Interceding Specifically

This week I returned for a few more chapters of Penetrating the Darkness a book on intercession by Dr. Jack Hayford, who for years was lead pastor at Church on The Way in Van Nuys, California.

In chapter four, Jack indicates that intercession involves three elements:

• praying for somebody else; praying on behalf of
• reliance on the Holy Spirit for guidance and help to pray beyond the intercessor’s knowledge or understanding
• a challenge to our helplessness to deal with the larger issues of life

Later in the chapter, he teaches three easy-to-remember terms:

• intersection
• intervention
• interception

I might come back to those at another time, and I do want to challenge you to get a copy of this book for your own, especially those of you who have a prayer and intercession ministry.   One couple in Jack’s church was Michael and Stormie Omartian and if you’ve read Stormie’s The Power of a Praying… series of books, this makes an excellent companion. 

…This morning at 5:00 AM, I woke up and felt led to pray for a man we know who has been estranged from his wife for nearly a decade.  As I thought about their situation, I felt led to pray very specifically for a number of things that need to happen.  I prayed that:

• God would soften her heart
• she would feel led to reopen communication
• there would not be a barrier created by pride; that she would be humble
• that she would be truthful with people to whom she may have painted a one-sided picture of their situation
• that she would repent of wrongdoing on her part
• that she would seek reconciliation and restoration of the relationship
• that the decision she makes would stick over the long-term

I also prayed for him, that:

• he would be open to receive her forgiveness and accept it at face value, in expectancy of reconciliation over the long-term
• he would do his best to be the kind of person she needs
• God would heal the wounds and scars that the last few years have created

Usually, I have great creative and spiritual clarity at that hour, but when I go to the keyboard many hours later, I have forgotten everything.  (I even considered finding a pen at 5:00 AM and making notes; I say that with apologies for those of you who are up at that hour anyway; I’m not!)  However, this time, I have recorded here point-for-point what came to me earlier in the day.

I think it’s important — it’s necessary — to pray specifically like this, and there are probably other aspects of this I could add to the example, but I want to preserve the anonymity of the people involved.

My point today is simply that to pray only, “God, bless__________;” is inadequate and even to pray, “God, bless ____________ and __________ and bring them back together;” is to miss the many barriers that often need to come down before something like that can happen.

Well then, what shall I do? I will pray in the spirit,  and I will also pray in words I understand.  ~ I Cor. 14:15 NLT

The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Savior God wants us to live.  ~I Tim 2: 1-3 The Message

 

Postscript: Feel free to join us in praying for our friend and his wife.

Give Us This Day — In 2011 — Our Daily Bread

Jesus was asked by his disciples for some teaching on prayer.  He told them not to just repeat the same prayers over and over again, and then he gave them a sample script which, sadly, many repeat over and over again.

Someone asked me recently what Jesus actually meant by, “Give us this day our daily bread.”  In a world without refrigeration — though they used salt — it was probably more vital in their day to have an idea where your next meal is coming from.  Especially if you were a people that was constantly on the move. This of course led the Israelites to a superstitious adoption of some of their pagan neighbors’ views that certain gods controlled certain weather and soil conditions in certain geographic territories.

But I answered the question differently.  I think in our day, the equivalent consists of our prayers for health and safety.  Think of how health concerns — those of ourselves and our friends and relatives — preoccupy our prayer lists.  We know where our next meal is coming from.  The freezer is full and the grocery store is stocked full of more food.  Health concerns are often the source of our anxiety and concern.  Travel — by car, rail or airplane — fills us with further worry; the accident reports in the media are simply all too vivid.

Some pastors — including recently, Andy Stanley — are somewhat frustrated by our need to be petitioning God for “traveling mercies.”  Or for “a good night’s sleep.”  But I think there is something in the relationship and communication equation whereby God is quite willing to listen to our request for our ongoing, daily needs to be met.  It also acknowledges that all our basic necessities only happen by God’s grace, by Him who “holds all things together.”

David said he’d never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging for bread, but Jesus taught us to pray for “our daily bread.”  I think our various health and safety concerns are simply the modern extension of this in a world where bread is — for now — plentiful.