Pleading with God

<p>A family&rsquo;s prayer time ended with a surprising announcement one morning. As soon as Dad said, &ldquo;Amen,&rdquo; five-year-old Kaitlyn proclaimed, &ldquo;And I prayed for Logan, because he had his eyes open during prayer.&rdquo;</p> <p>I&rsquo;m pretty sure praying for your 10-year-old brother&rsquo;s prayer protocol isn&rsquo;t what Scripture has in mind when it calls us to intercessory prayer, but at least Kaitlyn realized that we can pray for others.</p> <p>Bible teacher Oswald Chambers emphasized the importance of praying for someone else. He said that &ldquo;intercession is putting yourself in God&rsquo;s place; it is having His mind and perspective.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s praying for others in light of what we know about God and His love for us.</p> <p>We find a great example of intercessory prayer in Daniel 9. The prophet understood God&rsquo;s troubling promise that the Jews would have seventy years of captivity in Babylon (Jeremiah 25:11&ndash;12). Realizing that those years were nearing their completion, Daniel went into prayer mode (Daniel 9:4). He referenced God&rsquo;s commands (vv. 5&ndash;6), he humbled himself (v. 8), he confessed sin (v. 15), he honored God&rsquo;s character (v. 9), and he depended on His mercy as he prayed for his people (v. 18). And he got an immediate answer from God (v. 21).</p> <p>Not all prayer ends with such a dramatic response, but be encouraged that we can to go to God on behalf of others with an attitude of trust and dependence on Him.</p>