Why did God reveal his glory in a manger of all places? Imagine you visit one of your friends who’s recently had a baby. You walk in and immediately see their newborn baby all swaddled up and laying in a dog food bowl. You would be dumbfounded and may even quickly leave to called the Department of Child Services.
Just as gross as a dog bowl is, it would be even worse conditions inside of a manger, the feeding trough of farm animals. Isn’t this so odd that God would choose a manger in which to be born? Yet it’s not odd when you look at the God of the Bible who wants to be Emmanuel, meaning ‘God with us.’ He is not far off and wants to be down among us. When Jesus washes the dirt and manure off of his disciples feet, Peter protests knowing that the Master should never bend lower than the apprentice/disciple. Jesus firmly corrects Peter telling him that he cannot be his disciple unless he allows him to touch and wash away his mess, and that in turn, he should do the same to others.
Jesus also touches those with leprosy, a dangerous skin disease that could kill a person. The lepers had to life outside of the city abandoned by family and friends, and so when Christ healed them, he not only gave them their health back but also their lives back!
St. Irenaeus, a church father, states that Jesus took on our fallen nature (our existential mess), and he healed it at each stage of human development. From childhood to the messy teenage years to the hardworking adult years to the point of being a dying man, Jesus transformed the human experience forever. By His grace, we can now walk the same path that he has trail-blazed for us 2,000 years ago, but most of us are too afraid to. We are not ready for Jesus to see the mess we have made of our lives.
Hiding Our Mess& Sin Management: Most have a room where we hide all of our junk when guests stop on over. We entertain in the living room, have a great meal in the dining room, but we darken the hallway and lock the door to our ‘junk room’ so our guests do not dream of going in there. We also do this with God. We may reveal 80% to 90% of our hearts to God on a good day, but hide back a part of ourselves in prayer. “God don’t go in that room! That is my messy room.” Yet, God wants to cleanse and renovate every single room and even square inch of the house.
Instead of giving God everything, we can get caught up into detrimental religious experience called “sin management” coined by spiritual writer, Dallas Willard. Instead of looking for a whole new renovated life in Christ, we settle for a joyless existence of just trying to take out the garbage (i.e. get rid of our sins). Though ridding of our life of sin is wonderful and liberating, it does us no good unless we replace sinful living with godly living or ‘Jesus-styled-living.’ Jesus states that if he casts out one evil spirit from, 7 more demons are ready to take its place if we do not fill our lives with the Holy Spirit. How do we do this? Jesus says, “Pick up your cross and follow me daily.” In other words, execute your selfishness everyday, pray to be filled with God’s presence and plans for your life instead, be obedient to his teachings by being fueled by His grace, and most importantly, go into other people’s messes and help them see the radical grace and forgiveness of Christ has for them. After you have spent time with the Lord of lepers, invite others to come and know Jesus who is not afraid of their spiritual illness.
Remember, no matter how deep and dark your heart has become, Christ wants to come into your mess, turn on the lights, and do a master renovation for the world to see!
” They will see the glory of the LORD, the splendor of our God. Strengthen the hands that are feeble, make firm the knees that are weak, Say to those whose hearts are frightened: Be strong, fear not! Here is your God…”
Feeling distant from God? Here are three barriers that can separate us from experiencing God’s presence and how to overcome them.
1) Sin is an obvious barrier between us and God, because it is ultimately disharmony between our will with God’s will. Sin leads to guilt and shame. The solution? We need to bring our darkness into the light by confessing to close friends. If you are an Orthodox or Catholic Christian, we present these sinful habits in the rite of confession with our spiritual father/priest and experience God’s healing in this worshipful experience. Many people are fooled into thinking that confession creates shame when the reality is that Christ gave the ministry of reconciliation and the rite of confession to the Church as a way to REMOVE SHAME AND FREE US FROM THE BURDEN OF SIN. (Christ equips the Apostles and their successors, the bishops and presbyters, with the grace to forgive sins in His name- John 20:22-23 “And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven”).
