Philippians 2:3 Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

Anytime prayer is mentioned, the first thing most people think about is a personal request. In fact, the content of the prayers of many Christians can be summed up into personal petitions. It’s not wrong but it can be problematic. For many people who claim to have a strong prayer life, you would realize that what they call a prayer life is just a continuous cycle of praying for personal needs and wants. For something to become a life, it must be sustainable and what can outlast the meeting of a need or want. Let me explain: If all I pray for each day is to pass my school exams and I’m finally done with school, does that mean my prayer will come to a halt? It means once everything around me seems to be working well, I won’t see the need to pray. This explains why some people who were once in poverty and had a change of life in terms of material increase came to the conclusion that Christianity is a way to keep people in bondage because, to them, they now have freedom.

An only need-based prayer life will not lead to the growth that comes through prayer.

There’s something a person gets in prayer beyond the answers they receive and that thing is not just in praying for personal things. It takes more effort and is tougher to pray about something that doesn’t directly affect you and that’s why intercession is one of the toughest prayers to do. If you ever wondered why many Christians aren’t influencing the world as they ought to, this is part. We have had many Christians in the past say; Lord if I get this position, I’ll influence people for you and they got there and did nothing because, in reality, their hearts were never for the people but their own gain. We care more about ourselves so everything we are doing is to get a benefit for ourselves. James 4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. The opening scripture mentions to esteem others better than ourselves and says let nothing be done through selfish ambition. This means I could be doing a good thing but my motive could be wrong. In essence, you could be a ‘prayerful’ person but the motives for prayer are wrong because all that prayer is just engulfed with self. Nothing about other people or the advancement of God’s Kingdom.

For starters, some people only pray when there is trouble. God is like a genie they go to in crisis and when everything seems fine or they get what they were looking for, there’s no more space for God. Then we have a breed of ‘prayer warriors’ or intercessors who show off with the tongues they speak and have all kinds of vocal expressions that make the average person look less spiritual. By the kinds of prayer topics they raise, you’ll know them. There are also those whose entire prayer life revolves around the devil and his cohorts. They have a very magnified view of the devil, evil spirits, witches, and demons, among many others. We do not dispute the existence of such entities but if all your prayer is focused on that, there’s an issue. You won’t give the Holy Spirit room to tell you that you need to work on a particular character because you would blame everything that happens to you on evil spirits.

Intercession is tough because the will of another person is involved.

If it’s your own personal request, because you want it desperately, your heart is involved. Remember James 5:16b which says the heartfelt prayer of a righteous man avails much? If your heart is involved, you are more likely to see results. So this means in praying for another person, you first need to get passionate and have compassion for the person but because of the rise of selfishness, many are unable to do that. We are waiting to have our own problems fixed before we can look at the next person but the truth is no matter how tough you think your life is, another person is even going through a much tougher situation.

A few things I have learned about intercession:

If there’s anything you don’t like about a person’s behavior, instead of gossip, since you claim you are concerned about how they are living, please pray for them. Many religious people who are often hypocritical tend to claim they are winning souls by being vile towards people they want to see a change in and that’s not what Jesus did when he met sinners.

If someone offends you and you are unable to let go, praying for them over a while would help work on your heart. When the Bible says pray for your enemies, this is it. When Jesus prayed for forgiveness for those who were hurting him on the cross, this was the basis. Steven also did the same when he was being killed. Whoever you pray for, you can’t hate. It’s a law.

People lose their prayer fervor when they have no one or nothing else they are praying for outside of themselves or their family. I realized that the reason why someone would say prayer is for the poor is that they used to focus on their own needs and when money was no longer an issue, there was nothing to pray about.

In conclusion, we know what Job went through with his losses. However, what led to the double he had after the affliction was actually intercession. Many haven’t paid attention to it. We only know he got restored. Job 42:10 After Job had prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. He looked past his own calamity and focused on other people. Proverbs 11:25 The generous soul will be made rich, And he who waters will also be watered himself. Generosity can also be expressed in intercession. As you pray for what doesn’t concern you, God will take care of your own needs. Trust Him because whatsoever a person sows, he reaps.

• faith
• Hearing from God
• Prayer
• Spiritual growth