Day 18: Engaging Prayer

Your Neighbor as Yourself - by Byron Fisk

"Intercessory prayer is the purifying bath into which the individual and the fellowship must enter every day." Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Jesus was asked: “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said the right answer is
to: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength
and with all your mind; and, Love your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).

When we participate in intercessory prayer, we are putting the needs of others before ourselves. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German pastor who stood up to the Nazi regime during Hitler’s time in the name of Jesus for others. He prayed for persecuted Jews, and was assassinated by Hitler for it. He knew the peril he faced, yet he was willing to take the chance and pray for others because he believed it was not just a good thing to do, but something he must do. He loved God and so he loved his neighbors too, and prayed for them. He was purified through his sacrificial participation in intercession for others. Loving others by praying for them is what those of us that Love God must do.