WISE Ministries International White Paper
Why Compensate Intercessors?
Charles Robinson
Copyright 2013, WISE Ministries International
The following is an excerpt from my book “Let Heaven Invade the Seven Mountains of Culture – a WISE 7M Intercessor Certification Guide”.
Please note that within this White Paper I address intercessors as “PLI’s” which is an acronym for a title that Peter Wagner coined – “Professional Level Intercessor”.
Please also note that my audience here is potential intercessors but it applies to everyone, including CEO’s and Business Leaders evaluating this ministry.
You charge for prayer? New Times Demand New Methods or You Get What You Pay For
I need to rephrase the question. You charge for the intercessor’s time? The answer is “YES. The prayer is offered up freely, but the time is not.” In other words, the time of the intercessor is valuable and, as such, she or he should be compensated for the time spent in lifting up the client’s needs.
I am writing this book to validate and verify that the need in the Intercession field is both for professionalism and for accountability.
Professionalism through certification (the purpose of my book) and standards and in belonging to the International Apostolic Marketplace Intercessor’s Network (or a similar network.)
Accountability through relationships and regular reporting or checking-in, both
with the intercessor manager and with clients via email updates and/or sessions and with the clients and the production of reports that come out of the intercession time with God.
In addition, there is a feedback loop in which clients can give the intercessor updates as to which things to stop praying for because those prayers have been answered along with new updates.
Intercession Presentation Case Study
I have been a part of a CEO round table group and every month a member presents their business model, financials, challenges, etc. Well, it was my turn to present and a particular individual had a strong negative reaction due to the word “Professional” and intercessor. This individual said that HE was going to pray for the group on a regular basis and that we did not need a service that paid people to do it.
I respected his comment and completed my presentation for which several people said that they were interested in the service.
The next month at the end of the meeting he mentioned to everyone that he was praying for us and we said thanks! And that was it – nothing more, no prayer requests, no follow-up, nothing. It got me thinking, this is the level of prayer (and not even intercession) that leaders have been used to and conditioned to. Friend, we need to change this. I set it in my heart to respond formally with why this method is not enough.
The following is a table that lists the two types of ministry and why Professional Level Intercession is well, at an entirely higher level as well as in expectations of results. If you think about it how could WISE be in business since 2005 in this challenging economy (and our services are not cheap) performing this service if it did not work? Not to mention the fact that this ministry has been one main source of full time employment for years.
When talking with Lance Walnau Lance stated that “many have tried this field and have not been successful in it, but you have, congratulations!” Our success is due to our model and calling.
Many years ago I received a prophecy that stated “you have a message that is going to go far and wide in the earth” and I believe that this book and the others in the series that will follow is the vehicle to get that message to the world.
Prayer Versus PLI
Prayer by a friend: I will pray for you if I remember
PLI: I will intercede for you at regular intervals
I maybe only know a general need
I will intercede for you according to knowledge of your life, family and business(s)
I am a generalist
I am a specialist
I do not follow-up with you
I follow-up and ask for status updates regularly
I do not show you that I prayed
I produce a report for you what I prayed
I speak to God, I do not ask him for specifics about you or your situation
I ask God what He has to say about the situation and then listen and record specifics what He thinks about you
I may not pray for you for a week
I pray for you almost daily
I do not follow-up with you to see if the prayers were answered
I will stop praying and pray for other issues when I am notified
You do not know what I am praying
You know exactly what I am praying as I write down the prayers
I do not hear God speak clearly about you
I hear God speak everyday to me about you and others as I am gifted in this area
I pray in my spare time
I intercede in my dedicated time
I do not get paid for this
I get paid well and look forward to my time on your behalf
I pray for maybe 1-3 minutes for each need
I intercede for 30-60 minutes at a time
My prayers are limited to the one or two prayer topics that you mentioned
My intercession is comprehensive, I put 8 powerful prayer shields around you and your loved ones, pray for important meetings, travel, spouse, children, other leaders and important clients
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Say you are a pastor: do you charge your congregation for each sermon that you preach to them? That would be absurd. Your congregation supports you for time and the value of your ministry. So, think of your clients as supporting you in the ministry to which God has called you and for which He has gifted you; your clients are paying for your time.
We don’t pay our pastors just to preach a sermon; their ministry is much more expansive than that, and so is the ministry of the PLI. It’s so much more than prayer; it’s spiritual discernment, it’s confirmation, it’s encouragement, it’s recording, via reports, what God is saying; it’s warfare against the spiritual forces that are coming against you and your enterprise; it’s devising strategies to defend against and prevent spiritual attacks; it’s going ahead of the enemy in the spirit.
