Paid Intercession: Good Or Bad?

[Os Hillman]

Paid Intercession: Good or Bad?

Epaphras, who Paul states to the Colossians “is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus. . . . He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured.” Colossians 4:12

 

Because we’ve been entrenched in the “secular versus sacred” model for so long, it can

be difficult for us to view our work as a ministry and workplace believers as

missionaries in the 9 to 5 Window. However, God tells us clearly that we are to glorify

God in all that we do (see Col. 3:17,24). One way we can do this is through intercessory

prayer, which can be characterized as an intense type of prayer for others (see Eph. 6:18;

Col. 4:12), the priestly calling of all believers (see 1 Pet. 2:5; Exod. 19:6) and the Holy

Spirit praying in us (see Rom. 8:26-27). Having people pray for us to fulfill our purpose

and calling in our workplaces is consistent with the will of God for every individual.

 

Imagine if all corporations had a director of corporate intercession as a paid

position. I am pleased to tell you that in at least one case, this is already happening.

Darlene Maisano is a full-time intercessor for the marketplace and a paid intercessor for

several businesses. She is paid as a consultant would be paid. She sits in business

meetings, quietly praying and “listening.” She has authored the only resource I know of

on the subject, Breaking Open the Doors of Success Through Marketplace Intercession. Here

are her thoughts on the importance of workplace intercession:

 

Through the birthing and establishing of the Church, nothing has ever

been accomplished on earth without prayer and intercession. And with

the restoration of the workplace, intercession is a key to bridging the gap,

making a way and nullifying the shortage of laborers in the Kingdom.

 

Whereas we once thought of those involved in politics, economics,

religion, and the military as the ones controlling the earth, today we

recognize the enormous influence wielded by those in the workplace.

As a workplace intercessor for numerous national and international

businesses, I have experienced the importance of interceding on their

behalf. Favor, wisdom, financial gain and well-being have been

manifested and evident in peoples’ lives and businesses. I am also seeing a

growing number of workplace intercessors stepping up to the plate

saying, “That’s my calling.”1

 

While the idea of a workplace intercessor may be a new concept for us, we need

to remember the examples we find in the New Testament of believers praying for one

another. One such example is Epaphras, who Paul states to the Colossians “is one of

you and a servant of Christ Jesus. . . . He is always wrestling in prayer for you, that you

may stand firm in all the will of God, mature and fully assured” (Col. 4:12).

 

Let me give you a modern example of what I am describing as intercessory

prayer in the workplace.

 

Compensating Intercessors?

The idea of compensating intercessors by paying them for their time is something that is

still in its developmental stage and may represent a new and unusual concept to us.

However, we need to move past the roadblock of thinking that it’s inappropriate to pay

people to pray and realize that those who are spending time praying for a business

need to be compensated in the same manner as any other person who is working on its

behalf.

 

The models for employing and compensating intercessors are varied depending

on the circumstance, the people involved and the skill and ability of the intercessor.

Here are a few examples of some of these models:

 

[Carol Roberts]

How can people say that they are paid to pray....It`s a bit like asking Jesus if He wants to be paid for dying on the cross for us...Gods Gifts are Gods Gifts and as such should be Freely given,I find it troublesome in a world such as ours that money is the foundation for every thing,God freely gave,We should set the example,as Jesus said,"you cannot serve both,you can have the one or the other,Money is the root of all evil....Even in the workplace freely it was given,freely we should give.

[Andrew Urban]

It's absolutely righteous to compensate people for their time - even time spent interceding. Of course, many pastors (and other church staff) receive salary today. Is the marketplace ministry less important? How exciting it is to be able to bring kingdom dynamics (like prayer and prophecy, etc.) into the marketplace setting.

[Carol Roberts]

I do not agree with you Andrew,whilst it is only the Pastor that lives rent free in the United Kingdom,we serve our churches free of charge,and if you receive payment for interceding,then you are making God`s work a business as well,God says go out into the world and preach the gospel to every nation,you can go anywhere to preach and pray,but to seek reward,what are you teaching people if Jesus and His disciples didn`t charge for their services.

