Sermon Title: THE PRAYING CHRISTIAN

Dr. David Busic
Ordained Elder and 40th General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene

Intercession is specifically praying for those God has providentially placed in your circle of relationships.

1. Intercession is specific.

It is clear that intercessory prayer is not something general and vague, but something very concrete. It is interested in specific persons and specific difficulties and therefore specific requests. The more concrete my intercessory prayer becomes the more promising it is… ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

2. The gift of intercession is praying with discernment

One of the most subtle and illusive burdens God ever places on us as saints is this burden of discernment concerning others. He gives us discernment so that we may accept the responsibility for those souls before Him and form the mind of Christ about them. . . It is not that we are able to bring God into contact with our minds, but that we awaken ourselves to the point where God is able to convey His mind to us regarding the people for whom we intercede. ~Oswald Chambers

3. The power of intercession provides protection

The Practice of Intercession

1. Begin with those you live with and know best

2. Pray for colleagues and ministry partners

3. Pray for what is important to you

Prayer simply dies from efforts to pray about ‘good things’ that honestly do not matter to us. The way to get to meaningful prayer for those good things is to start praying for what we are truly interested in. The circles of our interests will inevitably grow in the largeness of God’s love . . . Many people have found prayer impossible because they thought they should only pray for wonderful but remote needs they actually had little or no interest in or even knowledge of. ~Dallas Willard

4. Pray over divine appointments