Intercession - what matters to God

"Intercession means to mediate or negotiate for something; to intervene in prayer to God on behalf of another person or situation. We can't intercede properly without praying to know the heart of God in a matter." (Alice Smith), Giving Ourselves to Prayer, Terre Haute, IN: Prayer Shop Publishing, 2008)

My husband is great with researching information before we go out to buy a car. He can find out via the internet about what a dealer paid for a used car and therefore know what the dealer needs to profit in a deal before we negotiate to purchase.

The great thing about negotiating with God is that He wants us to know what He has in every deal. He will tell us exactly what we need to know if we ask and wait for his response. 

A benefit of praying with others is that sometimes we can get too caught up in what we think we want God to do. (Like demanding a dealer come down to our price without any thought about his need to profit from the deal.) Praying with others allows us to receive meaningful words from God that are sometimes difficult to hear directly because they don't fit our perspective of what we think should happen.

During the intercession time for specific requests for your children and their school - including praying for teachers, staff, and students - try just speaking the name and ask God how he wants you to pray for that person or circumstance. Patiently listen, then pray according to what you hear from God and from each other.