Intercession Meditation

I just had a lightbulb moment about intercessory prayer. I'd like to know what the Bible says about it, and what you think about it. :-)

Background: Praying for others usually exhausts me. As with many areas of life, by default I tend to approach intercessory prayer in a very rigid, list-oriented way. However, the "list approach" to prayer tends to disconnect my heart from the subject of the prayer--the person I know and love, whose wellbeing I care about. That is to say, the list approach disengages prayer from its relational component and makes it task-oriented instead.

However, prayer is by default relational--prayer is talking to God. You don't talk with someone unless you mean to communicate with them, and communication is by default relational. Therefore prayer is by default relational. So it's silly to take something as relational as prayer and strip it of its relational element. What are you left with but an empty shell?

Besides, I don't usually pray for myself in a list-oriented way anymore (doing so usually exhausts me...). Instead, I bask and emanate. :-) Before you write me off as completely mystical and loony, let me explain.

To me, God is like the sun. I need His light, I need His presence, I need His warmth, I need His energy, to function properly. If I go for a while without enough of Him, I get SAD--seasonal affective disorder. If He ever left my universe, my life would quickly cease.

Sometimes I take sunshine for granted, but I try to make a point to enjoy and appreciate it--to bask in it. Luxuriate in it. When I bask, my body and mind instinctively respond to the sun--my body relaxes, my mind calms, my skin warms--I may even begin to sweat. What's inside me comes out--figuratively and literally. Stress and anxiety tend to dissipate, emanating out and away from me. Sweat seeps and evaporates. "Emanating," or releasing what's inside me, is a natural and subconscious response to sunshine.

Like I said, to me God is like the sun. And that's why I think "basking and emanating" is a legitimate form of prayer, a legitimate way of relating to Him. I often take Him for granted, but when I'm thinking clearly, I consciously enjoy and appreciate Him. I bask in His presence. And basking leads to emanating--after a little while, what's inside me naturally begins to come out. Sometimes it's words--"Lord, please help this specific situation." "Please help me know You more." "Please show me what I should be thinking about this."

Other times there are no words; it's just Him and me, being--Him being Himself, and me enjoying Him. And I can't necessarily articulate what passes between us, but what's inside me comes out. If I'm worried about something in my life, the anxiety just kind of seeps out of me. It dissipates into the space between us. I know that He sees it and understands it, but I'm spared the trouble of trying to articulate something I don't even fully understand. If I have a distressing situation or confusing problem, the concept of it just kind of emanates out of me into His presence--I don't have to tell Him about the problem. He sees it. I know that He sees it. And we just "be" together, around it. After a while, enough of the problem leaves me, and I get all right.

Which brings me back to praying for others. If I can pray for myself this way, why can't I pray for others this way? Why can't I "bask and emanate" on behalf of people I love? I think I can; we can. I think we can sit in the presence of the Lord, basking in the light of His face... and let our burdens for friends and family seep to the surface of our hearts, dissipate in the warmth of His comforting gaze, and burn off like cloud cover under His pure, cleansing presence. What do you think?