Healing Line

Healing Line

Healing of Generations: A New Form of Intercessory Prayer

by The Reverend Patricia Smith
Spring 1997

Engaging in prayer for the healing of generations has strengthened my belief that we actually live in two dimensions at the same time, one made up of material reality and the other of spiritual reality. In the spiritual world our reliance is on the love of God, the redemptive work of Jesus, and the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. In this realm all of the promises of God are already realized and we have all of the power and authority that God has so graciously promised to His people. Time is different in the spiritual world. Chronos, or chronological time as we know it, is only a device God has given us to keep order in the created realm. With God past events do not belong to yesterday alone, they are also part of the ever–present; and future; they are all a part of one terrain.

Included in that all–encompassing terrain would be every person who has ever been part of our lives, whether deceased or living. Also included would be every event in our personal history, whether past, present, or future. The most important moments in the history would be kairos, the right moments for God to act on our behalf. Every time that we approach God, whether for forgiveness, for intercession, or for worship, is kairos. This is the opportune moment for us to bring ourselves and those we pray for into an encounter with God and His healing love, through the person of Jesus Christ. As we ask Jesus to heal the trauma in our family lines, chronos (the space of linear time we dwell in) becomes kairos, our time changes into God's time, and His healing touch is brought into the painful situation. The outcome of this transformation of time is that the yoke of oppression coming from past generations is broken. This allows Jesus' healing power to flow into people in the present generation and release them and their progeny from the painful effects of past hurts. It is with this understanding that we begin our prayers for healing of the generations. It is because we know that God has already won the warfare in heaven and has given us the spiritual authority to enforce his victory on earth, that we even dare to begin praying for generational healing. For healing of generations is simply a new form of intercessory prayer. And intercessory prayer is a time of battle when we storm the very gates of heaven to bring the people we are praying for before the throne of God.

As we see depicted in the fifth chapter of the Revelation to John, " ... there before the throne stands the Lamb, He who was slain before the beginning of the world, He whose blood paid the price for our sins and the sins of the world. Falling down before Him and worshiping him are all the heavenly court, and in their hands are ... golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints ... " Our prayers are joined with worship rendered to the Lamb and through Him ascend to the Father. In effect, every time we pray, we join with all of the hosts of heaven standing before the throne of God day and night. This is true: through the blood of the sacrificial Lamb of God we are allowed access into the very courts of heaven. God has " ... raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus ... " (Ephesians 2:6).

This is very important for us to remember, for it is not an easy thing we do when we engage in intercessory prayer for a family line. We become prayer–warriors, people who are engaged in a very intense battle. Our fight is not with a visible foe, but with the Christians' ancient and defeated enemy, Satan. Our families have been kept in bondage to their sin and hurt for many generations because of the work of this adversary. However, faithful people in this present generation, going before God in strong intercessory prayer, can release their families from the effects of past generational hurt and sin. As we ask God to take us back to the very places in the family history where all of the pain and hurts originate, Jesus puts us on the front line, working with him, to free all of the members of our families as He restores, establishes, and strengthens them.

This is a very intense and powerful form of petition and we are never alone when we enter into it. Jesus himself intercedes both for us and with us. He is our great High Priest, who is continually before the throne of God, pleading for us. We cannot even hope to engage in this ministry without the complete assurance of his help. We need to rely on him completely, but we also need to remember that he is relying on us to carry out his work in this world. As we pray for others while doing healing of the generations, we gather up those we are praying for and storm the very gates of heaven until their days of bondage are over.

Spring 1997 Issue