10 Tips on Intercessory Prayer in the Moment

As people of faith, we are called to pray with and for each other.  The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know.  1 Timothy 2.1 (The Message).

As Protestants, some of us have forgotten that prayer is the work of all God’s people, relegating the ‘job’ to professional pray-ers (think pastor here).  But we are a priesthood of believers, understanding since the great Reformation, as well as before, that praying for others is the work of all believers, not merely the few.

Some of us are pretty good about praying for other people, but not so good about praying with them, hence these suggestions to consider about praying out loud with another person:

1. Everybody stumbles over their words and so will you.  Take comfort that even the Billy Grahams of this world stumble over their words too.

2. Remember when someone prayed with and for you right on the spot - wasn’t that so much better and more comforting for you than a promise to pray for you later?  If it was that way for you, it’s that way for others too.

3. Practice praying out loud when you are alone - practice really does make things easier.

4. Memorize scriptures that can be prayed.

5. Memorize set prayers or quotes that have been helpful to you in the past.

6. Don’t be afraid of silence in prayer with others.  Just sitting and lifting your hearts to God, whether with words or in moments of silence is a blessed space.

7. Never underestimate the power of physical contact during prayer - holding hands, hugging and whispering a prayer into someone’s ear, an arm around a shoulder - think of what your body is doing not as something to or for the other person, but as a part of the prayer and praying - your hands are praying comfort as they hold the other person’s hands, your arm is praying protection as it hugs the other person close, etc.

8. Don’t be afraid to take a moment before beginning - to still your own thoughts and fears, to seek a word from God about what should be prayed for.

9. Ask the other person to name what they would like you to pray for - their answer might surprise you.  It might not be about them at all.

10. Don’t overlook the power of a prayer offered in writing - whether in a note or letter, by e-mail or on Facebook, it is so much more to receive the actual prayer than simply the news that I prayed for you today.

I have a prayer buddy back home who will often simply whisper a prayer in your ear when she hugs you.  It is an incredible gift.  Her giving spirit, open to God’s call to pray without ceasing, gave me the courage to pray for others as I have been prayed for – aloud, on the spot, like a dance, following God’s leading.

Down to the Hard Work of Reconciliation - Part 2

In his sermon, Resentment and Forgiveness, Orthodox Priest Hieromonk Damascene says, “The Holy Fathers tell us that, in order to be reconciled to someone with whom we are at odds, the first thing we are to do is to accuse ourselves, not the other person. If we do not accuse ourselves, we will never find rest, and we will never make true and lasting peace with our neighbor. We will always be holding onto our pride.”

This is Jesus’ ‘step 1’ to reconciliation within the church body: if someone commits a wrong – against you or another*, go to them.  Speak privately.  Try to work it out between the two of you – and here’s the twist – beginning not with their wrong, but with your own.  In 12-step programs, that’s called looking at my part.

This is humility.  This is integrity.  And this is crucial to true reconciliation.

Only if that doesn’t work do you invoke the 1-2 other witnesses ‘clause’.  What do you suppose the point of the ‘witnesses’ is?  It certainly ups the ante to involve other people.

But it does something else as well that often gets overlooked: other people may have more objectivity.  They may actually see the other person’s point of view.  If there’s more to the story, the witnesses can bring that out.

Maybe both of you need to do some repenting.  Maybe not.  But having others present means this is no longer simply between the two of you and that has consequence for both parties.

What if even that does not work?  Well, then, you take it to the church – to the body as a whole.  Most interpret this to mean some sort of judicial process is initiated to excommunicate the offender – to kick them out of the body.

But is it?  Why else might we bring a matter to the attention of the entire body?

John Wesley sees Jesus’ method here as the means to avoid committing an offense in the first place: Wesley reasons that if we know this is the process and that it will occur regardless of our station in life, it operates as a disincentive for us to do wrong – much as knowing the fine for speeding and knowing that our local cop (yes, Duane, I mean you) always sits in that one certain place will prevent us from doing the speeding in the first place.

And maybe the invitation to take it to the body as a whole is driven by the body’s work of prayer – that is the very next thing Jesus mentions – recognizing that when the body prays, minds and hearts and lives are changed, truly changed.

Regardless of Jesus’ original intention, what both Wesley and the Genevan Reformers grasped that we seem to have forgotten is that the kingdom of heaven is not a courtroom drama.  Rather, it is a herculean effort by the God of All to reconcile humanity with God’s self – by avoiding human vengeance, by seeking to prevent sin before it has the chance to gain root.

And this God of loving restoration invites us to do likewise.


___________________
*Some mss. say ‘against you’ while others simply say if a brother/sister ‘sins’