Intercessory Prayer

Intercessory Prayer is prayer on behalf of another. Many of us have often done this without really thinking about it. As a business we felt offering a leather journal was nice, but what if we devoted real time and attention to interceding in prayer on behalf of the recipients of these journals? What if we asked the LORD what to pray on behalf of those who we have even the smallest of touch points with? What if we intentionally prayed God would move powerfully in their lives by ministering to their hearts?

Here is what we know about prayer.

  1. Scripture tells us the Holy Spirit is our advocate and often intercedes for us when we don't have the words (Romans 8:26 "...  the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.").
  2. We know Jesus prayed often. There are many times when Jesus would get up early or wander away for a time to pray to his father in heaven.
  3. Jew's observed three daily prayer times. Which means Jesus did as well. They had the opportunity to pause and pray wherever they were at 9am, 3pm and at sunset. The temples were open at these times for people to come if they wished. And after Jesus ascended, those following Christ still went to temple prayer. It is interesting that Jews practiced these observed times of prayer and yet the one thing they asked Jesus to teach them was how to pray.
  4. Jesus prayed for his disciples (Luke 22:31 “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”) and so many of those who came to him. This is where we see Jesus perform signs and wonders, people healed or freed of impure spirits.
  5. Jesus loves to help grows our faith. (Hebrews 12:1-3 "...And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.")
  6. Scripture over and over again says "Jesus was full of compassion" and we can begin to see this more clearly when we realize before we ever consider praying, the Lord himself is praying and interceding for us. 
  7. There is a promise of emotional and physical healing in the atonement- Isaiah 53 talks about the atonement. It says "Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." The Hebrew word for "griefs"also means sickness. The Hebrew word "sorrows" also means pain. Matthew also points to this in Matthew 8:16-17 

    "When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. 17 This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

    “He took up our infirmities
        and bore our diseases.”

  8. We are called to prayer. (Ephesians 6:18 " And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.") Truthfully there are so many scriptures that invite and encourage us to pray, it would be difficult to include them all and some have debates about interpretation, but the heart is the same for all. Prayer without ceasing and the Spirit helps us.

We are not claiming there's something significant here about God's presence being tied to an object that we are selling and we want you to buy it. If the idea of that feels shady, it should. That is not what we are doing here. What we ARE claiming to be significant is the power of prayer, and we want you to know it's likely we've prayed for you and we pray over every journal with the recipient in mind. We have this unique touch point with people all over the states and to many it may feel insignificant but we see it has a divine appointment.