Intercession

“O Lord, God of Israel, You are righteous! We are left this day as a remnant. Here we are before You in our guilt, though because of it not one of us can stand in Your presence.” Ezra 9:15
Chapter 9 of the book of Ezra gives Ezra’s intercessory prayer on behalf of the nation Israel for some of the Israelites disobeying the law of God by taking foreign women as their wives. As soon as he heard of this, he tore his clothes and sat, appalled. In the evening, he arose and prayed.
Ezra was an intercessor. He had not personally sinned by taking a Canaanite woman as a wife, but he includes himself in every sentence: ‘We have sinned’, ‘our guilt’, etc. To be an intercessor means to stand in the gap for another person. We identify with them, and pray accordingly.
As we mature in the Lord, we realise that sin in the body of Christ does not affect people in isolation. It does not affect only the person who is committing that sin, but as the body, we are all connected. Therefore, we can’t ignore it when a Christian is falling away. We need to stand by them and intercede on their behalf.
God didn’t answer Ezra’s prayer with fire or a voice from heaven. But He did move upon the people’s hearts to repent of their sin and make amends.