My Dear Friend,

Contrary to popular Christian opinion, the highest ministry - or most spiritual, elevated, heavenly, and Christlike - is not preaching, teaching, or evangelizing. Nor is it pastoring, discipling, or counseling.

It is not being an astute Bible scholar, famous megachurch leader, or high-ranking denominational officer. It is not dynamic missional activity, as urgent as that is. Nor is it prolific Christian writing, editing, or publishing. Neither is it being a world-famous Christian songwriter and worship leader.

The apex of ministry is not healing the sick, delivering the oppressed, or other divine miracles, although these are often life-, family-, tribe-, church-, city-, and even nation-turning acts. It is not drilling wells, teaching agriculture, building church structures, or other natural good works in third-world nations, although these labors of love are life-changing helps to those so blessed. Nor is it Christian anti-abortion activism, adoption services, women's shelters, or substance abuse recovery programs, as needed as they have become. It is not even being an inspired, New Testament prophet or an extraordinarily gifted, knowledgeable, empowered, church-planting apostle. No, the highest ministry is above all these others with which we are so familiar - and for which we typically long and pray. And this highest ministry is . . . ?

Intercession! That is, Christians, individually or in groups, getting alone with God and spending time in His presence to "intercede," or stand between God and people praying earnestly in the Spirit and faith for conversions, reconciliations, deliverances, corrections, or blessings. This hidden sacred service is the ultimate fulfillment of our calling as believer-priests. By pursuing this highest ministry, we reflect on earth the unique present heavenly ministry of our High Priest, Jesus, who is interceding incessantly for us at the heavenly Father's right hand. Hebrews reveals, "He ever liveth to make intercession" for all who come to the Father by Him (Hebrews 7:25). Why is intercession the highest ministry?

Jesus' experience explains this. On earth, Jesus served in all the highest visible ministries named above. He evangelized the masses and many thousands converted. He taught God's Word to believing Jews and Gentiles, and even to His enemies, the Scribes and Pharisees, with a wisdom surpassing anything human ears had ever heard. When the Sanhedrin sent soldiers to arrest Him, His Words arrested them. Returning, "The officers answered, 'Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks'" (John 7:46, NAS).

Additionally, Jesus pastored the twelve with continual teaching, personal counsel, and spiritual correction. As the Prophet of prophets, He prophesied, issuing sweeping inspired predictions of things to come for Israel, the church, and the world (Matthew 24-25). Finally, He was Christianity's greatest Apostle, our most specially gifted "sent One." "Consider . . . the Apostle [sent one] of our confession, Christ Jesus" (Hebrews 3:1, NKJV).

Therefore, by our standards of ministry, Jesus did it all. He held every office and exercised all the gifts we typically admire and desire. Then He left. It seemed to all his original followers that His glorious ministries were over. Finished. In the past. And many Christians today think this, too.

But after His Ascension, He immediately began another ministry. A far more glorious ministry. Because He served so faithfully on earth, His Father promoted Him to a higher ministry in heaven. The highest! In this elevated holy labor He "ever lives" to "make intercession" for us, all day every day, all night every night, weekdays, weekends, spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Never ceasing. Ever faithful. Always petitioning. According to God's will. For our highest good!

While we may think this ministry was new to Jesus, it wasn't. He was a prolific intercessor on earth long before He assumed His intercessory ministry in heaven. Let the Scripture speak.

Jesus spent a whole night in prayer before choosing His twelve apostles from the larger crowd of disciples (Luke 6:12-13). After launching His apostles on a stormy night passage of Lake Galilee, He "went up into a mountain privately to pray," surely for them (Matthew 14:23). These intercessory sessions were not rare, they were regular: "Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed" (Luke 5:16, NIV). Or, He "made a practice" of it (CJB), "habitually" (MLB), "constantly" (WEY). During these sustained, quiet, private immersions in His Father's reviving, supernatural presence, Jesus was not only refueling spiritually, but also giving Himself to intercession.

