By Jacqui – One of God’s Intercessors
I carry a notebook. It’s actually a prayer journal with plenty of lined pages. I keep a pen clipped to the front of it, and it’s usually within reaching distance. The notebook itself is not enough. I also prepare to go into intensive listening mode. This means I’m listening to more than just the words they’re speaking. I’m hearing the tone of voice and watching for the expressions that alert me to what they truly want to pray about.
There’s preparation to intercession. It's acknowledging that it’s time to turn off my own thoughts and to lay down my concerns. It's walking away from my phone and my calendar. It's walking into someone else's world for a time.
Perhaps you’re thinking this sounds like too much preparation. It’s just a prayer, right? But, it’s never just a prayer when the one you’re praying to is the God of the Universe.
Let’s pretend for a moment that I came unprepared into intercession. Back in the very beginning, I did. It wasn’t good. It went something like this…
Dear God, please help Sandy, ur, I mean Sally and her husband (I can’t remember his name). They need your provisions for their business because, well…. um, it hasn’t been going well. They also need to sell their home in… ah, the south. Please help them, Lord. Amen.
I don’t need to tell you why I felt I wasn’t giving God my best. But, I learned. Today, that prayer goes much differently, not just because I know their names, what’s wrong in the business, and where their house is. It goes differently, because I’m tuned in to the heart of the one I’m about to pray for! In the moment that I begin to intercede my thoughts are focused on them, on their feelings, and their needs.
As I pray, I’m talking to God, who I’ve come to know so much better because I spend so much more time with him. You see, when I bring him the needs of someone else, I already know that he is listening and that he is able to do all that I would ever ask on their behalf.
Basically, friend, I’ve learned that to truly prepare to intercede for someone else, the one person I do not want to be focused on is me. Intercessors prepare by listening deeply, focusing on the need being prayed for and giving our full attention to the one who will answer that prayer, God.
Do you desire to pray for others? If so, please take a moment to prepare. It will be worth it.
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