Too long have we relegated spiritual ministry to being free and “how dare you to charge for this?!” My well thought-out and rehearsed answer to many variations of these questions goes like “well, you pay for a professional pastor, you pay a professional missionary why not pay a professional-level intercessor? Are they not as important to God as a pastor? Wait; come to think of it, don’t ask that!
The truth is intercessors ARE just as important and so is the machinist, the janitor and the CEO too! Our work is our ministry, period. We don’t differ in importance to God, just in our function. The word “work,” in Greek, the language of the New Testament, comes from the root word “Avodah,” which is the same root word as for the Greek word for “worship.” We worship in church and we worship in work and through our work!
Too long have we in the church thought of intercessors consisting of only a group of ladies who have their mornings free, and who have met, by themselves, for years, on Thursday morning. Our churches have not honored these ladies as intercessors; recognized or acknowledged which anointing(s) they had, trained them to further develop their gift of intercession, or had excitement about recruiting others, both men and women, from all age groups, and from different segments of society, to join the prayer team. Intercession in the local church has appeared weak at best and more like a social club at worst. Remembering you in prayer may have meant only that your name is uttered on a list, one of hundreds on Thursday mornings IF the person reading names at that time didn’t fall asleep! (Sorry, that wasn’t nice.) So, I am writing this to bring these intercessors into the 21st century ministry and to combine their gifting in business or art or education or government along with the Spiritual Gifts.
Scriptures about Intercession
For Scripture says, “Do not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.” … 1 Timothy 5:18
1 Thessalonians 1:2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers,
Numbers 21:7 (ESV) And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.
See my book for the complete list.
The Parable of the Hidden Treasure
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy went and sold all he had and bought that field.” (Matthew 13:44) Holy Spirit spoke to me, saying that intercessors are like the treasure buried in the field or assigned to their client’s field—that is in their field of ministry, whether it is business, art, education, etc.
When your clients find you, they will do anything for you because you, as the intercessor, are the key to their breakthrough. You have been hidden just for your client and you are tied to the land; that is, you have the authority! If you do not know about your client’s land (his or her field,) you will learn, but God has already given you that land. Therefore, do not let your “gifted-ness” remain buried any longer. You are a treasure hidden in darkness. Is. 45:3 “I will give you hidden treasures, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the Lord, the God of Israel, who summons you by name..” Only when you are found can your light shine forth. Is. 60:1 The Glory of Zion, “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.”
Money is Spiritual
Jesus said in Matthew 6:21 “Where your treasure is there will your heart be also.”
We are discussing the topic of finances for two very important reasons: first, YOU have to be “good” with your finances – good with God (not under condemnation) as well as the concept of being paid for your services and that you are “worth” what you charge. Second, you will need to convince or encourage your clients in this area; that spiritual services are worth being paid for. You will first need to persuade them to pay for the initial consult, then to commit to buy a package of your services for a duration of time and then even ongoing as you intercede for them.
God loves a cheerful (hilarious) giver (2 Cor 9:7) “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Whatever we do, we need to do as unto the Lord. Col 3:23 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.” We give to man as a channel to God.
Money is the number one issue in business people’s lives; many people (including our own staff) need to be set free from a poverty spirit.
A Poverty Spirit
A poverty spirit or mentality (if you are more evangelical) is a state of mind where money is always an issue. How do I know if I or my clients have a poverty spirit? Do you find yourself thinking about money frequently? Do you know that people who are wealthy can have a poverty mentality? If they are almost obsessed with their money, then yes.
How do I get free from the poverty spirit? Books have been written on this subject. One of the main solutions is to live below your means. This way you are not always pressed to come up with money. We will address this issue and pray about this area in today’s session.
Issachar
No issue of finances could be complete from an intercessory standpoint without recognizing the importance the Issachar Spirit or anointing in what we do with WISE and as WISE-Certified Intercessors. Your understanding of the Issachar anointing, as an intercessor, is so important that we will repeat some of the major points here:
Facts about the Issachar Tribe
Issachar means “wages;” they were the ones (and WISE staff are the ones, through our prayers and coaching and consulting,) who provide the finances for the other tribes, especially Zebulon, see below.
Issachar lived in the Jezreel valley, a very fruitful land, and provided all the food to all the tribes.
