21 Days of Deep LivingSample

Mind The Gap

For many of us, prayer can be a struggle.

When we do manage to get into a place of spending time with God, we can spend most of our time praying to Him about our own needs as opposed to praying for the needs of others.

Ephesians 6:18 is one of the Bible's amazing verses on prayer and intercession. When we examine it closely, we discover some guidelines on how to have an effective and exciting prayer life. The Scripture tells us we are to pray without ceasing, but for many believers, this is not understood in a practical sense.

Prayer for each of us must become a daily, constant, and consistent habit – a bit like brushing your teeth. In any given moment we are only a thought and breath from communicating with God. In a day and age when we pride ourselves on having high-speed internet connections, we must remember that we also have a high-speed instant access connection with the Heavenly Father.

Intercession involves us as believers standing in the gap for someone else in prayer. Intercessory prayer is allowing the needs of others to take preference over our own personal needs.

When those who we know share their problems with us, instead of always trying to help them find temporary solutions to their problems, we’re to pray for them, calling on the Father to help to grant them wisdom as He takes them through the situation.

When those around us behave in ways that are not pleasing to us, instead of trying to argue with them, we’re to pray for them – asking the Lord to change their hearts and minds. When we hear about the government introducing new laws that go against our beliefs, we’re not to moan about them but spend time interceding for those men and women in places of authority.

Prayers of intercession should be a constant for the believer. If prayer can become a consistent habit in our lives, then the way we look at the world and how we deal with others will change.

In praying for others, we are reminded that we’re all in this life together. None of us can do everything on our own. We need each other. When we reflect on our lives, where we are now, and the long way we have come, we should be thankful that somebody somewhere has stood in the gap for us; be it our parents, grandparents, neighbors, or friends.

When we pray, we should also remember that Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit who intercedes on our behalf to our Heavenly Father when we don’t know what to pray for. Think of it as being a cycle, as we intercede for others, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us and so all of our specific requests are being lifted up to God who does answer every prayer.