Many people grieve for a loved one or a friend. Some grieve for a situation. I never knew that I would one day grieve for a country. How does that happen – except for God.
Seven years ago, I went to Israel for the first time. That was when God broke my heart for Israel. It happened in a moment and I have not been the same since. God broke my heart for the people there. I’ve known missionaries who have gone to live in a country to minister because of the deep love they feel for that people group. I believe God does this. It’s not something we choose.
As God’s Word tells us to do, I will love and pray for many people and many people groups. I travel to many different countries and pray for those who are in need. I intercede, listening for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in what I pray. I pour out in prayer for those who do not yet know Jesus as their Savior, and I speak the name of Jesus over the land.
But, it is different for me with Israel. What God planted in me when he broke my heart that day has remained and the need within me to pray for Israel is deep. So today, I am grieving for Israel. Tears come and prayers of deep intercession follow. I feel the presence of the Holy Spirit with me in this and I wonder, “God, is this yet another step into yet an even deeper life of intercession?”
How does one intercede for a country? A land? A people group? Yet, I know that I am called to do just that in this moment. Intercession is different than prayer. It is a special type of prayer. I pray many prayers, but entering into a time of intercession is knowing that I am in the throne room of God coming to lay these prayers at his feet; knowing and trusting that they will be answered even before the prayer is ended.
I thank God for the grief that he has brought upon me. Without it I might never experience the depth of connection in prayer with God that intercession like this brings. It is a giving of oneself in prayer that lays our heart upon God’s altar in a selflessness that could never be achieved on our own. It is a gift.
May you, in your own life of intercession, come to know the gift of grief for a place and a people group that are not your own. In these acts of love and deep intercession may God bring about a miracle.
By Jacqui – One of God’s Intercessors
*I encourage you to pray for Israel today. There are still far too many people there that do not yet know Yeshua (Jesus) as the Messiah. Please pray for their Salvation. Pray for an end to the war and for peace in Jerusalem.
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