INTERCESSION – WORKING THROUGH THE LISTS

Lately, I have been using my blog to share with you some of the interviews about my book. Now I need to get back to the subject of intercession. Continuing to work through my lists provides fodder for my reflections.

This morning, Glen and I were in Ottawa to attend the National Prayer Breakfast. At that event, I had an opportunity to greet the next couple on my list. Although, in a sense their needs might not be considered acute, the responsibilities that they carry make me feel that they need to be on the daily list. This couple is now doing the jobs that my husband, Glen and I were doing when we retired early from ministry in The Salvation Army in 2008. We know how demanding their work is, with hours of travel across this country and to other countries as well as the demands of being part of the decision-making processes in The Salvation Army. When I pray for them, I feel a sense of relief that we no longer have to carry their responsibilities. At the same time, I am compelled to pray for grace and strength for them to be able to try to accomplish all that is demanded of them as leaders is such a large Christian organization.

Were I temped to second guess their decisions, since they inevitably will approach some situations differently than we would, I think that bringing them before the Lord every day in my prayers can mitigate against that. I also think that just being made aware of them and their needs keeps me from criticizing them. It is so easy for us to fall into the habit, of somehow thinking that those who follow us will not maintain the direction that we have chosen to take in the decisions about how our work should be done, so the work will not be done the right way. That is nonsense! Perhaps praying for them helps me to avoid such foolish thinking.

A new list of prayer requests is sent to me every Sunday from the coordinator of The Word Guild Prayer Team. These are prayer requests that have been made by the members of The Word Guild. The list is usually from six to eight pages, so I work my way through one page of the prayer requests per day and by the time the next request arrives and I print it out, I have completed praying through the previous list. As a professional member of The Word Guild, with a full time occupation in the ministry of philanthropy, I cannot offer a lot of time to help with volunteer work for this fine organization. One thing I can do is give attention to the prayer requests, since I am committed to spending time in intercession anyway. This also keeps me abreast of the needs of my fellow writers and provides occasions to offer an occasional word of encouragement or hope, usually by e-mail. At the annual Write! Canada conferences, members of the prayer team have the chance to get together. We usually meet together, early every morning for prayer for the conference. This gives us all a chance to put faces to the names we are familiar with as fellow members of the prayer team.