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Introductory Topics |
Prayers of Intercession: Introduction The form of prayer that seems most natural for people is to ask God for things. It's almost built into our psyche that when we think of how we've tended to pray in our lives, it's most often been by asking God to assist us with something in our lives. Even Jesus prayed this way when he shared the Our Father with us. It is basically a prayer of intercession, a prayer asking God to intercede for us in this world, to act on our behalf on something of importance to us. Since time immemorial, this sort of prayer has been somewhat controversial. If, as the scripture says, God knows us intimately, then why do we need to ask Him for things? Doesn't God already know what we want? And if God is all-loving, won't He naturally just give us what is best for us? On the other hand, Jesus told parables about how persistence in asking for something will eventually wear down the person being asked, and they'll give us what we need if for no other reason than to get us out of their hair. From a more psychological perspective, expressing our thoughts gives them a concreteness in our life, a form, a substance that can be interacted with. Merely putting something into words sometimes gives us power some power over it. In a much more subtle way, if we aren't asked to form our desires into expressions, then we rarely come into touch with those desires. They swirl about inside of us, unshaped and unknown. Further, when we express those things we most deeply want, we come into contact with who we are and the expression forms us, little by little, towards that which we should want. This delicate building process combining expression with formation, is a very valuable part of intercessory prayer. In addition to helping God understand our innermost desires, our expression allows God to help shape what those innermost desires are and should be. To put it briefly: intercessory prayer continues to shape and mold us more and more to be the person God wants us to be - our prayer eventually becomes aligns with what God wants, rather than aligning God with what we want. We will engage in 3 forms of intercessory prayer in a group. Certainly this prayer form can be engaged in by a lone individual, but it is also very powerful in a group setting. Each of us will be asked to express one intercessory prayer, beginning with a predefined introduction. Week 1: "Dear Lord, I'd like to pray for ..." |