Intercessory Prayer
It almost seems as if there should be little to say about intercession.
After all, by definition, it is a prayer for someone else’s
need. If someone asks me to pray for her, I do it, and that is that.
Or is it?
In fact, after many years of engaging in intercessory prayer, I feel
confident to say that it is a richly textured experience to place other
people before the Lord in prayer. It is a privilege to go before Almighty
God in prayer, and it is an even greater privilege to serve others
by lifting them up before God. Sometimes I feel like a little girl
taking a friend with a splinter to my mother. When I was little, I
did not know how to remove the splinter, so I needed help. As an adult,
when I take someone to the Lord in prayer, I am well aware that I don’t
have either the skill or the power to do for that person what is needful.
My greatest service to my friends and acquaintances is to take them
to the One who can help.
My personal strategy for faithful intercession is to keep a small notebook
in which I list my prayer concerns. If someone asks for prayer, I add
an entry to my notebook. I add notes on concerns I discover in conversations
or in news reports. I date each entry and I commit to pray for one
month. If an issue is resolved, I write “Thank you” beside
the entry. If it escalates, I add notes, or I may add a new entry.
Each day I pray through the entries up to one month back. When an entry
still seems to be alive after thirty days, I make a new entry with
updated information.
This notebook has become a treasure of remembrance of prayers and
people. It keeps my love for family and friends nourished by mutual
concerns.
My notebook is not the only way a ministry of intercession can be
managed, but it had provided me with the tool I need to be faithful
in intercession.