[Andrew Urban]

Carol, if receiving pay or paying someone else for the Lord's work offends your conscience, then by all means, feel free to refrain from it. 1 Cor. 9:7-11 seems relevant here.

It may help if you looked at it another way. Instead of the one with a gift (of intercessory prayer) "charging for their services", see it as a business owner that wanted to free up one of God's ministers by providing for his physical needs. Not everyone is "seeking reward". As a business owner, if I have the chance to bring an intercessor or chaplain on staff and provide a means to care for his physical needs, why shouldn't I?

Be blessed,
AU

[Carol Roberts]

Hello again Andrew, Your point taken,however reading on from your passage,corinthians 9 v 17 onwards states:- If I preach voluntarily,I have a reward:if not voluntarily,I am simply discharching the trust commited to me.18. What then is my reward? Just this: that in preaching the gospel I may offer it free of charge,and not to make use of my rights in preaching it......This to me applies to interceding,or any other service that the Lord directs people to,I am not against people in business using interceders,in fact it is a wonderful way to behave for the glory of the Lord,all I am saying is why would intercessors want to be paid for doing a service for the Lord and your business, If Jesus and His disciples went around with the same attitude, they would have been rolling in money and there would have been no need for the disciples to say that most times they were hungry, and when Jesus sent them out to preach He said "take nothing for the journey-no staff,no bag,no bread,no money,no extra tunic".......etc

[William Lewis]

Having been raised in the traditional church I was shocked when I went on staff to find there was a person "paid to pray"! How unholy! People are suppose to do things for God because they love Him. This was in the late 80's at the height of the prayer movement by Dick Eastman, Larry Lea, and others. Soon the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to a new level of prayer and intercession and I began to see that not only should everyone pray but that everyone did not have the calling of the intecessor nor the time to an effective prayer warrior.
Now more than 20 years later I can see this necessary especially in the time we live. Intercession is a vital part of our life and is necessary if we are to accomplish great things for God. Having people who are dedicated to pray without "comment" is becoming a new avenue of ministry for those who feel that they must launch out in the seven mountains to help regain terriotry lost.
I like the recommendations made about how intercessors are to conduct themsleves and be compensated. Thanks for your insight to this role of christians who are sensing the call to come forth.

[Carol Roberts]

Hi William,If you are agreeing with the "Intercessors should be paid to pray", where will it end,don`t forget that everything on earth belongs to God,we are all God`s children and as such should behave in like manner,what you pay for an intercessor could go towards the poor,could put a roof over the homeless,could put clothes on the naked,food for the hungry,which is what we are supposed to be about isn`t it,so if your paying intercessors,who else will want payment for God`s work,SO just where will it end.

[William Lewis]

You are right! We could pay for clothing, food, medical supplies, etc. Yet, we could feel the same way about other areas of ministry, they should work and the Lord will bless them. How does God bless us, especially financially? He causes men and women to give into our work. I have personally known several intercessors, people who give themselves to prayer and fasting reguarly. Their prayer times are not a sentence or two as they spend long hours sometimes days and nights laying before the Lord interceeding for a variety of things. Some of these were blessed, their husbands were compensated well on their jobs which afforded the wives to spend most of her free time before the King. Others were drawn by the Holy Spirit into intercessory prayer, It did not matter how hard they tried to turn the other cheek they could not shake the pulling and drawing of the Holy Spirit to intercede for nations, cities, churches, presidents, and people in general. Their efforts were greatly rewarded by the Father as they saw the veils lifted and the Glory come down.

If a person goes in and says I will pray for your company, church, or family and demand or ask for a fee then their heart is not right, their motive is wrong, and James says "they pray amiss". Yet, if a peron has given themselves to prayer and fasting, and they have no other viable means of support, you see their heart is right I would have no problem giving them a love offering just as a traveling minister would receive if he came to the church for special services.