He warned Simon Peter that Satan had asked permission to severely test him, adding, "But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not" (Luke 22:32). Then He immediately prophesied that, not "if" but "when" Peter was restored to faith, he was to "strengthen thy brethren" (Luke 22:32). So, Jesus' powerful intercessions carried Peter through his infamously brutal test. After Peter denied Jesus so shockingly, it was Jesus' prayers that helped restore him to faith and renew his desire to finish his course of ministry. After such a crushing failure, without Jesus' prayer support Peter may easily have gone in the opposite direction, walking away from God and His high calling permanently.

The most obvious example of Jesus' intercessory passion is His high-priestly prayer for the church in John 17. This monumental intercession has guided church history. Since Pentecost, the Holy Spirit has focused like a laser on fulfilling Jesus' petitions: to teach us to know God intimately (John 17:3); to sanctify us, unify us, perfect our unity, manifest His glory among us, and cause the world to know the Father sent Jesus (John 17:17-23); to mature God's love in us, and cause Jesus to be seen in us (John 17:26); and, finally, to take (translate) us to heaven (John 17:24). And the Spirit will not stop working until every one of Jesus' requests are made real in the mature Christians and bride church Jesus will receive when He appears. What does all this mean for us?

We may not be called and gifted to serve as an evangelist, pastor, teacher, prophet, or apostle. Yet, like our Lord, we may enter into the secret place and "ever live to make intercession" for our families, church members, friends, neighbors, cities, and nations; and for that most unlikely yet important category, our enemies (Matthew 5:44; Acts 7:60)! Job 42:10 reminds us when Job "prayed for his friends," who were his vicious critics and spiritual enemies, God turned his captivity!

Oh, what miraculous outpourings of God's Spirit and presence, what stunning conversions, compassionate deliverances, divine calls to ministry, timely missionary initiatives, life-changing books and sermons, corrective "words in season," and other Spirit-led kingdom works will follow, if we just take intercession seriously! Every day. If we pursued it as we would a business - confidently, regularly, diligently, zealously, "religiously!" The biblical precedent for this is clear.

Luke notes before the miraculous visitation at Pentecost, Christ's surviving disciples were gathered, unified, and praying for ten straight days: "These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication" (Acts 1:14). Make no mistake, the intervention of Acts 2 could not have happened without the intercession of Acts 1. Church history confirms this.

Beginning in the 1720s, the original Moravians manned a 24-7 prayer watch for over 100 years - and mighty missions, ministers, and kingdom networking and initiatives flowed out. Jonathan Edwards prayed for five hours before delivering his sermons - and the First Great Awakening broke out. In the 1820s-1830s, the Second Great Awakening was fueled in part by Charles G. Finney's associate, Daniel "Father" Nash, who interceded and fasted (often with others) for days, sometimes weeks, for the cities Finney was to visit - and amazingly fruitful evangelistic meetings followed. In 1857, businessmen prayed faithfully at noon daily in New York City, and later, other cities - and God sent the Third Great Awakening, during which an estimated million souls were saved.

More recently, in late 2022, about twenty students at Asbury University (and some professors) gave themselves to intercession - and in February 2023 God suddenly and powerfully visited them with conviction of sin, confessions, conversions, healings, and reconciliations, all birthed by the manifest sense of His supernatural presence day and night for weeks.

In 2018, a church in Dawsonville, Georgia, began praying, seeking God's face, and asking Him to show them the things in them that offended Him and prevented Him from moving among them in power - and soon an amazing move of the Holy Spirit began that has since resulted in the salvation, baptism, healing, deliverance, and infilling with the Holy Spirit of thousands. And it continues to this day.

Truly, the Father who called His divine Son to the highest ministry delights to respond to the fervent prayers of His adopted sons (and daughters) who faithfully commit to pursue the highest ministry - and visit, release His mighty Spirit, open His life-giving Word, change lives, and raise new disciples of Christ. And prepare Christ's bride for His soon return.

I am recommitting to steadfast intercession, especially "in the Spirit" (Ephesians 6:18), today. I encourage you to, also. Let's meet in the secret place of God-honoring, Christlike, selfless intercession.

See you there,

Dr. Greg Hinnant

GREG HINNANT MINISTRIES