2) Distractions are one of the biggest barriers to feeling God’s presence. There is so much noise in our world. Even during those rare moments of silence, we turn on our favorite songs to fill the airwaves. The sights and sounds of the screens all around us can overwhelm our ability to hear the still small voice of God. The solution? Embrace silence and find intentional times to be prayerfully silent with scripture, in a prayer corner at home, in church, or on a walk. I often will take a short 5 minute walk and pray the Jesus prayer on a prayer rope which is an ancient practice of Christians. Meditating on the name of Jesus throughout the day is a great way to overcome distractions and will fill our minds with Him Who desires to be ever present with us.
3) God-given responsibility is the last barrier. This is a bit ironic, but it is quite common. We are often fooled into thinking that we need to carry out our roles and responsibilities (such as parent/co-worker) without the continual help of God and His power/energy working through us. We try to do everything on our own, and so often we can feel an immense burden that brings about worldly anxiety and sorrow instead of God’s peace and joy. The solution? Unite your will with God’s will in all things by uniting dishwashing, cooking, cleaning, teaching, writing, driving, speaking, serving, lifting boxes, and even holding meetings with prayer. Ask God to make all of your work holy and pleasing to Him. Rely on God’s energy instead of your own. The Apostle Paul clearly stated that his fast-paced ministry from city to city was fueled by God’s energy: “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (Colossians 1:29 ESV). Also, whenever any task is done with great love, feeling that love is feeling God’s presence. This is most obvious with children. When we tirelessly parent our children, take a moment to feel your love for them and realize that God feels that way about you. This will bring God’s presence closer to you.
Lastly, even if you still feel like you are in a dark place and cannot feel God’s presence, know that He is still there whether your emotions acknowledge Him or not. Many of the greatest saints and heroes of the faith could not feel God’s closeness like they did during the earlier parts of their ministries. Even though this was a challenge for them, they continued to stay united and obedient to our Lord despite their emotions and feelings, because they knew God was the source and energy of any good that they did. 1 John 3:24 says it well: “All who keep his commandments abide in him, and he in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he has given us.” This truth reminds us that keeping God’s commands to love will keep us connected to the Holy Spirit.”
Though our culture often thinks of Christmas as mostly a nostalgic time of the year with family gathered around a tree, the reality is that the first Christmas was a mega event in world history that had rippling effects up to the present moment. Though our society may think of the nativity scene primarily as a fragile little set of figurines that grandma gets out once a year, the first Nativity was anything but a ‘fragile’ or insignificant event. The reality is that the first Nativity was a larger cosmic event than the big bang that began in the universe. How can this be?
In the big bang, God spoke and swirling galaxies were formed, complex life species of all varieties rose up, and lastly, the Creator infused His own divine breath and energy into human life. In the Nativity, something greater happened. The Creator spoke, and God bound Himself to humanity (in the hypostatic union) forever in Christ Jesus.
In an age of anxiety, animosity and darkness, we need to know and experience that ancient Light that still visits us from that first Nativity. In a world that feels more and more void of meaning, we need to experience the deepest meaning that holds all things together, that holds us together. This advent, join me, Kyle King, for daily reflections on why Christmas means more than a little visit to your family or church service but instead as cosmic implications for everything you experience and encounter in this life. You may find these videos on all of Barrel Aged Faith social media accounts (YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc.) You can find all advent videos here: https://youtu.be/50ukJIKQMEY
Claim against Catholic Teaching: The Catholic Church does not believe in the Priesthood of All Believers as taught by the Bible and instead have created a class of priests who are set apart from everyone else which goes against the teaching of the New Testament.
Growing up priests were not something we had at our church, and the only image I had of priests came from the movies, which generally were negative, corrupt depictions. Combine that negative backdrop with an elementary understanding of church history and the Protestant Reformation, when all Christians were ‘freed’ from the Roman priesthood, and my chances of ever imagining a ‘priest’ in a favorable light were not good.
