Intercessory Prayer Bible Study: What Scripture Teaches About Praying for Others

Intercessory prayer is praying on behalf of someone else, bringing another person’s needs, burdens and wellbeing before God. The Bible presents it as an ordinary, expected part of the Christian life, practiced by patriarchs, prophets, apostles and Jesus himself. This study looks at why God invites us to pray for others, what Scripture shows about how such prayer is offered, and how it shapes the way we love the people around us.

Prayer for Others Runs Through the Whole Story

Long before the word “intercession” appears in the New Testament, we see people standing between God and others. Abraham pleads for the cities of the plain, bargaining with God over how many righteous people might spare them. Moses repeatedly steps in front of a rebellious Israel after the golden calf. These are not isolated heroics. They show a God who welcomes his people speaking up for those who cannot yet speak for themselves.

Notice what these prayers have in common. They are honest about the stakes, they lean on God’s character rather than the petitioner’s merit, and they are willing to keep asking. When you read these accounts as a study, pay attention to the tone of the requests as well as their content. Intercession in Scripture is bold but not demanding, persistent but not anxious.

Genesis 18:23-26

23 Abraham came near, and said, “Will you consume the righteous with the wicked? 24 What if there are fifty righteous within the city? Will you consume and not spare the place for the fifty righteous who are in it? 25 Be it far from you to do things like that, to kill the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be like the wicked. May that be far from you. Shouldn’t the Judge of all the earth do right?” 26 The LORD said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place for their sake.”

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Abraham’s bargaining with the Lord over Sodom shows intercession as a conversation rather than a monologue. He appeals to God’s justice, and God responds to him. The passage teaches that bringing others before God is a relationship in which you are invited to speak plainly.

Exodus 32:11-14

11 Moses begged the LORD his God, and said, “The LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 The LORD repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.

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After Israel’s idolatry, Moses appeals to God’s own reputation and to the promises made to the patriarchs. His prayer is grounded in covenant faithfulness rather than in Israel’s deserving. It shows that intercession can name God’s promises back to him.

Jesus Prays for Others and Invites Us Into It

The New Testament makes intercession central to Christ’s ongoing work. In the upper room he prays for his disciples, asking the Father to keep them and to unite those who will believe through their word. His prayer in John 17 is one of the longest recorded prayers of Jesus, and much of it is for people who were not yet born into the faith. Christians have long seen this as a model for how we might pray for the church and the world.

The letter to the Hebrews adds another layer. It describes Jesus as continuing to intercede for his people, which gives the practice of prayer for others a sturdy foundation. Your prayers for someone else are not a substitute for Christ’s advocacy but a participation in the life of a people who already belong to him.

John 17:20-21

20 Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.

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Here Jesus prays not only for the twelve but for all who will believe through their message. The breadth of his prayer reminds you that intercession can reach beyond your immediate circle, extending to people you may never meet and to generations still to come.

Romans 8:26-27

26 In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered. 27 He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.

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Paul reminds us that we do not always know how to pray as we ought, and that the Spirit helps in our weakness. When you struggle to find words for someone’s situation, this passage assures you that your prayer is not lost in confusion. God hears the desires of the Spirit on behalf of his people.

Praying With Persistence and Trust

Scripture also encourages persistence in intercession. Jesus tells a parable about a woman who keeps asking a judge for justice until he finally responds, and he uses it to teach that his followers should always pray and not lose heart. The point is not that God must be worn down, but that prayer for others is a form of trust that keeps returning to God when answers are slow.

At the same time, intercession is never a tool for controlling God. The petitioners in Scripture close their requests by surrendering the outcome to his wisdom. Many of the best prayers for others sound less like demands and more like the words of a child who knows the parent loves them.

Luke 18:1-8

1 He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up, 2 saying, “There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God, and didn’t respect man. 3 A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’ 4 He wouldn’t for a while, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God, nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.’” 6 The Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says. 7 Won’t God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”

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This parable links persistence in prayer with faith that God is just. It encourages you to keep praying for someone even when there is no visible change, trusting that God hears and acts in his own time.

James 5:16

Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.

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James ties intercession to confession and to the prayer of a righteous person, which he says is powerful and effective. The verse invites a practice of mutual prayer within the community of faith, where people carry one another’s needs openly.

Where Christians Read This Differently

Christians broadly agree that prayer for others is commanded and valuable, and that Christ is the one mediator who makes all prayer acceptable to God. Where they differ is often in how they understand the relationship between human intercession and God’s sovereign plan, and in whether certain forms of prayer, such as prayer addressed to the saints who have died, belong in the practice of the church. Churches in the Reformed, Anglican, Catholic and Orthodox traditions each give these questions careful attention, and sincere believers in each tradition read the same passages with real care.

When you study this topic with others, it helps to name these differences honestly and to listen before responding. You may find that your own practice is shaped by your tradition in ways you had not noticed, and that others have learned things about prayer you can receive gladly.

Living It Out

Start with a short list. Write down three or four people whose names come to mind when you think about the needs of your week: a coworker facing a diagnosis, a neighbor caring for an aging parent, a friend who has stopped returning calls. Pray for each by name at a set time each day, even if the prayer is only a sentence. Over time the list becomes a map of how God is working in the lives around you.

Let your intercession lead to action when that is appropriate. If you pray for a friend’s finances, consider whether you can help with a meal or a ride. If you pray for a struggling church member, call them. Scripture consistently links prayer and love in practice, and the two should not be separated.

Finally, make room for prayer that others can join. Share a prayer request with a small group or family, and ask them to pray with you. Report back when God answers, and thank him together. Intercessory prayer grows strongest when it is practiced in community, where we bear one another’s burdens before the Lord.

Frequently Asked Questions