The Power Of Intercession

Goal

To make us realize the importance of sharing our prayer intentions and interceding for each other.

Grab

Who are the top 3 persons that you pray for every day? 

Grace

Read Acts 12:1-17

“Peter is at the door.” Acts 12:17

Intercessory prayer is, quite simply, the prayer of one person for someone else. It’s one of the most powerful ways to both gain and share encouragement and peace with others. 

In the age of the Church, Christian intercession participates in Christ's, as an expression of the communion of saints. In intercession, he who prays looks "not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others," even to the point of praying for those who do him harm. CCC 2635

A bible story about intercessory prayer is in Acts 12. Peter was in prison, and the new church was gathered in prayer for him. An angel miraculously set Peter free, and the story picks up here:

…he went to the house of Mary the mother of John, also called Mark, where many people had gathered and were praying. Peter knocked at the outer entrance, and a servant named Rhoda came to answer the door. When she recognized Peter’s voice, she was so overjoyed she ran back without opening it and exclaimed, “Peter is at the door!”, “You’re out of your mind,” they told her. When she kept insisting that it was so, they said, “It must be his angel.” But Peter kept on knocking, and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. Acts 12:12-16

We can picture ourselves doing just what Rhoda did. We wonder if she really didn’t believe that her prayers for Peter would be answered. When the answer hit her in the face, her excitement overwhelmed her sense of reason, and she left poor Peter outside, still knocking!

We know the prayers of one person are very powerful, both from own experience and from what Jesus said in Matthew 18:19-20: Again, I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Thus, it is important that we learn to share our prayer concerns with our brothers and sisters. We should always make time to pray and intercede for each other. We need to remind ourselves that there is a great actualization of petitions when we “Ask, Seek, and Knock” for others.

Gather

1.     Share an experience where you realized the power of intercessory prayer?

2.     What are your prayer intentions? 

Go Forth

List down the prayer intentions of your household. 

Intercede for each other in your prayer time and in the celebration of the Mass.

Give

God is Generous and in response, let us be good stewards by consistent Spiritual Giving, our tithing. 

For Tithes Remittance of NCR Members: bit.ly/mfctithes