"Almighty God, who inspired Your servant Luke the Physician to set forth in the Gospel the love and healing power of Your son:
Graciously continue in Your Church the love and power to heal, to the praise and glory of Your Name, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen."

About Being an Intercessor

To be an intercessor means to plead or to make a request on behalf of another or others. The focus of the intercessor's attention is always on Him to whom the request is made. All too often intercessory prayer finds us spending much of our time focusing on the person for whom prayer is made. Certainly some attention is due the ones for whom we make the request, but only to assure that we are acting on their behalf. The intercessor is not a diagnostician, probing a patient to find a cure and then boldly announcing that cure to the physician. The intercessor is one who says, "I see you have a problem; let me go and secure help for you."

If we are serious about intercession, we must be serious about preparation to intercede. Prayer brings us into direct relationship with Abba. We will profit from a time spent in self -examination, to confess our sins to God that He might remove the barriers between us. Jesus taught us also to remove the barriers of unforgiveness, one of the great blocks to effective prayer. We are to forgive our enemies and pray for them. If there is anything that stands between us and another person, there is something between us and God.

Neither our merits nor demerits are a factor, but our guilt can sometimes make us strangers to God. It will be difficult for us to plead with Him for someone else if we are not free to come before Him honestly and openly aware of His love for us and the one for whom we intercede.

The Holy Communion provides a perfect setting as a preparation for intercessory action, through its cleansing power, incorporating the intercessor anew into the fold of Christ's love.

Remembering the "pleading" part of intercession. This is not a casual act--something quickly done and quickly forgotten. It is bringing another person into the presence of God as the four carried the paralytic on a stretcher. Mark 2:1-11) The intercessor pleads for another, and sometimes has to dig a hole in the roof to get them into the healing light of Jesus. Intercessory prayer is work, and we must be willing to pursue it faithfully.

Remember the intercessory act is never done alone. We are always in Abba's presence with Jesus as Holy Spirit intercedes through us. We simply offer ourselves and our prayers as the channels through which God's will may be done. It is because our Lord Jesus is there that we can b e there. He remains in the presence of Abba always. He is there when we come, and He abides when we leave. We must center our attention and confidence in Him , and seek to communicate this confidence to the one for whom prayer is made.

The work of intercession is good work because Jesus Himself makes it His work. He is in Abba's presence to make intercession for us. (Romans 8:34)We are called to be His Body on earth. That is why we intercede in Jesus' name.

About Unction

Unction is anointing with oil. It is a practice commended by scripture and practiced by the Church throughout history. It is a sacramental act whereby we see the oil with whom the sick are anointed as an outward and visible sign of the healing love of Jesus Christ poured out upon them, covering them, cleansing them from sin, sickness and disease.

In administering unction we conform our ministry to the biblical norm whereby it becomes a sign of our own surrender to God's will and purpose. (Note: Members also defer to the tradition of their particular denomination.)

About Laying-On-of-Hands

The Laying-On-of-Hands is a setting-aside ministry, an ordaining ministry, a commissioning ministry. Through it we see the flow of God's power filling a person for a specific purpose. In ministering the Laying-On-of-Hands, we offer ourselves to be channels through which the Divine Grace will flow into the life of another to manifest newness of life and freedom from bondage.

Through the Laying-On-of-Hands, we, as the Body of Christ, set aside another for health. This is in accord with Jesus' commission to the Church when He sent us to proclaim the Kingdom of God, heal the sick and cast out demons. It becomes for us both a privilege and a response-ability. Sickness manifests the fallen nature of the old creation. As children of God, we lay our hands upon them to set them free from the bondage of the old creation to enter the new.

Although there is healing in the act of touching another in love, the Laying-On-of-Hands brings also the touch of God's love as we yield our own hands to be the hands of Jesus. In placing our hands on the one to whom we minister, we become the presence of the Incarnate Lord ministering healing grace. In the Name of the great Physician, we set them apart for health--commissioning them with wholeness.

About Holy Communion

From the earliest days of the Christian church, Holy Communion has been the central act of worship in the community of the redeemed. Holy Communion is the greatest healing service we have been given. In the action of communion we bring our sickness and hurts to God. He gives His life to us for cleansing and being filled anew with the Life of the Risen Lord. We are fed on His Body. We are given life through His Blood.

Regular participation in the Eucharist banquet with proper preparation, can have a great effect, not only upon the soul and spirit of the person, but on the body also. When we go to Holy Communion, we should experience the risen Lord entering our lives to wash away our sickness and impart His Life.

