Our wonderful Savior, the Great Physician, has taken me through
the growth process of being a nurse, to the point of becoming His patient.
As a teenager, I worked as a nurses' aid, and began my career journey
in the healing profession. My college years took me through many valuable
growth stages. For 21 years I served Him as an R.N., caring for and praying
with His children. In those years, He taught me much about life and death
through the lives of the people He allowed me to comfort and teach. Now,
I am called by Him to
share the life lessons He used to bless me . I no longer work as
a nurse, but all the skills and wisdom I gleaned from those nursing years,
were but preparation for the mission ahead!
Because He has called me to be a prayer warrior, I've learned so
much about intercessory prayer. I'd like to share with you the things I've
learned along the way!
INTERCESSORY PRAYER
Just what is it, really?
Webster defines prayer as: ”an approach to a diety in word or thought;
addressing God with adoration,confession,supplication, or thanksgiving.”
He defines intercession as : ”prayer,petition, or entreaty in favor
of another.”
Okay, so it’s basically thinking about someone to God, right? Somehow,
that just doesn’t quite capture the idea! If we go to the scriptures, we
find that there are many examples of intercessory prayer, so in order to
really understand the meaning, we should gleam what we can from the Word’s
records.
I Kings 8:46-60 gives us an example of Soloman’s
prayer for Israel.
Basically, I see Soloman asking God, “If they sin and you become
angry, and they come to their senses and return to you honestly and pray,
hear their prayers and pleadings, and come to their assistance. Forgive
them and make their captors merciful to them for they are your people.
May your eyes be open and your ears listening to their pleas. Hear and
answer them when they cry out.”
If we see the word “captors” as anything that has someone in bondage,
is this not an awesome prayer we could use? Imagine the power of that prayer
for a
wayward child!
In verses 56-60, I see six steps we could use in
our intercessory prayers:
1. Praise to God.
“Blessed be the Lord who has fulfilled his promise and given rest
to His people
Israel; not one word has failed of all the wonderful promises through
His servant Moses.”
2. Request God’s presence.
“May the Lord our God be with us as He was with our fathers; may
he
never forsake us.”
3.Ask for help to do God’s will.
“May he give us the desire to do his will in everything.”
4.Pledge to obey God in all things.
“...and to obey all the commands and instructions he has given
our
ancestors.”
5.Ask God to remember the prayer.
“And may these words of my prayer be constantly before him
day and night, so that he helps me and all of Israel in accordance
with our daily needs.”
6. Pray that all people would come to know God.
“ May people all over the earth know that the
Lord is God and that there is no other god at all.”
What I understand from this one example, is that intercessory prayer
is much more than thinking about someone to God! It involves our own relationship
with God, as well as our honest concern and love for another human being.
It is certainly not an inactive, unimportant aspect of our Christian life.
Christ commands us to pray for others:
“...pray for those who persecute you.”
Matt 5:44 (See also Matt 19:13; Luke 6:28)
He also was our example in intercessory prayer.
In John 17, we read an awesome prayer He prayed for
His followers, including us! Perhaps at another time, we can study that
prayer together and see what we can learn!