In general, Evangelical Christians are uncomfortable calling anyone a priest besides Jesus (Hebrews 4:14-15). The line of thinking goes–“All believers now have direct access to God, because Jesus paved the way into the Holy of Holies (God’s Dwelling Place), which was revealed when the temple curtain (blocking the way) was torn in two at the hour of his death (Mt 27:51). The Old Testament priesthood ended with Jesus, and now we can all directly approach the throne of grace by His authority (Heb 4:16), which in turns makes us all his priests, not just a select few (1 Peter 2:9). To think of an ordained priesthood operating today apart from all Christians is, for most evangelicals, the equivalent of saying that “the way is blocked again to God,” and is deemed an unacceptable and un-Biblical position.
So why then do Catholics have priests?
I was surprised to find that there was much confusion around this topic, which primarily comes from issues in translating the Bible into modern languages today and throughout history. The word ‘priest’ actually cannot be found in the Bible. It is not an ancient word and therefore it is not found in the original languages of the Bible. What we find in the New Testament are two Greek words that we have historically translated as ‘priest’ which are presbyter and hieros.
“What we find in the New Testament are two Greek words that we have historically translated as ‘priest’ which are presbyter and hieros.”
The word, ‘presbyter,’ often translated into English as the word, ‘elder,’ is mentioned in the New Testament 19 times for the title or office of a Christian minister. In contrast, the word, “pastor,” the most preferred title for evangelicals for their Christian minister, is mentioned only once (Eph 4:11). “Presbyter” appears to be the preferred term for a Christian leader who is charged with leading, overseeing, and administering a church in a city, and this can be seen particularly clear when the apostle Paul goes from city to city appointing presbyters in Acts 14:23 for the churches. Toward the end of his life, Paul gives this task of ‘appointing presbyters’ to Titus and Timothy as a way of showing that he wanted this process to continue. As he writes, “This is why I left you in Crete, that you might amend what was defective, and appoint presbyters in every town as I directed you” (Titus 1:5).
So why don’t Catholics simply call their leaders presbyters instead of priests?
Surprisingly, they do and always have! To this day, in the the historical languages (Greek, Latin) of the Catholic Church, these leaders are still called ‘presbyters.’ Interestingly, the word ‘priest’ never existed until other cultures began translating the word presbyter into their own language. For example, the Germans began using a shorter version of the wordpresbyteros and called their Catholic leaders by the word, preost, and the English translated the same word into priest. Therefore, whenever a church refers to their leader as priest, they are simply saying the English version of the word presbyter!
“Whenever a church refers to their leader as priest, they are simply saying the English version of the word presbyter!”
But what about this other word for priest, hieros? In the New Testament, hieros was not used to describe an office of oversight in the church like the word presbyteros, but instead referred generally to the Old Testament priesthood. A hieros was one who managed the Temple and offered sacrifices to God. This same word also is applied to Jesus the High Priest (hieros) who offered his own life as a holy sacrifice for the entire world and to the Church when is referred to collectively as a “kingdom of priests.”
Therefore, we can conclude that the Catholic Church does teach in harmony with the scriptures that every believer is a heiros. However, the Catholic Church, like other churches, teaches that there is no “Presybtery of all Believers.” There really are appointed and anointed leaders in the New Testament Church that doesn’t include everyone. In other words, “All believers have direct access to God through their Mediator, Jesus Christ, but not all believers have the God-given authority and gifting to oversee local churches.” This is the difference between these two words.
[As a side note, I think scholars who spend time translating the Bible should find a new word for hieros. This would prevent general confusion in the way we communicate between churches and in the world of Biblical scholarship. My preference is to simply call them ‘the hieros.’ To continue to use the word ‘priest’ for the Old Testament Levitical order is to take away its historical origins in the word ‘presbyter.’]
After learning about this “translation issue,” what originally appeared to be a problem for me within Catholicism now became a shining example of the Biblical model of church leadership being maintained for 2,000 years. The startling part to all of this is that one of the main battle cries of the Protestant Reformation from 500 years ago, “the Priesthood of All Believers,” was generally based off of misunderstandings and translation issues.
