Intercession ~ prayer, petition, or entreaty in favor of another
In Andrew Murray's book, The Secret of Intercession, day one focuses on intercession--its meaning and its importance in our lives. It's a rather short chapter, but there is a vitality to it, a read this now and act feeling to it.
At the end of the day one section, a question is posed: How are those who pray for others blessed themselves?
When I think on this question, two verses instantly come to mind.
1 Corinthians 13:13
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
Praying for others is the epitome of that love we are to give to others, share with the world. So often, it is easy to turn our cameras on ourselves, to get so focused on self that we forget others. We worry about our situations, we bemoan our situations to others, but sometimes we don't take the time to do the thing God really wants us to do--love one another and show that love.
When you are staunched deeply in prayer, it moves you; the words bring power to you and to the situation at hand. It enacts the power that we have as children of God - I can't think of a better blessing to befall the prayer warrior.
Prayer is like a boomerang. When you release it, its favor always, in some form, comes back to you. It can come back to you directly as what you release, its goodness and love, is giving to you in the form of something God knows you desire. It can come back to you indirectly as your prayers cause a shift in someone's life that empowers them to open their mouths, their hearts in prayer of others. Before you know it, you're getting phone calls from friends and family members that start with, "You won't believe the incredible thing that just happened to me...." And you WOULD believe it because you know what the chain reaction of prayer concludes with...blessings falling down.
This just popped into my head while I was writing. I think about prayer almost in the same way I think about how I loan money typically. If a friend or fam member asks to borrow money, I typically give it without thinking about getting it back. Someone's in need, I help, move on. In and out. It makes me feel good to be able to help. It makes me want to help even more when I can. And, even more amazingly, something always happens in which I receive some favor back that I know is somehow tied to my giving in the first place. I think about prayer in the same way. I don't pray to get something back. I pray because I'm called to do it, and I need to do it. I pray and move on because I gave it to God and he's going to do what he's going to do. When that person comes back to me with a positive report, that is a blessing for me, too, because it allows me to see God's goodness and keep it close to me as evidence. Seeing the returns that come from prayer is a great incentive to keep prayer going.
There are emotional blessings that arise from praying for others, too. When I have purposely detached myself from current goings on to attend to prayer for someone, it takes all of me to be quiet, to listen to God, and to pray what I need to pray. And when the Holy Spirit latches on to that moment and causes you to tingle from the inside out and speak to God in tongues and sometimes fall to the ground on your face, the emotions are fully activated in the moment. It's hard to even find a word to describe that kind of emotional blessing...but after one of those prayers, for me, I'm left so deliciously, emotionally spent, that all I can do is sit off by myself, laughing and crying at the same time, feeling my mouth tremble with more words to God and thinking, Thank you, thank you, thank you.
All of these things (and more) reflect the blessings that fall upon the prayer warrior, the one who opens his/her mouth and pray in favor of another.
Intercession ~ prayer, petition, or entreaty in favor of anotherIn Andrew Murray's book, The Secret of Intercession, day one focuses on intercession--its meaning and its importance in our lives. It's a rather short chapter, but there is a vitality to it, a read this now and act feeling to it.
At the end of the day one section, a question is posed: How are those who pray for others blessed themselves?
When I think on this question, two verses instantly come to mind.
1 Corinthians 13:13
And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
Praying for others is the epitome of that love we are to give to others, share with the world. So often, it is easy to turn our cameras on ourselves, to get so focused on self that we forget others. We worry about our situations, we bemoan our situations to others, but sometimes we don't take the time to do the thing God really wants us to do--love one another and show that love.
When you are staunched deeply in prayer, it moves you; the words bring power to you and to the situation at hand. It enacts the power that we have as children of God - I can't think of a better blessing to befall the prayer warrior.
Prayer is like a boomerang. When you release it, its favor always, in some form, comes back to you. It can come back to you directly as what you release, its goodness and love, is giving to you in the form of something God knows you desire. It can come back to you indirectly as your prayers cause a shift in someone's life that empowers them to open their mouths, their hearts in prayer of others. Before you know it, you're getting phone calls from friends and family members that start with, "You won't believe the incredible thing that just happened to me...." And you WOULD believe it because you know what the chain reaction of prayer concludes with...blessings falling down.
This just popped into my head while I was writing. I think about prayer almost in the same way I think about how I loan money typically. If a friend or fam member asks to borrow money, I typically give it without thinking about getting it back. Someone's in need, I help, move on. In and out. It makes me feel good to be able to help. It makes me want to help even more when I can. And, even more amazingly, something always happens in which I receive some favor back that I know is somehow tied to my giving in the first place. I think about prayer in the same way. I don't pray to get something back. I pray because I'm called to do it, and I need to do it. I pray and move on because I gave it to God and he's going to do what he's going to do. When that person comes back to me with a positive report, that is a blessing for me, too, because it allows me to see God's goodness and keep it close to me as evidence. Seeing the returns that come from prayer is a great incentive to keep prayer going.
There are emotional blessings that arise from praying for others, too. When I have purposely detached myself from current goings on to attend to prayer for someone, it takes all of me to be quiet, to listen to God, and to pray what I need to pray. And when the Holy Spirit latches on to that moment and causes you to tingle from the inside out and speak to God in tongues and sometimes fall to the ground on your face, the emotions are fully activated in the moment. It's hard to even find a word to describe that kind of emotional blessing...but after one of those prayers, for me, I'm left so deliciously, emotionally spent, that all I can do is sit off by myself, laughing and crying at the same time, feeling my mouth tremble with more words to God and thinking, Thank you, thank you, thank you.
All of these things (and more) reflect the blessings that fall upon the prayer warrior, the one who opens his/her mouth and pray in favor of another.
Comments
Post a Comment