An Hour of Prayer # 7

 Dear Church Family

 

   I’m writing letter # 7 on how to spend an hour in prayer, and this week it is on intercession. Praying for others. Last week as you may recall, we were dealing with petitions, which gives us permission to pray for the things we need, now we are praying for the lives and needs of others.

 

   “Intercession is to pray for others, to concentrate on the needs and distress of other people, to stand in the gap for someone else. When you intercede you stand at God’s side and you work with God for the salvation or benefit of someone else, and you remain standing until you have the assurance that God has heard you and releases your burden to pray for the issue.” From the book, The Hour That Changes the World. By Dick Eastman.

 

   In St. Paul’s letter to the Timothy he says, “I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgiving be made for all people – for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior,” 1 Timothy 2:1-3.

 

   I am so glad that we, the church family of North Bethesda UMC take prayer time and intercessions so gracefully, and that so many are being prayed for by each of us, together in worship and on our own during the week. We hope that you take advantage of our prayer list and those flash emails, requesting prayer for friends, neighbors, family and acquaintances we know, and for the world around us and those who we don’t know. I’m blessed when I hear of the answers to prayer coming back in reports of gratitude.

 

   May we continue to pray for our leaders (local, state, national & global) and all those in authority, that we may live peacefully with each other. May we continue to pray for healing of those who have been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, and all those responsible for caring for them. May we continue to pray for healing for those who have been wounded because of negative attitudes toward one another, and the powerful effect of policies and procedures that have kept people from the opportunity to fulfill their God given tasks and to provide properly for their families, because they happen to have a different skin color or language or background.

 

   I invite you to join with your church friends and family as we explore the Lord’s Prayer over the next five Sundays in worship. There are 5 basic petitions that Jesus gave his followers for their prayer lives and we will look carefully at each. We ask that God’s glory be extended, we ask that God’s plans would come true, we ask for what we need each day, we ask for forgiveness and to be able to forgive, and we ask for help against temptations of this world and other choices we make. We will look at each one separately in the next few Sundays.

 

   We must pray for our church family to be well during this time. There was a church worship service in Ohio in July where one person attended service and 91 people came down with the virus as a result. Many were in the church service he attended, and others were infected, because they took their contact with him home to their families, friends and co-workers. That is a lot of suffering in that community, and we are trying desperately to avoid the same fate.

 

   Thank you all for your prayers, you truly bless one another when you say a word to God on others behalf.

 

May God’s peace be with you, while we are absent, one from the other.

 

Pastor Jeff