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“Intercession” means
literally “being a go-between”, and we use this word to describe the
aspect of prayer concerned with praying for other people ... holding out one hand
in love and trust to God and the other to the sufferer, so that God's love, help
and healing may flow.
Intercession is an important aspect of our work
in the Fellowship. Our telephone and postman bring us a constant stream of requests:
“I am having an operation would
you pray for me please?”
“There is nothing the doctor can do, will
you pray?”
“I'm depressed and feel utterly alone, pray for me.”
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Our daily work here involves responding
to these requests and those who come here regularly find themselves caught up
in the intercessory work ... and it IS work. We also have “intercessors”
who do this work in their homes, and to whom we send names. These are sometimes
busy people who cannot run about attending meetings but do manage to keep a few
moments each day when they can be quiet in God's presence. Others are older people
who can no longer get about the way they used to but wish to continue working
to help others. This ministry of intercession is hidden, but is of incalculable
value in serving God and our fellow men and women.
Why intercession?
Peter is a minister. He was in the last stages of cancer. His congregation spent
the night in prayer. In the morning his blood count and temperature were normal,
and he was soon sent home. Now he is active again, in the healing ministry.
Somebody commented on hearing that story:
| “But why did God need to be badgered
all night? Surely He could have made Peter better without that?” |
But God made humanity so that we are
all interdependent, and when God works He usually works through PEOPLE. How well
His Will is done depends on how faithful His servants are, and this applies at
every level of life. Our co-operation is, therefore, vital.
| “Intercessory prayer is the giving
out of our love in communion with the love of God towards the person for whom
we pray.” |
So wrote William Temple, and it is a good definition of intercession. So we do
not need to plead with God, to persuade Him, or to bribe Him! We need to open
ourselves to Him so that His love may flow through us to achieve His Will.
| If we hold back, then His love remains
unexpressed. | The
intercessor offers God a heart through which to pour His Healing Love, bringing
light and healing to those towards whom it is directed.
In St John's
Gospel, chapter 15, Jesus stresses that fruitful prayer --- prayer that results
in healing --- depends on our doing as He commanded, staying linked up together
like branches on a vine, loving one another as he loved us. He speaks of YOU,
plural, emphasising that it is TOGETHERNESS which renders prayer effective, because
it is the channel for His love and power.
But remember:
The
Bible tells us what to do when we are sick (James 5:15). It reminds us
that God works through PEOPLE, and suggests physical contact with the Church.
In the same way, remember that while Jesus sometimes healed at a distance, in
many other cases He went to a great deal of trouble to establish contact with
the people He was healing.
It may well be that just being on the prayer
list is not strong enough spiritual medicine. You may need the sort of physical
contact and fellowship which James suggests. So, if after a week or so you feel
that more is needed, contact us again.
Ideally you should be able to
send for the elders of your church, asking them to pray with you as a ministry
team. Or you could come to the centre and we will see you in private. As a general
rule we do not come out visiting, for our task is to maintain an open centre and
we cannot be “out and about” and available in the centre at the same
time!
How to pray
It helps to work out a regular time and
place so that you can have Bible, prayer list and other helpful books handy.
Just as when you phone somebody you make a mental image of them before you
speak, so when you pray you begin by focussing on “our Father in Heaven”
and expressing your love. Then look at something Jesus said or did, think it over
to get a clear picture of Him, and then get down to prayer itself.
If
there is anything to say sorry for, get that over and done with, and it is good
to look back with thanksgiving too. Then into this atmosphere of loving trust
you bring the names of the people for whom you pray.
Do not let the illness
fill your mind but instead be overflowing with life, love and peace towards them.
“See” yourself blessing the sufferer in the Name of Jesus. Then surrender
the person and yourself into God's hands with quiet confidence and thanksgiving. This
page comes from the Julian Cell, St Julian’s Church, Norwich, and offers
a similar step by step form of prayer which is used by many in the Christian Fellowship
of Healing. This way of intercession is the way of awareness.
The
first step is to become aware that God has been working long before we came
on the scene ourselves, that He is working now, and that our desire is to be linked
with Him within the communion of saints in this work.
The second step
is to hold the prayer card in our hands and to let all our awareness enter into
it. I do not say concentration as that might suggest a strenuous mental effort
and that is not what is required; just awareness as we might stand in the presence
of a picture or a sunset.
The third step is to put the card aside
and just be in God’s presence. We do not now have to reflect that we are
there on behalf of another; what has already been done makes that clear. We just
are in the presence of God, our intention - again we do not have to reflect upon
it now - being that God’s love shall flow freely in this other, as our hope
is it shall be in ourselves.
“Every morning, put your mind into your
heart and stand in the presence of God all the day long.” All intercession
is ultimately gathered up in this saying of an eastern monk. Bishop Michael Ramsey
has written that basically the word intercession (“He ever lives to make
intercession for us” Hebrews 7:25) means not pleading with God but
standing in God’s presence on behalf of another.
It can be a help
to grasp this. For it allows that to pray for others we do not have to be clever,
or eloquent, or even perceptive of their needs; just ourselves as we are, simple,
a bit confused perhaps, but wanting God’s will, or wanting to want God’s
will for ourselves and others. It is God’s business to take things on from
there. We are to fill the water pots with water - and we are to fill them to the
brim - the wine-making is His. We are to remove the stone; “Lazarus come
forth” belongs to Him. We are the dry bones; the clothing with flesh and
the breathing upon them is His.
Further advice on prayer is available
in Christian Fellowship of Healing leaflets: “PRAY
FOR” and “PRAYER
IS OUR JOB”, “HIS TOOL
RACK”, “THREE PRAYERS”
and “SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES”. |