Welcome to season 2 of the Determined to Dance podcast. I pray that you’ll be uplifted, encouraged, and will move forward each and every day. Today’s episode, Praying for Others: A Gift, focuses on the most important act of love you can share with another.

Show Notes: Praying for Others: A Gift

Presents. Cards. Flowers. I love giving and receiving gifts. So, it’s no surprise that in Gary Chapman’s book, The Five Love Languages, the top way to say you love me is to give me a gift, followed closely by words of affirmation. But even if presents are not what you enjoy most, many people still like the time, effort, and thought that goes into gift-giving. It’s like dancing with a friend who has taken the time to figure out and then learn your favorite dance. What a wonderful surprise.

How is praying for others a gift? Intercession is the word used in the Bible to express praying for others. The New Testament shows that Jesus intercedes for us. “Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” Romans 8:34

Our Savior and Creator of the universe prays for me. And you. We are so special to Him that His time and energy are focused on lifting us up to the Father. What higher calling could we have than to imitate Christ through prayer? In the book, The Power of Simple Prayer, Joyce Meyer mentions two distinctions when praying about people.

We pray for people.
We pray with people.

I’d not looked at intercession in that way, but it’s exactly what we do. We pray for people who, many times, will never know we did. We see or hear of people who don’t know God and we lift prayers for them to experience the same wonderful relationship that we have. We talk to God for people who are so overwhelmed or grieved, that they cannot utter a word. We give them a gift of love through prayer. Often, when people are very ill like many were with Covid, they are not able to pray. Through prayer, we take their hand and God’s hand and connect the two. Ezekiel says it best in chapter twenty-two, verse thirty-one: “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found no one.” God looked then and seeks now for people to bridge the gap between Him and man. We can be that bridge.

Sometimes, we pray with others. We receive a phone call. A friend mentions someone who’s been in a car wreck, has a sick child, or needs to pass a test for a new job. We stop and pray with them. We lift their need to the Father and ask for His help, healing, and wisdom. Whether we are beside them, lifting up needs in agreement, or a half a world away, we intercede on behalf of those who need our prayers. Needs in our community, state, nation and world are endless, and what an honor it is to be able to bestow a gift of intercession to another.

Many years ago, we discovered my oldest child had a heart defect when she was in her early twenties. It hadn’t been detected before but when she became pregnant with our first grandchild, she started experiencing a racing pulse, shortness of breath, and other scary issues. After our granddaughter was born, we set a date for a heart surgery similar to an ablation to correct the problem. I was very anxious about her on the day of surgery and when the surgery went over the allotted time with no word from the surgical team, I became frantic and could not pray. It was all I could do to sit in the waiting room and not have a full-out panic attack. It was so important that people were praying when I couldn’t. People were in agreement for my child and my family. For me. We found out later that the first method the surgeon tried was unsuccessful due to the proximity of the problem and they had to try a different method. The second was successful and she came through the surgery with flying colors.