ENTUGCHANO expresses that one who intercedes, entreats in favor of or against something or someone in a specific case. For example: in the case of law, anyone who intercedes for or against another is either defending or prosecuting, yet he/she is still making intercession in that case.

The Story Of Queen Esther: In this beautiful Bible story, we read about a young Jewish woman, who went before her God and her king to intercede for the lives of her people, the Jews.

This story is a beautiful example of how intercession is portrayed as being a sacrifice of one?s self in the behalf of another. Her famous words, ?If I perish, I perish? bring to mind the extreme sacrifice of the High Priest who went into the Holy of Holies once a year to make intercession between God and Israel.

Jesus, our Great High Priest, also went into the Holy of Holies - Heaven. He is there now, with God, making intercession us, sinner and saint alike. He, like Esther, chose to give up His life for the sake of others. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus said, ?Father, not my will but thine be done.?

Where Are The Intercessions Made? When Can We Make Our Petitions Known?

We can make our petitions known to God at anytime and anywhere. The veil in the Temple, before the Holy of Holies, was torn in two when Jesus died on the Cross. He opened up the Holy of Holies so that all could come to the Father.

We can bring our requests before His Holy Court anytime. Anywhere we feel the need to seek the Father?s face and give Him our problems, we can.

We do not have to go to anyone special except Jesus, our Great High Priest, to tell our Father our needs. Jesus says that if we pray in His name, then the Father will hear our plea. When we cry out to the Father, He sees the Blood of His Son and forgives our sins. The Holy of Holies in now in our hearts. Jesus lives there.

How Do We Make These Intercessions? How Do We Know We Are Correctly Presenting Our Case Before The Judge Of Judges?

2 Chronicles 7:14-15 says, ?if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayers offered in this place.?

The first prerequisite is to humble yourself. The second is to pray and seek His face. The third is to turn from wickedness. THEN God says he will do these things: (1) Hear from heaven (2) Forgive our sin (3) Heal our land (us).

For God?s eyes and ears to be in our direction, we must first look in His direction. We see here the three requirements we must do prior to God hearing our case.

As we humble ourselves, God begins to hear us.
As we pray (cry out in sincerity) and seek His Face (read His Word) God begins to forgive us.
As we turn from our wickedness and our willfulness to do evil, God begins to heal us (our land, our bodies, our minds, our hurting hearts, and our messed-up relationships).

Why Is It So Important To Make Intercession For One Another?

James says in Chapter 5 verse 16: ?Therefore confess our sins (faults) to each other and pray for each other so that we may be healed.?

Honest conversation with each other and earnest conversations with God gets a lot of things that are not just right worked out. The healing can come into our relationships.

Webster?s Dictionary describes intercession as: ?mediation in behalf of another? and intercede as: ?to intervene for the purpose of producing agreement.? The account of Esther?s intercession is found in the book of Esther chapter four and verse sixteen.

Jesus? intercession for us is found in Saint Luke chapter twenty-one verse forty-two. Also, good reading of Jesus? intercession for all of us, sinner and saint, is found in Saint John chapter 17 verses one through twenty-six.

Many priests and prophets of God made intercessions for Israel. We are called priests of God and so we too must make our intercessions for Israel. Psalms 122:6 petitions us to petition God in behalf of Jerusalem: ?Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: ?may those who love you be secure ???

We must not forget to pray for our own country and our leaders. I have listed a few scriptures that will help us to understand how important it is to pray for those in authority over us.

Colossians 4:2-4
Romans 12:12
Romans 13
Titus 3:1-2
1 Peter 2:13, 17