Jacob, gave them his father’s blessing, saying, “Issachar is a donkey,” which meant to bear their brothers’ burdens (WISE does this through intercession.)
Issachar’s tribe’s destiny is the greatest because they help the other tribes to see their destinies fulfilled. WISE is CONTINUALLY SOWING into the lives of our clients so we also CONTINUALLY REAP. We are continually moving forward in the Spirit and in the natural. Because you are connected to your clients, they and you will always be moving forward.
There is a pastoral caring aspect of what we do with WISE. You respond to your clients’ heartbeat.
The members of the tribe of Issachar were skilled warriors who would immediately go to war for their brothers when it was needed.
Issachar’s tribe encamped on the Eastern Gate (revelation)
Their closest brothers on the Eastern Gate were Judah (praise, went first) Micah 2:13 “The One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their King will pass through before them, the LORD at their head.” (This is the breaker anointing.) and Zebulon (Apostolic Builders); there is a pass-off like in a relay race between these three tribes: Issachar, Judah, and Zebulon.
The sons of Issachar knew the “times and seasons” and what Israel should do. I Chron. 12:32. Issachar is well versed in finances. We’re “Financial/Economic Prophets.” WISE coaches and intercessors are skilled in finances and in investing.
The members of Issachar’s tribe solved problems for their brothers. We are paid to solve problems (like Joseph in the book of Genesis.) The bigger the problem we solve, the more we can get paid. The more problems we solve for our clients, the more we get paid. You need your clients as much as they need you. Your clients complete you and you complete them.
The men of Issachar did what the times demanded. Our work is timely. In today’s world, the ability to adjust when needed is essential for success.
Issachar, like Joseph, is emerging to solve societal problems and build alliances for the coming days.
The PLI’s Work can be Priceless
So there you have a good mental picture image for you as you learn about your calling to be a Professional Level Intercessor. You can think of yourself as a donkey!
The image of you being a donkey may not be the most attractive picture for you, but put the picture in this context: You are at the bottom of a very high mountain in Peru. Your plans are to go to a location high up in the mountain. You look up; your destination is so far above your view that all you can see, when you look toward your destination, is some of the foliage and rocks of the mountainside, against the blue and clouds of the sky. Look at the donkey standing beside you. He’s laden with your clothing for the next few days. Other donkeys, for your guide, carry some of the other supplies your group will need for the trip. Yet another donkey has only a saddle, waiting for YOU to hop on and RIDE up on his back! This humble looking creature, with long ears and fuzz sort of like a teddy bear, is a PLI: a Priceless Lifting Instrument! So may you be, a PLI, a priceless lifting instrument, lifting your client’s needs to heaven.
Why Should a CEO Compensate You for this Ministry?
Giving the “first and the best” to sanctify the “whole and the rest.” (From Robert Henderson’s excellent book The Caused Blessing.)
First Fruits: Ez. 44:30 “The best of all the firstfruits and of all your special gifts will belong to the priests. You are to give them the first portion of your ground meal so that a blessing may rest on your household.”
The review points about Issachar from page 62 justify why giving firstfruits applies here.
The Compensation Model
Modern-day Levites are pastors and modern-day priests are apostles. (Robert Henderson,The Caused Blessing.)
This is a part of the reward for the coaches and intercessors and is given into the Apostolic Ministry.
Remember, apostles bring breakthrough.
This is an ongoing relationship;
Not paying for an answer or a breakthrough, but you are supporting a relationship
On-par with a church paid ministerial position
Guidelines for compensation, best practices
Contract Versus Covenant
God takes a contract very seriously. It creates the spiritual reality that we are trying to achieve.
God “performs” on or upholds His side of the contract through His representatives
Intercessors are the fishermen
Matt 17:27 “…But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.”
Prayer is like a garden (see text and table on page 90.) The Spiritual Advisory Team can be of critical importance. … See “gate” text on page 55.)
Money is spiritual. Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
Don’t Shy Away from the Material Benefits
The rewards of being a PLI are many. The benefits include but are not limited to, finances, vacations, free trips to conferences with your clients, paid by the client, cars, and anything the Lord wants to lavish on you. This industry can be very lucrative, but, once the client has established their financial agreement for intercession service, it is recommended you do not ask your client directly for additional financial assistance; you just petition the Lord to see if He will turn the “Heart of the King” when you have a need. It is OK if you let them know about a need. For instance, if your car just broke down, you could say, “my car just broke down.” If they would like to pray for you for that or for other needs you have, we encourage our clients to pray for us as intercessors. Intercessors need intercessors. Intercessors are on the “front lines” of the spiritual battle, and, as such, need prayer cover. We see the need for our intercessors to have professional intercessors praying for them. However, we encourage our clients to also pray for us. When clients pray for us, that is a blessing for them. We do not let our clients totally “outsource” prayer because they will be robbed of a blessing if they do. We pray reciprocally for our clients, and vice versa, because we are family. As you can see, I do not shy away from being amply rewarded for my efforts because, many times, what we do is the key to breakthrough for our clients.