ORTHODOX, ANGLICAN, AND CATHOLIC CHURCHES EXPLAIN WHY THEY STILL USE THE WORD ‘PRIEST’
Eastern Orthodox Church: “The Orthodox Church often refers to presbyters in English as priests (priest is etymologically derived from the Greek presbyteros via the Latin presbyter). This usage is seen by some Protestant Christians as stripping the laity of its rightful priestly status, while those who use the term defend its usage by saying that, while they do believe in the priesthood of all believers, they do not believe in the eldership of all believers.” https://orthodoxwiki.org/Presbyter
Anglican Church (Episcopalian Church):“The English word “priest” is derived from “presbyter,” and used as a synonym for presbyter. After the Reformation, some churches began to use the term “presbyter” for the minister who preaches the word and administers the sacraments. The Anglican Church used the term “priest…” The 1979 BCP uses both terms. For example, directions for the Ordination of a Priest require that “at least two presbyters must be present” (p. 524). The Catechism notes that “the ministry of a priest or presbyter” is “to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as pastor to the people; to share with the bishop in the overseeing of the Church; to proclaim the gospel; to administer the sacraments; and to bless and declare pardon in the name of God” (BCP, p. 856). Some have favored use of “presbyter” because of historic association of the term “priest” with a narrow eucharistic piety, or with OT sacrifice. The term has also been favored in ecumenical discussions. The priests of a diocese or their meetings may be referred to as a “College of Presbyters.”https://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/glossary/presbyter-presbyterate
Catholic Church: “The English word “priest” is derived from the Greek word presbuteros, which is commonly rendered into Bible English as “elder” or “presbyter.” The ministry of Catholic priests is that of the presbyters mentioned in the New Testament (Acts 15:6, 23). The Bible says little about the duties of presbyters, but it does reveal they functioned in a priestly capacity. They were ordained by the laying on of hands (1 Tm 4:14, 5:22), they preached and taught the flock (1 Tm 5:17), and they administered sacraments (Jas 5:13-15). These are the essential functions of the priestly office, so wherever the various forms of presbuteros appear–except, of course, in instances which pertain to the Jewish elders (Mt 21:23, Acts 4:23)–the word may rightly be translated as “priest” instead of “elder” or “presbyter.” https://www.catholic.com/qa/where-in-the-new-testament-are-priests-mentioned
Meet Father Bryan, the Presbyter of St Athanasius Byzantine Catholic Church in Indianapolis, Indiana. Byzantine Catholics have historically used Greek throughout their history instead of Latin or English and therefore, still refer to their leaders as ‘Presbyters.’
A CLOSER LOOK: THE WORD ‘PRESBYTER’ IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
1. The Apostles appoint Presbyters/Priests for each of the churches in order to shepherd and pastor them.
Acts 14:23 When they (Paul and Barnabas) had appointed presbyters/priests for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
Acts 20:17; 28-31; From Miletus he sent to Ephesus and called to him the presbyters/priestsof the church. “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”
Titus 1:5 For this reason I left you in Crete, that you would set in order what remains and appoint presbyters/priestsin every city as I directed you,
1 Peter 5:1-4Therefore, I exhort thepresbyters/priestsamong you, as your fellow presbyter/priest and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you…
The Apostles and Presbyters/Priests attend the Council of Jerusalem and make authoritative decisions on behalf of the rest of the Church.
Acts 15:2; 4 And when Paul and Barnabas had great dissension and debate with them, the brethren determined that Paul and Barnabas and some others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and presbyters/priestsconcerning this issue. When they arrived at Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the presbyters/priests, and they reported all that God had done with them.
Acts 16:4 Now while they were passing through the cities, they were delivering the decrees which had been decided upon by the apostles and presbyters/priestswho were in Jerusalem, for them to observe.
The Members of the Church are called to fund the ministry of the Presbyters/Priests, submit and respect their authority (which came from the apostles who received their authority from Christ himself), and ask for their prayers of faith when they are sick or in sin.
1 Timothy 5:17-20 The presbyters/priestswho rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “YOU SHALL NOT MUZZLE THE OX WHILE HE IS THRESHING,” and “The laborer is worthy of his wages.” Do not receive an accusation against apresbyter/priestexcept on the basis of two or three witnesses.
