One of my friends spends 30 minutes/day in intercessory prayer. Through his example I’ve been challenged to do the same.
That was two months ago.
How’s it going so far? I’m inconsistent, and when I do sit down before the Lord my mind easily wanders. Yet, I’m beginning to WANT to be there…
Would you care to join me on this adventure?
Others are way ahead of me as intercessors; I’m totally a novice. Still, if I may offer these suggestions:
- Start small, maybe with 10-15 minutes/day. Then gradually build up to longer periods.
- I always set my stopwatch for the time I’ve committed. Otherwise, I don’t have the discipline to follow through. It sounds unspiritual, I know.
- Use a Bible. How? I’ll talk about this next week.
Your comments are welcome as always. Perhaps you’d share some of your own struggles/ideas/breakthroughs on the topic of intercession, as an encouragement to our readers.
Concentrate on worship. Intercdessory prayer is all about being in God's presence, and listening well. Worship is the only doorway.
Charlie, good point. Otherwise the process can feel mechanical.
Thanks for sharing, Rick. I have had times in my life where I was very committed to intercessory prayer on a regular basis. It worked well for me when I had to drive my van places each day M-F. I would pray through a list of people each day as I drove. Currently, I’m out of the habit, but hope to reinstate a similar plan once my kids start back to school. That will be sooner here in AZ than in MN. They begin on August 11th, next Wednesday.
Good post, Rick! In my experience, prayer is a discipline not unlike exercise in that it takes work to begin and maintain, and can very easily be dropped. Obviously, I'm still developing my prayer life.
I've found a more structured prayer time (e.g. Morning/Evening Prayer from Magnificat (Catholic) or from the Book of Common Prayer (Anglican), etc.) to be very useful in helping me develop this discipline. Some might say that mixing read/recited prayers with extemporaneous prayer is less genuine, but I suggest it is quite the contrary…my prayers are more genuine when guided by words of Scripture and the prayers of old. Of course, I always take the given space for personal intentions during these prayers, as well.
Marlis, easy to get out of the habit, harder to get into the habit! Thanks for sharing your story.
Paddy: Good reminder. I have 3-4 devotional guides that I use as well. One is the “Valley of Vision,” a collection of Puritan prayers. Sometimes they're a little severe for my 21st century palate, but it's definitely beneficial to connect with the past, as you suggest.