The fact that this industry can be very lucrative comes with a price that must be paid in spiritual warfare, humility, travel requirements to your clients’ sites and the accompanying physical wear-and-tear on your body. For those of you who have been in spiritual warfare, you know it can be grueling at times. Your travel needs will be dictated by whether you are a coach as well as an intercessor (like me) and by how large your client enterprises and their immediate needs are. As you stand in the gap for your clients, their enterprises, their families and their territories, you will be handsomely rewarded. I will show you how to negotiate. We have a sample negotiating session during a session of the class on which the book and this white paper are based. As we talk about the skeptical client, we will also cover how to overcome objections.
Remember, you are in the relationship business and you are there to solve problems. The larger the problems you solve and the more influence that you have, the more that you will get paid. This is the law of increasing returns. Here is the law of risk and reward: the greater the risk you take, the more you will be rewarded. As an example of risk in this line or work, say God reveals a personal detail about your client’s life, a detail that could be damaging if you bring it up and the client does not receive it. You sense that you’re not just supposed to pray about it, but that it is the root that is causing hindrances in the company and that you are do expose it (discreetly and in love of course.) Are you willing to be obedient to the Lord and to bring it up? There is a high risk/reward in this scenario. Your client will either take an affront (which could happen and even result in your termination.) Be prepared for this outcome. The second possible outcome is what you and the Lord want; the client will respond as a son of God, in humility, receive the word, and repent (turn 180 degrees and walk in a new direction.) God has probably already been talking to him about the issue anyway. This will create an even closer bond and result in the client trusting you more. This is the essence of what we do at WISE and what God is calling you to do as Seven Mountains Intercessor.
Always remember: you work for the Lord, Jesus and HE pays your salary; God just uses various people to be the physical extension of Christ Himself to you in this area.
Remember that timing of the release of this type of discreet and personally sensitive revelation is the key. If the Lord just wants you to pray, then do not bring it up unless/until the Lord says to do so—then act quickly and prayerfully.
God is waiting to bless your clients, what is needed is for you to walk into their lives. You are like a key to a door that has been locked. God just places the key (you) in the lock and turns it to open the door. Sometimes the door is stuck shut and some “WD-40” needs to be applied (think of this as the anointing and release from spiritual warfare,) but the door will open eventually.
Doors Unlocked for YOU
Many of you reading have had profound promises from the Lord. The relationship between king and prophet, if you will, can produce the things the Lord has promised you and you can see those great and mighty prophetic words fulfilled through the relationships that can be established between you and your clients. In many cases, these are life-long journeys that the two of you will travel together. Can you “see” this? Can you believe this? If you can see it you can have it. This career and this training is the manifestation or the key to what God has been promising you all these years and the fruit, the precious fruit of these God-Ordained relationships will last forever, even into eternity! See the text page 116 about “Destiny Links, a term coined by Sandy Freed, for more discussion on the relationship aspect of this ministry.
Why do we charge for what we do with WISE?
Why not “give it away?” That is THE question that many have in their mind. It originates with people being confused about the VALUE of spiritual ministry and the separation of church and business. Which mountain supports spiritual ministry, church or business?
We, as “good” church members, have focused on “giving to God” with our tithes and not that we are actually giving to the pastoral staff or to the building – this has been good for church leadership but not so good for us. We don’t associate that 5% of our tithe just went for the preaching of a sermon or for having the lights on Sunday morning. There has been a lack of specificity regarding WHERE our money goes. For example, when I was young, I gave thousands of dollars to a well publicized ministry. Did my money go for winning souls or for a fountain in the new building? I don’t know. Our giving as Christians goes into a “black hole.” As a result, good church people are used to giving to God but not used to paying for specific spiritually-oriented services. Counseling is the exception, but counseling is not what we do with WISE, even though counseling is a component of what we do. What we do with WISE is about relationship and honor. How do you place a price tag on honor? This is the challenge. There needs to be a KNOWING that you and your client have been placed together by God for mutual benefit and that your client needs you to reach his or her destiny in God—not just in business or their relationships or in finances but in their destiny. Issachar speaks to this. They honored and cared for their brothers and sisters in the other tribes. They lived to see the other tribes become successful and they would fight anyone who would stand in the way. Your clients need you to recognize and awaken their potential and calling in God.
