Pat and others,

Intercessory prayer is both complicated and simplistic at the same time.  Frankly, it is nothing more than praying for others but how far that goes is based on how we yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit.  Every time we pray for another person, or an event, we are standing in the gap for others; that is intercession.  From there, intercession takes on various shapes and forms of involvement.  This is one of those topics difficult to explain on a list.  Additionally, some folks are literally called by God to be an intercessor.  In May of 1985, God spoke to me one night as I was praying.  I had been in prayer for two hours asking the Lord for wisdom for my business.  Things were going great and I was making a lot of money but something felt wrong so I did the only thing I knew to do and that was to pray.  I won’t detail what happened that night because I wrote about it on my website in a testimony called When Baptist Speak In tongues.  Needless to say, when I asked the Lord His will for my life, he said, “I have called you to be an intercessor.”  I had no idea what that was and told God as much.  Three months later, the Lord began teaching me how to pray in this unusual way.  Intercession is about praying for others; not for yourself.  When I feel oppressed, I often call on the Lord to encourage intercessors all over the world to pray for me because I have done the same many times without ever knowing for whom I was praying.  I could type for hours about such experiences.

Pat, do you and other still do the telephone Bible study thing?  Maybe starting such a separate group just for teaching on prayer would be the best way to start.

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