Monday, December 30, 2013

Using Facebook to develop a life of prayer

A good way to develop a life of prayer is using Facebook. While this source can keep one entertained, distracted, or amused for hours, it can also be used to develop one’s prayer life. If you want to explore intercessory prayer (i.e., praying for others, requesting God-honoring things), the following tips will help you give your social media a twist. Try its equivalencies on other outlets, too.

What will you be doing? First, giving thanks for each person’s life, their family, the good things God has brought to their lives, and for the bad things that God has spared them. Then, interceding for their lives, praying for their known needs, potential needs, their spiritual lives, and challenging situations they might be facing. This is the requesting, petitioning, or supplicating step; try to stand in their shoes, but at the same time looking at the big picture and thinking of ways God would be honored in what you are praying for.

The simplest way to do this two-step process on Facebook is going through your Friends list. There you will find your friends’ name with no other major descriptor. Start from the top and work yourself to the bottom. If your Friends are too many, split the chore into scrolls. Do a couple full-page scrolls or a set amount of time per day, keeping note of where you left off on the list. Don’t be an overachiever; don’t bite off more than you can chew—lest you will start hating this prayer method in no time!

Another way to pray for others on Facebook is going through your Home. Using this source has its pros and cons. An advantage is that you can get a fuller picture of what your friends are thinking, enjoying, suffering, etc. This is very useful information for your intercession. Two disadvantages are that it can distract you with an overload of articles, pictures, videos, memes, and so on; and that you only will be praying for those friends that the Facebook algorithms decide to bring up on your Home. 

A third way to pray is by going through your Groups. Try using Groups with whom you identify the most. You might not know everyone on some groups, so feel free to skip to those you know. 

Why is intercessory prayer important? It gives us a stronger sense of humility and selflessness, which are a joint path to godly love for others; it makes us thankful and more attuned to others’ lives in a wholesome way; it helps us feel less awkward about contacting or being contacted by that long-lost friend or acquaintance who, for some reason, has managed to stay on our Friends list; it helps us be more appreciative of God’s work in this world, learning to trust him, and seeing how he answers our prayers throughout time. 

While this is not an exhaustive or numerus clausus way to intercessory prayer, it is a simple and easy way to approach the throne of God for others. Try other ways to use your social media to develop a stronger prayer life. Feel free to share your tips below! 

My big request for you is not to get overly religious, zealous, legalistic, or otherwise strict with your prayer method. At the end of the day, what God wants is a heart willing to rely on Him, expressing itself through honest conversation. There is no set formula here, folks! Feel free to talk to God like you are talking to any good friend.  

Authorship - Autoría

The contents of this web log (blog) were authored by Inti Jordán Martínez Alemán, unless noted otherwise or that it is obvious that it belongs to a publicly recognized entity of any kind. 

Todo el contenido de este blog es de la autoría de Inti Jordán Martínez Alemán, salvo indicado contrariamente o que sea obvio que pertenezca a una entidad públicamente reconocida, de cualquier tipo.

Copyright - Derechos

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Living it the Best way I possibly can... by Inti Jordán Martínez Alemán is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at intimaralem85.blogspot.com.