Called To Intercede?
I have heard it said a handful of times from the pulpit that there is no such thing as a calling of an intercessor. If you are in an Apostolic church, you can be called to one of five things: Pastor, Prophet, Teacher, Evangelist or even an Apostle. If you are Catholic, and you feel called by God, you have an entirely different set of offices: Priest, Nun, Monk, Cantor etc... If you are in a Baptist church, it may seem even more limiting (especially if you are a woman!) and you may have to choose between being a pastor or an evangelist. But called to pray for people, what good is that? No wonder why preachers discourage saints to claim to be called as an intercessor, because they do not appear to do anything for the church. Church folks sometimes look down on those who spend so much time praying, as if its an excuse to not serve someone's ministry. Even though prayer has been used as an excuse to avoid action, I believe there are sincere believers that are really called to a life of prayer. A live devoted to prayer is not an idle life. In fact, when God calls someone to prayer, God is doing it so prayers can be answered. When prayer is God's idea, stuff happens, amazing stuff: supernatural power and beyond-human loving.
Having been in a lot of different spiritual "streams" of the faith since the mid-1990's, I have met some really strange people in cutting edge churches. I mean strange. See, when God gives someone a gift and calling to pray, there should be elements of the prophetic and the supernatural. Someone who touches heaven on a regular basis should not behave like people of Earth. Its OK to be strange when you bring the Divine to the needy. If a woman or a man gets prayers answered for others its OK if they are loud and twitch like having a tick. If a believer is a sincere devoted lover of people, its fine with me if they want to lie on their face or wave their hands before God. I don't care if something looks weird. Just as long as its real.
