Posted on 02/11/2020 5:54:15 AM PST by metmom
"Always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all" (Phil. 1:4).
Intercessory prayer is a powerful tool in the hands of a righteous person.
There's the story of a special nurse who knew the importance of intercessory prayer. Each day she used her hands as instruments of God's love and mercy toward those in her care, so she found it natural to use her hand as a scheme of prayer. Each finger represented someone she wanted to pray for. Her thumb was nearest to her and reminded her to pray for those who were closest and dearest. The index finger was used for pointing, so it stood for her instructors. The third finger was the tallest and stood for those in leadership. The fourth finger was the weakest, representing those in distress and pain. The little finger, which was the smallest and least important, reminded the nurse to pray for her own needs.
Undoubtedly that nurse knew the joy of praying for others. Paul knew it too. Given the same circumstances, a lesser man would be consumed with his own well-being, but Paul modeled what he teaches in Philippians 2:4: "Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." Such an attitude is the heart of effective intercessory prayer.
Those who lack the joy of the Holy Spirit often harbor negative thoughts toward others, which debilitates compassion and hinders prayer. That's tragic because intercessory prayer is a powerful tool in the hands of righteous people (James 5:16).
Analyze your own prayers. Are they generous with praise to God for His goodness to others? Do you pray for the needs of others? Practice doing so, and the joy of intercession will be yours.
Suggestions for Prayer
Pray for specific people and specific needs. Thank God for what you see Him doing in the lives of others.
For Further Study
John 17 is Christ's intercessory prayer for His disciples, including us (v. 20). After reading that chapter, complete the following statements:
Eternal life is . . . Christ's mission on earth was to . . . The world's reaction to Christ and His followers is . . . The best way to convince the world that Christ was sent by the Father is to . . .
Studying God’s Word ping
Let's pray for each other!! I suspect we prolly already do.
Ping!
I really like this useful example of prayer foresight. Many people who struggle with prayer could find it helpful.
The ‘little pinky’ in this example also reminds me of John the Baptist’s proclamation in (NASB) John 3: 30 where he states, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
Today in our world, we should pay closer attention to John’s statement. We, as believers, are to serve Christ. As we serve others we are in fact doing that.
YES! PRAY BABY PRAY!
I invite everyone to make use of my "PRAYERS FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS" thread.
Please pray for all of those that have posted intentions and all those that pray for them.
EXAMPLE:
FReeper NAME needs your prayers for his/her INTENTION Click here to respond to NAME
*********** FREEPER's Original Post *****************FReeper NAME needs your prayers for his/her INTENTION Click here to respond to NAME
***Prayers for family and FRiends thread instructions and guidelines.7Please feel free to post your prayer request on this thread. I believe that God wants us to know how much He Loves us and desires to hear our personal prayers so in his Kindness and Mercy grants our humble requests, not always but often in the exact manner we expect. I think it’s very important for the people that pray to learn of how their prayers are answered.
When I see your post(even if it’s in a different thread), using the above format I will ping everyone that has made a reply to this thread with a link to reply to your post number. There are about 75 FReepers that will be notified. I will also ping everyone to any updates you provide. I will not ping any FReepers that have specifically requested to be excluded from prayer pings.
If your prayer request is of especially critical and urgent nature and there is still time for a miracle, I will create a separate thread (If you haven’t already) and ping my very low volume urgent ping list of almost 1000 prayer warrior FReepers. If you need me to post the thread for you, Please PM me with as many details as you can provide but especially the first name of the person we are going to be praying for and try to make at least one post to the thread. If you want to remain anonymous I will gladly honor your request.
Beautiful. I was a NICU nurse for 42 years. Always prayed for my tiny patients. A lot of the doctors and coworkers also prayed.
Thank you, both, for posting 💞
Pray for specific needs, but -- in every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you - 1 Thessalonians 5:18
Excellent. Thank you for the ping. I may steal this one, too.
That was certainly John Wesley's original teaching: "Less of me; more of Thee."
Thank you for your work.
Two of my three babies were NICU babies, having a type of stress apnea. Both have done very well since. One has grown up to be a fierce warrior in our Special Forces and the other has become a happy mother of three. Both are walking with God.
Amen.
That’s wonderful!!
What we all need and what God appreciates is more prayer. Thanks. God bless you and your family.
Who was the FIRST intercessor?
The Blessed Virgin Mary at the Wedding of Cana:
“Do whatever he tells you.”
Thank you. I really needed this.
Great reminders about our prayer life.
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