One thing some believers have accepted about all forms of prayer is that it should be comfortable and done at will, in their free time, but prayer is not always like that, especially not intercessory prayer.
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‎Intercession is not something you do only when you have time, when you feel spiritual, or when it fits neatly into your schedule. Scripture shows us a completely different picture. Biblical intercession is costly; it is sacrificial.
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‎Scripture says in Galatians 4:19
‎New King James Version
‎19 My little children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.
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‎Apostle Paul characterized his intercession for the Galatians like childbirth. Just like a woman in labour experiences intense, agonizing pain but won’t stop until a baby is born, Paul is saying likewise, he is labouring for the church at Galatia and won’t stop until Christ is fully formed in them.
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‎This is intercession. Not the convenient, five-minute prayers. Not the casual prayers we offer before moving on with our day. Intercession is labour. It’s travail. It’s staying, continuing and persisting until something is born, and if you’re not willing to pay that price, you may not see results.
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‎Think about this deeply: when was the last time you truly interceded for someone? Not a quick “God bless them,” “God heal them,” or “God save them” prayer, but a genuine intercession. When was the last time you lost sleep over someone’s salvation? When was the last time you fasted and prayed on behalf of someone else? When was the last time you spent hours in prayer for the life of someone else? Dear believer, you must realize intercession comes with a cost. To see the results, you must be ready to pay that cost
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‎Moses understood the cost. When Israel sinned by worshipping the golden calf, God’s anger burned against them. They deserved judgment. And Moses could have stepped aside and let judgment fall. But he didn’t. He threw himself between God’s wrath and the people.
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‎Moses was willing to be eternally separated from God if it meant Israel would be spared. He didn’t just pray for them. He put his entire eternal destiny on the line for people who constantly complained against him, rejected his leadership, and tested his patience at every turn.
‎‎That’s the cost of intercession. Moses was ready to give up everything. And God honoured it.
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‎So the question is, can God count on you like this? Can you be such an intercessor? Not someone who prays when it’s convenient. Not someone who intercedes only when it doesn’t cost them anything.
‎God is searching for intercessors who will stand in the gap no matter what it costs. People who will sacrifice sleep, comfort, and time for the sake of someone else. People who will pay the price because they understand that what they’re fighting for is worth it.
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‎And one thing you must understand is intercession is spiritual warfare, as you are praying for someone else’s breakthrough, make no mistake, there are forces that might try to hinder that prayer, that might try to prevent that person from experiencing that breakthrough.
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‎Daniel experienced this. He prayed for Israel’s restoration and fasted for twenty-one days. He humbled himself before God. He sought the Lord with everything in him. But the answer didn’t come. Day after day, still nothing. Week after week, still nothing. He could have assumed God wasn’t listening. He could have concluded his prayers weren’t working. He could have given up. But he didn’t, he persisted and finally on day twenty-one, he got his answer.
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‎Daniel 10:12-13
‎New King James Version
‎12 Then he said to me, “Do not fear, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard; and I have come because of your words.

13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia.”
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‎Daniel had no confirmation, no sign, no visible result for those three weeks, just faith that God was listening. And because he refused to quit, because he kept praying and fasting even when it seemed like nothing was happening, the breakthrough finally came.
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‎This is what intercession requires: persistence.
‎Ephesians 6:12 says
‎New King James Version
‎12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
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‎So in case you did not realize When you pray for that family member or friend walking away from God, some forces might also be trying to keep them bound, it won’t always be easy, the same way you want their breakthrough is the same way the forces of darkness wants to keep them bound so would you give up easily or would you pay the price?
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‎And one other thing about intercession is that it means carrying burdens that aren’t yours. You feel their pain, you understand their struggle, some for people you may know, others for people you may not actually know
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‎Nehemiah experienced this. He was comfortable in the king’s palace with security, provision, and a respected position. But when he heard that Jerusalem’s walls were broken and the people were suffering, something broke inside him, “So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.”(Nehemiah 1:4)

‎‎Nehemiah wept for days. The burden of a city he’d never lived in consumed him. He could have stayed comfortable. He could have said, “That’s not my problem.” But he didn’t. He carried the weight until God gave him the plan to rebuild.
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‎Paul felt this same crushing weight when he thought about his fellow Jews who had rejected Christ in Romans 9:2-3. He grieved for the jews. The burden was so heavy, he said he’d be willing to be separated from Christ if it meant they would be saved.
‎The same mindset that Moses — giving up everything, regardless of the cost, as long as these people are saved, is the same mindset apostle Paul had as well. This is what it entails to be an intercessor.
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‎And ‎if anyone understood the ultimate cost of intercession, it was Jesus. ‎The very Son of God was moved by the utter helplessness of man; he came and became the greatest intercessor for all of mankind, and at the end of the day, paid with his life for the salvation of men.
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‎So as you read this devotional, the point to ponder on is that intercession comes with a cost, and it won’t always be comfortable, but you should be able to pay the price knowing that at the end of the day, it will be worth it.
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‎Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 4:17
‎New King James Version
‎17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
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‎Paul called his suffering “light affliction” because the eternal reward far outweighs any temporary cost. The sleepless nights, tears and warfare are all worth it because what you’re fighting for is eternal.
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‎Imagine standing before Jesus one day and seeing the people you prayed for standing there with you. Imagine them telling you your intercession saved their life. That your prayers pulled them back from destruction. That moment will make every cost worth it. So stand in the gap.
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‎Prayer Point
‎Lord help me to be a true intercessor, one who is ready to stand in the gap for the sake of the souls of men, no matter the cost.