My Prayer Basket

My Prayer Basket

At my age (84 soon to be 85), and trying to live within the boundaries of my present constraints, I prayed and asked God “What can I do that will serve You, honor You and bless others?”  With His silent voice (we each have a silent voice, don’t we), He suggested that I can become an intercessor.  This will certainly fit within any constraints or limitations. And so I did!

I want to be an intercessor!

In Matthew 9, the first several verses, Matthew tells of the time when some friends of a man who was completely paralyzed brought the man to Jesus.  They had such faith and were so determined that they not only carried in on a make-shift stretcher but they also ripped open the roof of the dwelling where Jesus was teaching and lowered their friend so that Jesus could see him. 

Reading now from the devotion from The Word Among Us, this is how the author unpacked this story: 

“The paralyzed man is curiously silent.  We don’t know how he felt about Jesus.  Did he really believe, or was he just going along with his friends plans? And what did he think when Jesus first proclaimed that his sins had been forgiven?  We simply don’t know.

What we do know is that the people who  brought this man to Jesus certainly had faith.  In fact, Mark’s Gospel (2:4) noted that in order to get past the crowds surrounding Jesus, these friends climbed onto the roof of the house and made a hole in it to lower the man down to Jesus. Their persistence obviously impressed Jesus.  Matthew tells us that it was “their faith” that moved Jesus to heal the man.”

The point I saw was that it was the faith of the four who brought the man on his stretcher.  They were intercessors!  And as they brought their friend to Jesus, we too, as an intercessor, will bring people to Jesus!

What better place to begin as an intercessor than with knowing that Jesus taught His disciples – and us, too – to be persistent in prayer. “Ask and keep on asking and it shall be given to you; seek and keep on seeking, and you will find; knock and keep on knocking, and it shall be opened to you.  For everyone who keeps on asking receives, and he who keeps on seeking finds, and to him who keeps on knocking, it will be opened.” Matthew 7:7,8 AMP

Thank you, LORD, that today, and every day, is a fresh opportunity to be in Your Presence.  I pray that You will teach me through Your word, that I may hear Your voice, that You will form my heart and that through Your Presence, You will help me become and remain steadfast, faithful and true to You, and Your word, in every way and in every day.  (The Word Among Us)

Abba Father, this is my PRAYER BASKET.  It’s full of people.  Some I know well, some I know only superficially, and some don’t know at all, other than their name and how they are related to others that I do know. Some are my immediate family members.  Others are siblings, nephews, nieces, cousins, in-laws – and their children, grandchildren and even great grandchildren. For a few, I know some of their specific needs, and for these I will pray.  Mostly, however, I don’t have a clue about specific needs, or situations, or conditions in their life, or what they are going through physically, emotionally, psychologically, financially or spiritually.

  But, LORD, I know that You know!  You know each person in my basket.  You know them most intimately because You are our creator. Jesus, Your Only Begotten Son suffered, bled and died for each one of us.  You know who they are, where they are and what they need.  And as I pray, reading their names, I will put my faith and my trust in You.

You know who we are, where we are and what we need!  And as I pray, reading each name, I put my faith and trust in You, asking You to flood each of us with Your love, Your grace and Your mercy. I pray that You will rescue any who need rescue.  I pray that You will free each of us from wrong belief, from all that blinds us and all that binds us; that You will show how us how deeply loved, greatly blessed and highly favored we are in Your heart of hearts.  Reveal to us Your sacrificial love, Your desire to bring us into right relationship with You, and into right relationship with others. Teach us right praise, praise that pleases You, that will also bring us great joy!”

          I know that this prayer is “one size fits all” because we all have the same need for the life-transforming power of Your presence in our lives. So, as we pray, we trust You to know exactly what we need, exactly when we need it and exactly how to answer.

These are the life-changing blessings for which I pray:  

• ·       That Your will be done in each of our lives – as eagerly and as quickly as it is done in heaven. May we say, with Mary, the mother-to-be of Jesus, when she heard and responded to what must have been the most startling message of her young life, delivered none less than by Garbiel, an Archangel of God Most High  – “Let it be to me according to your word.”  May we, too, truly seek Your will to be accomplished in our lives!

• ·       That Jesus becomes, and remains, the very center of our lives, the cornerstone of our existence, allowing nothing or no one to ever take preeminence over You.  May all who we love and all that we love be in proper relationship to Your preeminence in our lives.

• ·       That we have eyes to see, ears to hear and a heart open and eager to receive the Truth of the Gospel of grace, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

• ·       That we will be teachable, always open to learn from Your Word and from faithful and true pastors, teachers and writers who are, in truth, inspired by the Spirit of the Living God to share what He has taught them and what He is teaching them.

• ·       That we will recognize that the primary purpose for our life is to allow You to love us. 

• ·       That You will show each of us our mission in life, a mission that only we can carry out, a mission that we can carry out only with the presence and the help of the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord.

• ·       That we desire to grow more like Jesus each day, praying for the presence and the help of the Holy Spirit to give to us wisdom and understanding and the revelation knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ so that we may become more like Jesus each day.

• ·       That through Your Presence, we will become and remain steadfast, faithful and true to You and to Your word, in every way and in every day.

• ·       That our desire will be to live our lives in such a way that we make You smile.

• ·       That You will bless us with good health, well-being, abundant life and the quality of life so that we can serve You and serve others.

• ·       That You will give us wisdom to know when to speak and when to stay silent.  And when we do speak or write, let our words be Your words and let them be a blessing and a help to those who hear them or read them. That our words will serve to accomplish Your will in our lives.

• ·       Help me to put away self-pride, allowing it to be neither my motivation nor my reward

Paul left us an example of how to pray for others. He did this in his prayer for the church in Ephesus and here i have personalized it.

“When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from His glorious, unlimited resources He will empower me with inner strength through His Spirit.  Then Christ will make His home in my heart as I trust in Him. My roots will grow down into God’s love and keep me strong.  And may I have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high and how deep His love is.  May I experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then I will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.” Ephesians 3:14-21 NLT

The foundation for our prayer of faith is in the words and promises of Jesus.

“And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.” John 14: 13, 14

“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” John 15:7

“Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” John 16: 23, 24

“So I tell you, (hear Him speak your name here!) whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours!” Mark 11:24

John, the Apostle, added:  “Beloved, we receive from Him whatever we ask because we keep His commandments and do what pleases Him.  And His commandment is this:  We should believe in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another.” I John 3:22

And as we pray, let us “walk by faith and not by sight”, as Paul shared with the church in Corinth (2nd Cor. 5:7).  I believe that Paul was telling this new flock of sheep that we can live life I a way that’s consistent with a confident belief in God’s promises, even when we can’t see where, exactly, that we are going.  The Passion translation states it as “we live by faith, not by what we see with our eyes.”

          And here is where you can list the names all those for whom you wish to pray.