The Power of Intercessory Prayer

“And as it turns out, if one person is praying or you, buckle up.  Things can happen.”
Anne Lamott

I first became interested in intercessory prayer after reading a story made famous by the author Caroline Myss.

A woman in one of her workshops had been in a serious car accident, so bad in fact that she had a near-death experience and floated out of her body for a period of time.

As she hovered over the scene of the accident, she could hear people in the cars around her.  Some were shaken, some were angry about being delayed, but from one car she saw a swirl of beautiful light rise up into the clouds then come straight back down into her lifeless body.

When she floated over to the source of light, she discovered a woman praying for her!  In her out-of-body state, she memorised the license plate of that car.  Once she was back in her body and fully recovered, she looked up the car information and showed up at the praying woman’s house with a bunch of flowers!

Whilst not all prayer stories are as dramatic as this one, there are countless others that demonstrate the power of praying for others.  There is even scientific research!  Dr. Larry Dossey writes in Prayer is Good Medicine:

“In the experiments dealing with the effects of prayer in humans, researchers found that intercessory prayer was effective even when the recipient did not know he or she was being prayed for.”

Author Doreen Virtue credits much of her success to the prayers of her Christian Scientist mother, including the time when her mother enlisted the help of her church group to pray that Doreen stop smoking  – which she did.    I, too, have used intercessory prayer to help someone stop smoking,  so I can attest that this works.  I wrote about that miracle here.

I’ve also been on the receiving end of intercessory prayer.  I frequently submit my own name to one of the most powerful prayer groups I’ve encountered: Silent Unity.  Things happen whenever they pray for me.  For example, I wrote my first book with their help.  I also used to be afraid to share my work with people.  The fact that you’re reading this now is proof of their invaluable help.

I’ve personally received so much help through prayer that I offer to pray for others as part of my life’s work.

Perhaps you are also called to this work.  There is a story in one of Catherine Ponder’s books that may inspire you as much as it has me.

Many years ago, a report appeared in a British newspaper about a woman on her deathbed.  She had been sick for five years with tuberculosis and was dying.  Her family had gathered for her final moments.  When she appeared to take her last breath and become still, the family thought she had passed.  But moments later she roused and responded to an inaudible voice: “Yes, I am listening.  Who is it?”

It was then that the family saw an angel bending over the woman’s sickbed.  The angel told the woman her suffering was over and to get up and walk – which she did, even though she had been bedridden for months.  The angel then told the woman her life had been spared so she could help others heal.  She made a full recovery and spent the rest of her life praying for the sick in her community, asking the Angel of Healing to make them whole.  She lived a life of peace and health as many miracles occurred around her.

There are many ways to use intercessory prayer.  The method I use comes from another book by Catherine Ponder.  Whenever someone asks me for prayer assistance, I put their name in a small notebook I carry with me.  Then before I go to sleep at night I hold the book between my hands and say my own special prayer followed by 10-30 minutes of affirmative prayer, usually The Miracle Formula.  Combined with the We Are! Prayer Group, I typically fall asleep praying.

Even if you don’t choose intercessory prayer as your life’s work, you can always say a prayer whenever you come across a road accident.  You never know who might show up at your doorstep afterwards with a bunch of flowers!

Louise x