Preparing for and Carrying Out Intercessory Prayer

Over the last couple of years I have engaged in some specific and focused intercessory prayer. Fortunately, I have been blessed with a lot of teaching that helps me in this endeavor.

So the focus of this article is intercessory prayer.  I simply want to share some of what I have learned.

Prepare For Prayer

If you intend to engage in focused, extended intercessory prayer, prepare yourself for it. Unsurprisingly, the first step for this is prayer.

Pray for focus and protection before beginning. The enemy detests prayer and would like to disrupt it if possible. Pray for focus and protection from outside interference, including distraction, before you begin your targeted intercession.

Take some quiet time before you begin. Note any intrusive thoughts or potential distractions that appear as you wait. Promise yourself that you will deal with these things when you are done—keep a notepad handy to jot them down if that will help. Consider the distraction dealt with for now, and continue.

If the distracting thought persists, however, exercise discernment to see if the thought is less a distraction than a call to further or different prayer or action.  There is scriptural support for this in Matthew 5:23-24:

Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

List Your Intentions

If you had not already done so, list your intentions. Unless you intend to pray for only one or two things, it is good to have a list. Along with distraction, forgetfulness is another tactic the enemy uses against people in prayer. We might go into prayer with a full list of intentions we think are unforgettable. But after a few minutes of focused prayer for one intention, other considerations can slip away.

This is a natural function of our human brains. When we really focus on one thing, we suppress other thoughts. If the enemy cannot distract us from our focus, the next best thing is to use a spiritual aikido to encourage us to go beyond putting other thoughts or needs behind and actually forget them.

Pray

One of the difficulties I encounter in prayer is duration.

On the one hand, God knows all things, so he is aware of all the circumstances involved in the situation for which I am offering a prayer. Somehow it seems impertinent to kneel for a long period of time reiterating the same intercession over and over, let alone to return to the subject day after day for weeks, months, or even years.

Yet we must consider the parable of the Widow and the Unjust Judge (Luke 18:1-8). Jesus concludes the parable by saying

Will not God then secure the rights of his chosen ones who call out to him day and night? Will he be slow to answer them?  I tell you, he will see to it that justice is done for them speedily.

On the other hand, “No” is an answer. If I am praying for someone to recover their health and they recover, the answer was a clear “Yes.” If they die, the answer was “No”, at least from my human perspective.

Either way, my intercessory prayer has an endpoint. But what about someone whose illness lingers for months or even longer?

Adjust Your Prayers

In the case of a lingering illness, it may be that I need to adjust my prayers. I can, and probably should continue to pray for their complete recovery. But after some time I should respond to the circumstances and begin to pray for other things as well.  I might pray for the resources to keep this person in treatment. Or I could pray for the Grace to sustain their faith (and that of others!) during a prolonged trial.  I might also pray for the   alleviation of pain and discomfort and courage for bad days and gratitude for good days.  The list of possibilities may not be endless, but it is certainly long.

But whatever else happens, I should not abandon my prayers. In Luke 9:62, Jesus has stern words for those who give up:

No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.

This is a carrot and stick situation. The widow obtaining justice with repeated prayers is the carrot. The admonition against quitting is the stick.

Be Open to Discernment and Correction

A situation or person we have been interceding for may change while the fundamental roots of what our prayers have addressed remain the same. We must be open to discernment as to whether our prayers need to change.

In fact, we should be open to discernment and correction every time we intercede.

When we enter into intercessory prayer, we are asking for change. But we need to be prepared that the change God wants is for us to change first.

Our intercessory intention may be proper and correct, but our understanding of that object may be flawed, or our own intent different from God’s. It is natural and human for our prayers to have at least some touch of “happily ever after” in them. This can be true in eternity, but is vanishingly rare in actual human affairs.

If any possible flaws in our prayer intentions were obvious to us, we would likely correct them – or at least attempt to correct them – ourselves. Such flaws will be clear to God, of course, but they may also be clear to experienced, neutral outsiders. Prayer partners or, better still, a spiritual director can be invaluable in helping us adjust our prayers to better purpose.

Prayer Partners and Authority

Speaking of prayer partners, I began this essay with an individual’s personal intercessions in mind. Interceding intensely and institutionally – for a Mass being conducted in a nearby church, for instance – should be done with a partner and under authority.  The enemy views our personal intercessions with dismay and opposition.  Our institutional intercessions, however, up the stakes considerably.

Interceding generally for masses held around the world is one thing; interceding for a particular mass in progress puts us in opposition to all the spiritual forces that have been mobilized against it – not a task that should be taken lightly.

To paraphrase a common warning: “Do not try this on your own.”

Cleanse Yourself after Finishing

As previously noted, the enemy does not like us to pray. Ask for God to cleanse you, protect you, and free you from any malign attention you may have drawn during your prayers.  This is especially important if you have been interceding for anyone involved with or undergoing spiritual warfare.

As with any intense prayer, having a spiritual director or even a prayer partner is a good thing. As my parish priest often points out, Jesus sent the disciples out two by two for a reason. A spiritually mature and experienced person is an invaluable, even necessary touchstone for people who want to take their prayer life to the next level.

Don’t Wait for Your Special Prayer Time

A friend of mine gave me the habit of not waiting. When someone asks for prayer, for sure put them on your intercessions list.  But also pray for them right then and there. It can be brief and generic, but include the request for God to help you remember them in your regular prayers. This can be extremely powerful in our intercessory prayer life, for it reaches both the object of our prayers and us, reinforcing our ability to pray for them later.

Have Faith and Persist

In this life we may not see or ever know what effect our intercessions have. But in the life to come, our intercessions will be one of those things we will understand and perceive as adornments to our lives and the lives of others.

Prayer:
Lord, grant us a spirit of Intercession in our prayers in accordance with your will. Guide us to see the needs of others and of the world, that we may have the privilege of joining our voices to the hosts of heaven in proclaiming and supporting your will in the world and through eternity.
Amen!