What I can appreciate from this forum is that we can be open and learn from one another. I am still learning much about prayer even though I have been at it for more than 35 years. I am sure that there are abuses and misuses of ministry in the Kingdom. We are in the ministry whether it be behind the sacred desk or changing oil in a car and compensation for our labors is scriptural (James 5), a laborer is worthy of his hire. Even Jesus had compensatory benefits, remember, he had a treasurer. Just because the intercessor is not listed in the five fold ministry gifts makes it no less necessary in the Kingdom.

God Bless. WL

Carol Roberts said:

Hi William,If you are agreeing with the "Intercessors should be paid to pray", where will it end,don`t forget that everything on earth belongs to God,we are all God`s children and as such should behave in like manner,what you pay for an intercessor could go towards the poor,could put a roof over the homeless,could put clothes on the naked,food for the hungry,which is what we are supposed to be about isn`t it,so if your paying intercessors,who else will want payment for God`s work,SO just where will it end.

[Carol Roberts]

I totaly agree with you William,a Love gift is a far cry from paying ( giving a wage) to intercessors,and I totaly agree with you,they do do a marvellous work for the glory of our God,Jesus sure did have a treasurer,but it wasn`t for Himself,it was to share among the poor,we here, even have an offering for those who visit from other countries,this is not a wage,which is what the question is,is it good or bad,we so gladly give to intercessors and the like for their marvellous part in the work we are all doing to better this world,I too am learning day by day and when I read of all other countries in the world have to go underground just to praise the Lord,I am filled with the blessing that I can do this anytime I want,but I wouldn`t dream of wanting to be paid for the pleasure,(if you see where I am coming from) My Blessings to you always.

[Os Hillman]

In my book the 9 to 5 Window book I have a testimony of one of our board memhers regarding how he incorporated intercession in his company.

Intercessory Prayer in an Optical Company
Colin Ferreira is a friend, a board member for our ministry and an owner of an optical
business in Trinidad. I first met Colin in 2001 when he invited me to speak at a
Caribbean workplace conference that he was organizing. I have watched Colin develop
into a Kingdom business leader whose vision is to see his nation transformed.

For many years, Colin considered his business to be a Kingdom business as well
as his primary calling to ministry, even though he had also been in church leadership.
At his workplace, he would have weekly prayer meetings and exercise prayer in
business meetings whenever he felt the need. For eight years, he led his management
staff in a weekly study of the book of Proverbs from a business perspective. The biblical
principles they discussed together caused them to change the way they operated the
business.

Eighteen years ago, Colin and his management staff made a decision to use a
minimum of 10 percent of their profits (before tax) for building the kingdom of God.
God blessed their business greatly, and they have been able to support many ministries
and provide significant leadership and administrative support to some of those
organizations. However, through a series of struggles common to most businesses
(made worse due to apparent spiritual opposition), Colin began to recognize the need
for more prayer coverage. One of the organizations for which he had been supplying
financial and leadership support maintained a House of Prayer. Colin asked the
minister who headed the organization to intercede for him and his company on an
ongoing basis, and she gladly agreed.

The two met periodically to discuss prayer needs and critical issues developing
within the organization, which the minister then addressed discreetly in her
intercessory group meetings. Often, this woman would recognize specific problems
during these prayer meetings and know how to pray for them effectively. This became
the first step to Colin developing intercessory prayer within his own company. In his
words: God continued to nudge me to go a step further. Business being as
dynamic as it is, there is constant need for prayer on the spot and in
meetings. We also realized that we needed to take a more proactive
approach to taking and maintaining authority over the business in the
spirit realm at every location. I felt that God was saying that we were to
have someone fulltime on staff. The question was, “How do we have
someone on our payroll without raising a heap of questions and criticisms
from our non-Christian employees?”We went before the Lord with that question and He gave us an answer. We established a new position called the Employee Assistance
Officer/Intercessor. To our 120 employees, her function is that of an
Employee Assistance Officer, and her job is to identify ways we can
provide tangible and practical assistance to employees with problems. Her
role fulfills a need that exists and that was a genuine concern of our
company, as we desire employees to function at their best.
She visits our six locations periodically to connect with employees
and identify those with problems. These problems could be marital,
parenting, housing, financial or medical, to name a few. Her role is to
provide counsel, guidance, direction and other tangible forms of
assistance with careful assessment of each situation.