Honor
WISE exists to be an extension of the church for our businesspeople. Businesspeople are used to being the ones who “write the check” and solve the problem in a church. Is the extent of their ministry ushering on Sundays or receive the offering? Quite frankly, they are used to being prostituted; many pastors see their businesspeople as being provision for their own vision. Businesspeople are not generally honored in the church. Our number one goal as WISE intercessors and coaches is to honor and encourage our people.
The Contract
One of the most important points I can make on this topic is: when we have a contract where finances are exchanged for services, this legal document CREATES THE REALITY (builds a structure in the spirit realm) of what we are trying to achieve. God HONORS and UPHOLDS the content of the contract. That is, having a contract ensures that the following will come to pass:
what we are agreeing to,
that our client will prosper,
that solutions will be granted, and
that prayers will be answered.
God takes the contract (covenants) very seriously. This is the MISSING INGREDIENT for those who do not value the services rendered by not being willing to pay for services. This is what you can tell your clients. We have had companies double in size within 24 hours of the contract being signed—and we had not even started praying yet! A “logjam” gets removed in the spirit when your client aligns with you and WISE. It’s like your client has been waiting for you to come along and to APOSTOLICALLY ALIGN or unlock their business and their lives. The law of Intention or Intentionality. We draw to us those resources when we make a conscious intent in our hearts; to produce a certain result to walk in a certain direction.
Fish with the Gold Coin
Do you remember the fish being caught by Peter with a gold coin in its mouth? “After Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of the two-drachma temple tax came to Peter and asked, “Doesn’t your teacher pay the temple tax?” “Yes, he does,” he replied. When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak. “What do you think, Simon?” he asked. “From whom do the kings of the earth collect duty and taxes—from their own children or from others?” “From others,” Peter answered. “Then the children are exempt,” Jesus said to him. “But so that we may not cause offense, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours.” Matthew 17:24-27. Peter needed money to solve a tax problem. Jesus told him to go fishing and this fish made a bee-line to Peter’s hook. Tell your clients that the answers and the money are out there. We just need to get the instruction of the Lord in these issues on how to retrieve the provision. We need the ability to hear God through the Issachar “Problem Solving” anointing. Convince your clients that God WANTS to intervene in their lives, that He WANTS to solve their problems and you have mastered this topic. Convince your clients that God is involved and that they are not alone; God is with them, like he was with Gideon. People say “I’m going to put a fleece out like Gideon.” What they say is “I want to know God’s will.” But, the Biblically correct definition of the fleece is that Gideon already knew God’s will when he put the fleece out; he just needed to know that God was with him. (God said, “I am with you, Oh Mighty Man of God.”) That’s the essence of what we do in intercession, which is to come alongside… and show our clients that they are not alone. We do life together, as family. Even if they do something wrong, as long as their desire is to please the Lord, God loves them and does not judge them; he can get them back on the right path. You (and your clients) shall decree a thing and it shall be established unto you, as it says in Job 22: 25-28, “Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God. You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows. What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways.”
In our WISE model, the intercessors are like Peter, fishing for a breakthrough, answer or direction from God. Peter was a professional fisherman and fished with nets, not a hook. The hook speaks of accuracy and specificity—the kind of prophetic guidance that our clients need. One fish and one hook; let’s connect. God has a problem in a person’s life with your name on it. The problem is being used to get their attention, so they can connect with you to get them to where they need to be. God allows the problems in people’s lives for a reason. Your client may not have a business problem but, rather, a marriage problem that God wants to work on. God has a hook in his sons and daughters – his sons and daughters need to work on a specific issue; that is why they are seeking you out. In another sense, THEY are the fish with the coin in THEIR mouths that solve YOUR problem too. We all have problems or needs and God is keenly aware; every coach needs a coach and every intercessor needs an intercessor too. These relationships are always win-win. Be prepared to be challenged and enriched by your clients. They are not paying you for an answer—they are paying you for your relationship with God. You can teach someone to fish or you can provide them the fish. Jesus told Peter to cast his net on the other side of the boat. We need God’s techniques, new strategies for this hour.
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