Intercessory Prayers

Interesting you should raise the issue of intercessory prayers. That was the topic of today's after-service study session. We were reading a summary of a work by Douglas Steere. It was a challenging read mostly because Steere was operating at a level beyond what I can understand. It appeared that he was suggesting that intercessory prayer is as much for the person doing the praying as the one for whom the prayer is meant.

The whole notion of intercessory prayer is challenging logically. On the one hand, we have to believe that there's some value in doing so, otherwise why bother. Yet on the other hand, we can't really entertain the notion of "changing God's mind" on some matter through our prayers. Therefore, how does it work? Why are we called to pray on behalf of others? Does God "need" those prayers to operate? (Answer: "No")

I don't know ... challenging stuff. But one thing that the editor of the compilation book -- Richard J. Foster -- wrote that I think ties back to our discussions: "Here, then, is a penetrating test of our devotion: if we do not pray for people -- truly pray for them -- how can we say that we love them?"

Do you remember our earlier discussions about "loving our neighbor" and, more difficult, "loving my enemy?"