Thoughts for Life
Dr. Wesley L. Duewel: Regardless of your leadership role—pastor, teacher, Sunday School leader, lay leader, youth leader, missionary,[or work place]—adapt this to your situation.
1. Plan your intercession for your people. You will be sure to fail God and your people unless you have a regular prayer plan for your intercession times. If anything in life is worth planning, surely this is. (Google image, Lessons on Prayer)
Dr. Wesley L. Duewel: Regardless of your leadership role—pastor, teacher, Sunday School leader, lay leader, youth leader, missionary—adapt this to your situation.
Plan your intercession for your people.
You will be sure to fail God and your people unless you have a regular prayer plan for your intercession times. If anything in life is worth planning, surely this is. (Google image, Man with uplifted hand).
C. Peter Wagner shares with us that "Many at this point will be asking, 'I wonder if I might have the gift of intercession?'
If you do have it, remember that it is only because God has graciously chosen to give it to you.
It is not one of those skills such as ballet dancing or playing baseball that you acquire through hard work and persistence. (Google image, Praying with children)
Alvin Vandergriend-
Thank God for . . .
NEEDS MET—"My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:19).
Thank You, Lord, for meeting my needs—physical, emotional, and spiritual. You are so generous with your riches. Thank you for the greatest gift of . . .
THE HOLY SPIRIT—"If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!"(Luke 11:13). (Prayer of gratitude)
~ Dr. Wesley L. Duewel-
The Holy Spirit will add special depth, power, and faith to your prayer.
He will not only direct you to pray for special needs, but He will also guide you in how to pray for special needs, but He will also guide you in how to pray for them, will strengthen your faith as you pray, and will anoint and empower your praying.
In addition, as your Payer Partner, He will join you in praying and interceding at a depth not possible to you alone (Rom. 8:26-27).
Alvin Vandergriend- "Several years ago I was making a determined effort to become a better intercessor. I tried to give it more time, cover more needs, and pray with greater intensity. For a while things went well. Soon, however, I fund myself skipping these extended prayer times when it wasn't convenient. But it bothered me that I could skip prayer so easily. (Google image, Lady praying in pink dress)
Alvin Vandergriend- When we move from petition (praying for ourselves) to Intercession (praying for others), we are shifting the focus of prayer. We need to pray for ourselves so that we may receive all that God intends us to have. We also need to pray for others as an ace of self-giving love. (Google image, Family praying together)
Dr. Wesley L. Duewel- Lord Jesus, I thank You that You have revealed in Your Word that God is my Father, that I am a child of God by faith in You, and that there is always a welcome for me at the Father's throne.
I thank You for the life of prayer You lived when You were one earth, for teaching us to pray, and for Your victorious prayer agony in Gethsemane. (Google image, Man praying on knees with Jesus)
Dr. Wesley L. Duewel- All Christians who take their call to intercession seriously pray with some agenda in mind. But intercession can be greatly enhanced through the use of written prayer lists. God will lead you in the names to be included.
Some intercessors have several such lists—one basic list which is used daily, and others which may be rotated on different days of the week. Some have a longer list for Sunday or other days when they can spend more time in prayer. (Google image, Prayer List)
Dr. Wesley L. Duewel- God will place on your heart many people for whom you will want to pray daily. For these, you can intercede briefly as you hold them before the Lord in loving petition that God will meet their needs. Blessed is the person who blesses many others through regular and systematic prayer.
When God desires to transform the spiritual condition of a person from sin to salvation, or from self-centered living to obedient living, however, He may call on you to carry a special prayer burden which may require more intensive prayer. (Google image, Praying for someone)
Dr. Wesley L. Duewel- Over the centuries, the history of God's people proves the relationship of the Holy Spirit and prayer. Spurgeon said, "Prayer is an art which only the Holy Ghost can teach us. He is the giver of all prayer."
E. M. Bounds believed, "The secret of feeble praying everywhere is the lack of God's Spirit in His mightiness." (Google image, Man praying in the Spirit)
Dr. Wesley L. Duewel- Mighty works of God are done only after He has blessed adequate preparation. God planned to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt and into their new home in Canaan. He planned to deliver them from idolatry.
He planned to make them into the people who were to receive God's revelation in the Old Testament and to be the people of the Messiah. But first God had to make great preparations. (Google image, Moses leading out of Egypt)
Dr. Wesley L. Duewel- The way to spiritual greatness involves Spirit-filled living, a humble walk with God, constant communion with God the Father, and a close fellowship with the Son and the Holy Spirit.
God is seeking great intercessors. Intercession is usually a hidden role. It is a role undervalued by most Christians who so often walk only superficially with God. (Google image, Man worshipping God )
Dr. Wesley L. Duewel- Scripture biographies are selective and very condensed. the mighty examples of faith listed in Hebrews 11 and elsewhere in God's Word may not only bless you, they may sometimes cause you to wonder if perhaps these people belonged to some elite class of saints who lived on a higher level of humanity than the rest of us mortals. Do you at times suspect that there may be very few such saints of God living today? (Google image, Who Was Elijah?)