James 5:14 Is anyone among you sick? Then he must call for the presbyters/priests of the church and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord;
A CLOSER LOOK: THE WORD ‘HIEROS’ IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
Jesus is our High Hieros (One who offers sacrifice) and the Church has become his kingdom of hieros to the world.
Hebrews 2:17 Therefore he [Jesus] had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high hieros in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.
1 Peter 2:9[Full Chapter] But you are a chosen race, a kingdom ofhieros, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
JUST A THOUGHT! Have you ever played the classic game of “Telephone” when one person starts with a phrase whispered into the ear of another and then down the line until something entirely different comes out with the last person? What starts out as “Johnny loves olives” may end up as “Johnny loves Olivia,” a fellow classmate of his, which causes the whole class to laugh and Johnny to blush. This game teaches us that a world of hurt (or embarrassment) can come from translation problems. This is what happened at the Protestant Reformation—both groups often were talking past each other using different terminologies and differing definitions for words. A world of hurt and division developed and Protestants and Catholics became more divided. It has taken time, but we are now closing the gap on some of these misunderstandings, and unity is again beginning to take shape.
Today, on November 29th, just days after that annual Thanksgiving Parade when we hear his nostalgic voice on television screens in living rooms across America, the news breaks that he has too fallen.
A Millennial Catholic Reflects on the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation
In 2012, I made the decision to become Catholic and in a sense, walk away from my previous understandings of Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation, which today, marks the 500th anniversary. This was a life changing decision for me. I do recall that when I was experiencing these sweeping changes in my life, I had the thought, “This is likely how Martin Luther felt when he was breaking away from the Catholic Church. He left people he loved and the church he loved, but his understanding of God and the church transformed to a point that a break in some sense came to be inevitable.” In my case though, I was doing the opposite as I went from Protestant to Catholic.
Originally, I wanted to write a reflection for today on the question “What does the Reformation mean for Catholics and Protestants in 2017?” I could dive in and talk about how in some sense “the Reformation is over” for many of us after the joint declaration on justification by Lutherans and Catholics in 1999 came about, which essentially stated that though each group is using different languages, in essence we agree on the root idea of justification. Wow! This was a gigantic moment in history as scholars and ministry leaders actually listened to each other in love and used Biblical language to unite their seemingly vast differences. I could also talk about how Catholics and Lutherans have also made large strides in our common understanding of Christ’s Real Presence in the Eucharist or Holy Communion. We believe he is actually spiritually and physically present though veiled to our eyes. I could also talk about how we no longer kill each other over religious or political matters, but how we now see a common mission to spread the Gospel throughout the earth and serve the least of these with heartfelt devotion to our Lord. However, after further reflection, I decided I wanted to take this post a different direction. I think a better question arose in me that I would like to try and answer, “Could I have been Luther in 1517?” Continue reading “Could I have been Luther?”
Question: One thing that I have often heard about Catholicism is that the Pope had the ability present Divine Revelations that would be acceptable on the level of scripture. Could you discuss some ways in which a Catholic perception of scripture and God’s word differs from Protestant view. Can you also tell us a bit about the 7 books of the Bible that are recognized by Catholicism but not but Protestant?
(Question submitted to Facebook via Drew, a fellow Youth Minister, and someone I respect tremendously for his devout faith to Christ.)
Thanks Drew for these great questions! Yes, let’s talk about the Bible, the book we love because it leads us to our Beloved. Let’s start with a great Catholic teacher from 1,600 years ago. St. Jerome once said, “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ.” Therefore, if you love Christ, you must learn the scriptures. The Catholic Church (which claims to have started with Jesus and the apostles) loves scripture, prays the scriptures, and has guarded the scriptures for 2,000 years. It was at the Council of Nicea that the Catholic Church compiled all of the first century Gospels and letters into our modern New Testament.
The Church Fathers, those earliest teachers and pastors that Catholics love, also loved the scriptures. They saturated themselves in scripture, and some of the earliest Church fathers even knew the apostles (Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp) or were mentored by someone who knew the apostles (Justin the Martyr, Ireneaus). Therefore, (in shocking news for the day), I believe
the Catholic Church is very Bible-centered in its beliefs and practices and has been the main guardian of the Bible historically speaking.
