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The issue to which I shall speak is the third I specifically mentioned: What is the point of intercessonj intercessory prayer? The issue of the point of prayer is probably most commonly raised when persons ask, Does prayer work? and, in the case of intercessoT'j intercessory prayer, Does petitioning God on behalf of others work? The answer the questioner confesses to having been taught – along, I suspect, with many of the rest of us – was, "Yes, intercessory prayer works if you have enough faith and keep on praying." But wherein, exactly does the working of prayer consist? Supposing that, if one has enough faith, one's prayers for others will work, what would be the evidence that, in point of fact, one has had enough faith and that one's intercessory prayers have worked? Would the evidence be that the others for whom one had prayed actually received what one had asked for on their behalf? And is this why, when "nothing happens," as the questioner puts it, it seems that one's incessant intercessory prayers haven't worked and are therefore pointless and/or just a magical incantation?

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