The young woman adjusted the silk veil adorning her dark-brown hair, smelling of the sweetest incense, with just a hint of myrrh one more time. Looking at her reflection in the centre of the gold mirror an attendant was holding for her, her beautifully manicured hands traced the seams of her dress, adjusting the rich fabric. Looking up, she nodded to the waiting eunuch. She was ready. With a steady walk, she glided across the marbled floors towards the opening doors.

She walked across courtyard after courtyard, through the little archway that kept her quarters separate from the men’s quarters, past the fountain that glittered as the hot sun struck the tiny water droplets dancing in the air, and into the massive expanse of another great courtyard. In front of her appeared a massive door guarded by muscular, resplendently-clad warriors. At once recognising her, they opened the gate with disciplined, intricate ceremony.

As the gates yielded to the demands of the warriors, a gasp went up from the grand hall. Conversation stopped in mid-flow as all eyes turned to the intruder who now entered. There was deadly silence as the young woman moved to the other end of the hall. Deliberately placing one foot in front of the other she walked towards the resplendent figure seated on a solid gold throne, conscious of the disbelieving eyes that bored into her back. With each step she took the guards standing on both sides of the throne gripped their swords tighter. When she came within reach of the swords’ swing, she stopped and knelt. All eyes were now on the king whose day had been interrupted by the unannounced entry of Hadassah, who is also known as Queen Esther.

Perhaps you have heard this story before, maybe it is your first time. For those of you who don’t know, Queen Esther was an orphan raised by her uncle, who became queen of Persia approximately 500 B.C. She managed to save the Jewish people from a man named Haman who wanted to exterminate them. The story is commemorated in the Jewish festival of Purim and can also be read in the book of Esther in the Bible.

For a long time in my Christian life I was confused as to what the difference was between prayer and intercession. When I came on staff here with YWAM Lutsk I was asked to teach on intercession in a DTS. It really made me study the topic of intercession in greater depth. As I thought about it, the story of Esther came to my mind.

Esther was married to the most powerful man in the world at the time and I started to think about her relationship with him. On the one hand Esther was a wife. She talked with him in normal conversation. But on the other hand she was also his subject. She could not go to him unless she was bidden to do so.

All the king’s officials and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold sceptre to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called to go to the king. –Esther 4: 11, NIVUK

She herself was subject to the law to exterminate the Jewish people.

Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. -Esther 4:13, NIVUK

I think this is a good picture of our relationship with God when it comes to prayer and intercession. On the one hand, he calls us his children (or ‘sons’ in many translations of the Bible)

because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. -Romans 8:14, NIVUK

You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus –Galatians 3:26, NIVUK

Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? –Hebrews 12:7, NIVUK

and wants us to talk with him and to walk with him.

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. –Micah 6:8, NIVUK

This suggests to me a relationship such as on earth between a father and his son. A son can come to the father any time to talk, to do stuff together, to get help from him.

But our heavenly Father is also God. The King of kings and the Lord of Lords¹. We are His subjects. Yet He is looking for people to stand in the gap² and to intercede on behalf of others in the same way Esther did when she went unbidden before the king, her husband, to intercede for her nation.

And that is what I understood to be the difference between prayer and intercession. Prayer is when we talk to God as we would to our earthly fathers. Intercession is when we come before the same God and intercede the way Esther did, on behalf of other people. We have the opportunity to go before God because we have a Father-child relationship with Him in the first place.

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¹ They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings— and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers. –Revelations 17:14, NIVUK

² I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so that I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. –Ezekiel 22:30, NIVUK

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent those of YWAM Lutsk Ukraine or YWAM International.  They are the personal views expressed by the author.