted us out of the hospital.

What on earth can turn a sad, hopeless, disease-filled ward into a church service? God can! God meeting with people. And prayer meetings created God meetings!

I don’t want to mislead you into thinking that miracles will always happen as easily as they did on these two occasions. However, we CAN bring individuals into contact with God – and that is the very meaning of the word “intercession.” Whether it takes days or minutes, it’s always worth the effort. The important thing is that we do it.

“Whatever city you enter and they receive you, eat what is served to you; and heal those in it who are sick, and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’” (Luke 10: 8-9 NASB)

Pray with me:

Father, we meet with You now in order to create meetings between You and others. We thank You for Your open invitation to come boldly to your throne of grace and obtain mercy in times of need (Hebrews 4:16). We ask You to meet with those who do not know You. We pray for our family members, friends, neighbors, and coworkers. We are confident You love every one of them and want to see them come to know You. We choose now to become the link You need – the connection point – for You to reach them. We are standing in the gap, in the powerful name of Jesus. We ask you to show them Your love, set them free from all deception, and open their eyes to see Jesus clearly.

We also meet with You on behalf of our nation. We have wandered far, but we believe You are going to draw this nation back to You. So we ask for millions of meetings to take place between Holy Spirit and individuals in this nation. We ask You to meet with the rich, poor, young, old, Black, Asian, Latino, Native American, and every other ethnic group represented in this nation. We ask that every one of them experience powerful outpourings of Holy Spirit in their communities. We ask You to break down every wall of division between the races and bring the greatest season of racial healing America has ever experienced. We bind the powers of darkness trying to divide us further, and ask You to remove those in government and other positions of influence that are being used to bring further division. 

And in this meeting with You now, Father, we ask again for the greatest revival earth has ever seen or experienced. Pour out Your Spirit upon millions and millions of people around the world. Transform entire nations. May powerful signs and wonders be released to awaken people to the reality of who You are. We thank You for these things, which we ask for in faith, and in the all-powerful name of Jesus. Amen.

Our decree:

We decree that millions of Americans are going to meet Jesus in the next few years.

Portions of today’s post were taken from my book Intercessory Prayer.