Holy Communion also offers opportunity for intense intercession as we approach God not for ourselves, but for the one we are bringing to God. We, "...are one Body in Christ and individually members one of another." Romans 12:5) When we come to the Lord in Holy Communion, we are made one with Him and with one another. We receive His Life by faith for the one who is absent--knowing that in Christ there is no time/space limitation. We are brought through awakening, through purification, into union with Father in His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

In Holy Communion we proclaim the Lord's healing presence and the redemptive power of His love. We participate with Him in the Banquet of heaven; the Banquet of health.

Prayers for Use with Laying-On-of-Hands

Our Lord, Jesus Christ, Who gave authority to His disciples that they should lay hands upon the sick that they might recover, have mercy upon you and strengthen you in body, soul and spirit; and give you faith in His power to heal. By His authority committed unto me, I lay my hands upon you in the Name of Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

I lay my hands upon you and anoint you with oil in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy spirit, beseeching the mercies of our Lord, Jesus Christ, that all sin, sickness, and disease of body, soul and spirit may depart from you, and by the power of the Holy spirit you shall be made whole. Amen

I lay my hands upon your head (an anoint you with oil) in the Name of God the Father, who made you, and in the Name of Jesus Christ, who died for you, and in the Name of the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies you. O Triune God, fill this Your servant with Your healing love. Lift every burden, throw light upon every problem, wash away all guilt, forgive every sin, reconcile every strained relationship, heal every disease, re-energize his entire being, anoint him with Your joy, and fill him with Your peace. Bless and heal the ones for whom he is interceding through Jesus Christ, Whom with You, O Father, and the Holy Spirit, we worship and praise as one God, world without end. Amen.

May the mercy of God, and the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the power of His Holy Spirit, which are here now, enter your spirit, your soul, and your body for healing. Amen.

We thank You, O Lord, that the body, soul and spirit of this Your servant are being made strong and whole in the renewing, vitalizing, energizing life of the Holy spirit that dwells within him. Amen.

May the unseen hands of the Great Physician rest upon you as you make this act of faith in the Healing Christ. May the Divine Supernatural Power which brought Jesus back from the dead now quicken your body, your soul, your spirit and your relationships--cleansing, purifying, restoring--mending, healing. May God make you and the ones for whom your are praying into new creatures and a part of the whole new creation. Thank you God for Your mighty healing, transforming power and love flowing into this Your servant through Jesus Christ, the Great Physician, our Healing and Redeemer. Amen.

Praying for the Body of Christ  -  Parish Prayer Partners

We are embarking on a prayer venture that will be new to our parish family. We have prayed during our services, praising, thanking and beseeching our God for His many graces to us. We have prayed in our homes, at work and play during moments of anxiety, grief and joy.
Now we would like to create a prayer network that will truly "bind us together in love." At today's service, baskets of prayer cards will be passed among you. Each card will have the name of a family or member of our congregation. One adult member of a family will take a card from it. (No peaking or shuffling to find a special name.) If you happen to pick your name, see an usher after the service to exchange it.

This is a family to family program, not person to person. Your family will be the prayer partners of those named on your Prayer Partner Card. While you pray for them your partners will be praying for those partners on the card they picked. Of course, feel free to thank God for their prayers for you. Some cards have only one name and a whole family will be praying for that one child of God. It evens out though, as some singles will be praying for whole families. The Sunday Church School will have prayer partners among the children and youth.

If you know your prayer partner, you may already be aware of some needs for prayer. If you don't know the people, you might call and ask if there are specific prayers needed. Your prayer partner may be a distant member of our family that you have never met, and there is no phone number. Rest assured that our God will have no problem reaching your prayer partner. If there are no special prayer needs, then pray for health, safety on the road, for help with the daily stress of life, and give thanks that all is well.

Too often we forget to pray on the spot. We forget to praise and thank God when
dangers and traumas have been averted, or when the right words or actions come unasked. Let us become prayer partners with God too. Our prayers can be said anywhere, anytime. Don't worry about fancy words or trying to include everything. Just the words from your heart will do. The more practice you get the easier it will be.

The Prayer Partner Program is an addition to the prayer life of Grace, just as the Prayer Chain and group prayers for the sick and bereaved have helped, and continue to help those prayed for. Remember, God's phone line is always open; His e-mail is never down, and your cell phone is never out of His area.

Peg Weaver    pegweaver@att.net
10/18/02