OUTWARD DISCIPLINE

INTERCESSION

The practice of going before God to advocate for the needs of the world. Knowing God’s heart, seeing the broken reality of the world, and asking God to intervene.

IDEAS FOR PRACTICE

• Decide how often you want to devote time to intercession. Daily? Weekly? Begin with a short time of worship, acknowledging God’s presence, his goodness, and connecting with his heart.

• Then bring your requests before him, as an advocate standing between the heart and desires of God, and the realities of a broken world. Pray with confidence, knowing that God hears you and cares about even the smallest concern.

• Consider making a list of specific people and concerns that you want to commit to praying for on a regular basis. You could break the list up by day of the week - on Mondays I pray for my family; on Tuesdays I pray for my neighbors, etc - or commit to praying for portions of the list, or the entire list, daily.

• For families with young children: Consider using a prayer tree. Write specific, measurable, time-bound requests on leaves. Paste a bare tree somewhere visible such as the fridge. Pray regularly for the requests on the leaves. As they are answered, paste them on the tree. (Ask Pastor Sarah for more details on this if interested).

• Sometimes people are given a specific intercessory burden. You may have a strong desire to pray in an ongoing way for something very specific. For example, for foster children, for leaders, for a specific country or people group, for those who are sick, for people to come to faith, etc. If you know that God has given you a specific burden, lean into that. Make space in your life to regularly bring this concern before God and connect with others who have a similar burden.

• Intercede with others: Get together with friends to pray for one another. Attend Heart services and Altar nights where we spend time in intercession together.