Also called “intercession” or “intercessory prayer.” Its an important part of the Christian life. Christ modeled it to us in the Lord’s Prayer.

I know some incredible men and women of prayer who spend a LOT of time praying specifically for others. At The Connection Church we have a team of people who do this every week. If someone writes a prayer request on a connection card, it gets prayed for and posted on the prayer blog. An amazing, Godly woman named Maggie Walker heads up that team and I am so thankful for her.

But if I were to be completely honest, I’d have to admit that until recently intercession was something I didn’t do much. I mean, sure if something extremely tragic happened that I actually remembered (you get tons of this as a pastor) I would pray for it.

About a month ago I began a new journey in my life. I’ve spent an hour in prayer with God everyday for four weeks now. It is literally changing who I am, how I relate to people, and how I live each day. More on this crazy thing God has done in my life right here on the blog soon…

So I say all of that to say this. Tonight, my heart is feeling a heavy burden for our family pastor, Nic Burleson. He lost his grandpa this morning. Nic was extremely close to his “pa-pa” and I know that this is going to be a ROUGH week for him. Nic will also be preaching the funeral in the next few days.

I can’t remember a time when I felt so burdened for a brother in Christ. This is a call to prayer. Would you pray for Nic this week?

And, if you don’t pray, its a call to the prayer-blind. I challenge you to spend ten minutes a day with God. Just get a timer and start praying. When you stop praying, hit the stop button. Do this all throughout the day until you have spent 10 minutes with God. You’ll find it goes by FAST. Then, bump it up to 20 minutes…30 minutes…

It will change who you are. And best of all, you get to be a blessing to others by praying for them and feeling what they are feeling so that you can walk through the tough times with them.