How to Pray for the People You LoveSample

In my early 20s, I experienced God move through my prayers in a new way for me. A close friend was going through a nasty breakup from a toxic relationship.

She was putting boundaries up to keep this person out of her life, but she was struggling with repeatedly letting him back in, so she asked if I would pray for her. We went to this little chapel on our school campus and prayed for 15 minutes.

She left to meet with him, and I volunteered to stay and pray for her for a little while. Truthfully, 15 minutes of prayer was already long for me, so I didn't plan to be there much longer!

After another five to ten minutes on my knees in prayer, I felt I had met my obligation. When I got ready to get back up, something incredible happened. It felt like an invisible hand gently pushed me back down to my knees.

After another five to ten minutes in prayer, I got ready to stand up, and the same thing happened again. I prayed more and got up a third time, only to feel like God was literally keeping me on my knees. I spent two hours on my knees that night in that prayer chapel. To this day, it's the most extended prayer session of my life.

I contacted my friend the next day to see how the conversation went. I learned that she ended up having her life-changing conversation right outside the building where I was praying.

She said, "Scott, I'm so glad you didn't leave because if you had, you would have walked in and disrupted that conversation. I might've lost the will to build a strong boundary. I'm so grateful you were praying for me, and you stayed in there because I was able to do what I needed to do."

God moves in response to our prayers. When we love people enough to pray for them, who knows how God will work in power?!

I believe that you started this plan because you are concerned about someone (or perhaps several people). You love and care for them deeply. You want God to move in a specific way in your life! These feelings are leading you to intercede for them.

Intercessory prayers are the prayers we pray for someone else. They differ from prayers of petition, which we pray for ourselves. The English word intercession comes from the Latin intercedo, which means "to come between."

When we intercede for someone in prayer, we come to God and plead on their behalf, as if we are standing between them and God. Often, those intercessions result from us realizing we cannot do what we want to do for them. We know that only God can work in a specific way or area, so we come to God on their behalf.

I love what Richard Foster says about intercession. "If we truly love people, we will desire for them far more than it is within our power to give them, which will lead us to prayer. Intercession is a way of loving others."

Over the next few days, I'm excited to share several Biblical principles about prayer, especially intercession. Here's the first one: Intercession is the overflow of our love for people and our limits as people.

There are limits to what you can do for the people you love. You are not God. Therefore, you go to God on their behalf. We pray for the people we love first and foremost by letting God know that we love them and that we've reached our limit of what we can do for them.

When we confess our limits as people and our trust that God is more than able to move in the lives of those we love, we put ourselves in a position to see God move powerfully.

Tomorrow, we're going to look at how intercession works. If you've ever felt like you're alone in prayer, keep reading because what I share is going to encourage you!