Intercessory Prayer

Intercessory Prayer

A Prayer for

May 2006

Ever-loving God, in II Timothy 1:3-5, the Apostle Paul is pictured as remembering Timothy “constantly in my prayers night and day.” He recalls Timothy’s trials and tears and troubles. He wants to see him personally to bring him some laughter and joy. He remembers the good times, recalling Timothy’s faith and the faith of his grandmother Lois and of his mother Eunice.

We all need more of this kind of intercessory prayer. We need to pray for others more, and we should treasure other’s prayers for us.

Renew our hearts, O Lord, renew our vision for prayer.

Sometimes Lord we thank of prayer in terms of technique. We will pray at a certain place at a certain time using a certain posture. All this may be good to teach us the habit of prayer. In our human frailty, we usually need a place where we always pray and a time when we always pray. But ultimately Lord the blessed gift of prayer does not need a special time and place. There are no circumstances where we cannot turn to you in our minds and know your loving presence and receive your blessed guidance.

Nor is the length of our prayer significant. It is not how long we pray but what we pray. If we come to you wrestling with a burden, and our prayer is simply, “Thy will be done,” that may well be the most significant prayer we ever pray.

All the techniques of prayer are helpful if they help us to pray, but we should never forget that ultimately prayer is just about pouring out our hearts to you, precious Lord.

Intercessory prayer is a special kind of prayer and power for a Christian. As we are called to love others, certainly we are called to pray for others. We pray in love for what is most beneficial for them. This does not always mean praying for what they want, for we recognize that human beings often want things that are contrary to their best interests. Parents, in particular, must sometimes pray with tough love for their children.

But whatever our prayer for others, we always pray with love. We pray even for our enemies, even for those that do not love us. We pray that their eyes will be opened to see God’s will and their hearts will be moved to do God’s work. We can pray that prayer willingly for friends and enemies alike.

Teach us to pray like that, O Lord. As always, we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.

If you have questions or comments, email Tony Grant

Last Modified: 08/28/07