In order to develop this area further, Colin decided to get some training for both
his intercessor and himself at Christian International in Florida, an organization that is
experienced in developing believers’ ability to receive prophetic input from God. Colin
strongly believes that a Christian CEO should be able to hear the voice of God for
himself and not be heavily dependent on someone else’s communication with God. He
also believes that, in an effort to stop dividing things into “secular” or “spiritual,” such
training should be just as important as a management training seminar, if not more so.
The training proved to be very enlightening, practical and necessary for both of them.
Colin states that his Employee Assistance Officer now develops her prayer
strategies in the following way: On her location visits, besides identifying employee problems, she tries to identify the spiritual problems in each specific location. These vary from
place to place and may even involve witchcraft as evidenced by
paraphernalia known to specific cults. A team of intercessors (including a
company director) revisits the location outside of working hours to pray
specifically for the needs and situation of that location. Every week, a
different location is visited.

Our intercessor is also involved in the employee weekly prayer
meeting and, particularly, the senior management prayer meeting, where
sensitive and confidential situations are addressed. From time to time as
we are praying, she will receive a vision or word from the Lord that will
either confirm something or provide more clarity or direction that later
proves to be on target. She is also on call throughout the day to pray as
situations arise.

We are still learning from the Lord in this area of intercession in
our business. I do not believe that there is a set formula for the use of
intercessors in a business organization as each situation has its
uniqueness. However, I do believe that it is a necessary and vital function
for any Kingdom organization in these times.

[Carol Roberts]

Hi Os, I read your reply to your question; Paid Intercession:- Good or Bad.
But you didn`t answer your own question, when you state that Colin employed a Minister to work with him,she is multi tasking and therefore has more than an intercessory role,and so does deserve a wage,I also believe that prayer is very vital in any cross section of the work place,and indeed the home,and if we people would listen to that still quiet voice that is inside every one of us,we could turn this world around for the good,and do more than prosper,we would also love each other too.
God Bless you Os,you and your Market Place leadership are a full blessing to us all,Thank you and may you continue to shine for the glory of the Lord.

[Os Hillman]

Currently I have four intercessory prayer relationships.All of them are deeply rooted in a personal relationship to me.Three of them are in vocational ministry. Two of these I support with perodic donations. They do not know when or how much that will be. One of them I support with a small monrhly amount and receive a 5-8 page report from a team who prays for me and our ministry but we do not interact directly with the team, only a representative of the prayer ministry. I read that report not for direction but for confirmation and warning signs of what they might be picking up in the spirit. They listen and report. This keeps the process clean and free of contamination. The fourth are people on our prayer team who are totally volunteer. Again, I believe there are very specific guidelines that should be followed in this area. The most important in my opinion is that the founation is based on relationship, not performance.


Carol Roberts said:

Hi Os, I read your reply to your question; Paid Intercession:- Good or Bad.
But you didn`t answer your own question, when you state that Colin employed a Minister to work with him,she is multi tasking and therefore has more than an intercessory role,and so does deserve a wage,I also believe that prayer is very vital in any cross section of the work place,and indeed the home,and if we people would listen to that still quiet voice that is inside every one of us,we could turn this world around for the good,and do more than prosper,we would also love each other too.
God Bless you Os,you and your Market Place leadership are a full blessing to us all,Thank you and may you continue to shine for the glory of the Lord.