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Intercessory prayer is when someone prays for others, asking God to intervene in a positive way. It is seen as an act of selfless charity and is different from personal prayer. It can be done for living people, groups, animals, or entities. Prayers for the dead are also a form of intercessory prayer. Some Christian sects pray to saints as well.
Intercessory prayer is prayer for others. The intercessor uses prayer to communicate with God, making a request on someone else’s behalf or on behalf of a group of people. Many religions include some sort of intercessory prayer tradition, both for individual worshipers and for groups, and many people find intercessory prayer an important and fulfilling part of their religious practice.
Because intercessory prayer requires a sense of compassion for others, some people believe it is an important way to contribute to the societies in which they live. Intercessory prayer is also markedly different from personal prayer or meditation, which may be important for personal development, but not helpful for the world at large. In a sense, this type of prayer is an act of selfless charity, using a relationship with God to help someone else, as an intercessor is literally someone who pleads or takes another’s case.
More typically, someone makes an intercessory prayer on behalf of a living person or group. For example, someone might pray for their mother to recover from a dangerous illness. Others might pray for the citizens of a nation caught in the turmoil of war, or for other groups of people. It is also possible to pray on behalf of live animals and in some cases an intercessory prayer may be aimed at an entity. In all cases, God is asked to intervene in some way that will be beneficial.
Many cultures also have a tradition of praying for the dead, which is a form of intercessory prayer. In many religions, prayers for the dead are extremely important and some people believe that it will not be possible to enter the afterlife without these prayers. In religions that believe in hell or some sort of punishment after death, people may pray for their loved ones to reach heaven, indicating that they forgive these people for any transgressions they may have committed during their lifetime and providing evidence that they are good people who deserve God’s love.
In some Christian sects, people may also pray to saints as a form of intercessory prayer. For example, many Catholic fishermen pray to Saint Andrew, the patron saint of fishermen, asking him to intercede with God for them. Others wear medals representing various saints, in the hope that the saints will look favorably upon them and plead their cause with God.
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