However, I do think we have some work to do in having more Bible studies in our parishes where our members are learning the Bible from the ground level. Evangelical churches are really terrific at this, and we have much to learn from them.
Question: Why are there different lists of Bible books which we call the canon of Scripture?
Thankfully, Protestant and Catholic Christians have the same New Testament, where we encounter Christ and the New Covenant given through his life, death and resurrection. In the Old Testament, we have the same Pentateuch, Psalms, and Prophets yet Protestant Bibles have less historical books and wisdom literature.
Submitted by Heather on Facebook: I would like to ask a question too please. I’ve always wanted to know why/how you use Hail Marys. It was once presented to me as a sort of repentance/payment for a sin. This sin=20 Hail Marys etc and it was assigned by the priest. Is this really true? I see the nuns on the Catholic channel being repetitive. Is it just a type of meditation? Or are the repetitions an assignment from the priest? Or both?
Thanks friend for your wonderful question! For this blog post, let’s focus on this main question: Why do Catholic Christians pray the ‘Hail Mary’ prayer?
(Picture above includes my Methodist Pastor friend and a dear mentor, Pastor Dave Scifres, performing a baptism.)
Submitted by a friend on Facebook. Could you explain the biblical basis for infant baptism? I’ve always wondered and have attended a few baptisms [at a Lutheran Church.] I was the most uncomfortable when the pastor (priest?) said that it is washing the child’s sins away (admittedly Lutheran, so maybe the Catholic take is different). I’m so curious and have always been afraid to ask, not wanting to sound insensitive.
Kyle’s Response: Thanks friend! This is a wonderful question. I grew up Baptist (perhaps like you?) and so was also uncomfortable with infant baptism. My journey toward eventually embracing the idea began by attending a Presbyterian youth group down the road (Christ Pres for us Christ United people). The Youth Minister at the time referenced infant baptism, and we had a great talk about it on the way back from a youth trip. To clarify, this is not strictly a Catholic-Protestant Conversation. Most of the faiths from the Reformation embraced infant baptism (Lutherans, Reformed, Presbyterians, Anglicans (Episcopalians), and we will add Methodists much later).
Today, many Christian denominations do not embrace the idea, most notably Baptists who were originally called Anabaptists which means “Baptized Twice.” Many of them had been baptized as infants, but they were baptized a second time wanting to express their faith at their own baptism. Other groups that embrace only adult baptism (or making the decision at the age of reason which could be at the age of 5,6, or 7) are most Pentecostals (Assemblies of God, Church of God, Vineyard) and other groups such as Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ, many non-denominational churches (which typically are rooted in the Pentecostal or Baptist tradition) such as Saddleback church with Rick Warren (Baptist).
Where in scripture is it permissible to request any other mediator besides Jesus Christ himself?Not Mary, not any disciple, no martyred hero can be our High Priest or speak on our behalf. Only Jesus Christ. I love you enough to ask you. Want you walking in full truth. We should not have such drastically different interpretations being there is ONE Lord, ONE Spirit of God, ONE faith. So there must be an absolute truth or standard to judge what is of God and is truth, and what is man made tradition (inspired by father of lies to confuse and handicap the body of believers) And that absolute truth is HIS LIVING WORD. So show me in His living word a scriptural evidence for praying to deceased, or asking deceased to mediate on our behalf.
My Response: Thanks friend for your great questions and key points. Yes, the Bible is the precious Word of God, and the Spirit continues to use the Sacred Scriptures to guide His people on earth. I believe you are asking more than one question, but I will try my best to respond with a short post. I also felt the same way that you do at a point in my life, but as I pursue knowledge of Scripture (its context, the Greek language, Jewish and early Christian belief during the time of Jesus and the apostles), my faith and understanding grow. Here is the key question: “Why ask for others (such as Christians who have died) to pray for us when Jesus is our One Mediator and High Priest?”
1) We ask for prayers from other Christians all of the time. “Hey mom, can you pray for me? Hey friend, my dad has cancer, can you pray for him that God might heal him?” In some sense, we can all be intercessors before God. This is the nature of intercessory prayer
Barrel Aged Faith 