Many people know how to pray for others. The Lord challenged the disciples to even pray for those who persecute and abuse them. (Matthew 5:44; Luke 6:28) Prayer is one of the least used privileges God has bestowed upon His disciples. The discipline of prayer could be creative and specific to change individuals, families, systems, structures, communities, and nations. The persistent friend asked a specific number of loaves of bread, from a neighbor friend, for his visiting friend and got what he needed, not only three or more loaves, plus butter and jam. (Luke 11:5-13)
Information: Good intercessors collect information from various sources including media and personal relationships. A natural disaster is public news, while a sick believer admitted to the hospital is private information. Converting this information as prayer points is a spiritual skill.
Insights: The Holy Spirit helps a believer to pray with insights. (Romans 8:26-28) As humans, our intellectual capacity does not provide all the background information or accurate future projections. However, the Holy Spirit gives this amazing privilege to pray for the unknown.
Requires more faith: Specific prayers are bold prayers, hence require more faith in understanding God’s attributes, Word, Plan, and Purpose. Some are afraid to pray, doubting if God would answer such prayers. Those who come to Him should believe that he exists and reward those who approach Him. (Hebrews 11:6)
Thoughtfulness: Creative specific prayers mean a disciple, empathetically identifies with those for whom the prayer is done. For example, praying for a young college student appearing for an exam means to identify with that youngster: the fear, anxiety, understanding of the subject, memory power, presence of mind, conducive atmosphere, good sleep that night, good health, taking all resources including hall ticket, no traffic on the way to the venue, and serene environment in the exam hall.
Expectancy: Creative specific prayers give a sense of expectancy. If prayers are creative, the creator God would be awesome in creativity. He will answer most unpredictably. He will surpass human thoughts, imaginations, and expectations. (Ephesians 3:20)
Do I have the discipline of creative specific prayers?