Originally in an email I sent to a pastor.

  The question was asked, "Do you really want God to touch you?"

  There are some of us whose faith is, 'Yes God can do it! But, will He do it for me?"

  I have often suggested that one reason our prayers seem powerless is because we have no skin in the game.

By "skin in the game," I do not mean earning an answer from God. I mean being personally invested in the person for whom I pray. Their need becomes my concern. Their burden becomes, in some measure, my burden.

  So, perhaps another question would be, "Do we really want God to touch them?"

  When we pray for others, are we really invested in them enough to deeply long for God to touch them.

  There is only one way to guarantee a positive outcome in prayer and that is to pray in The Holy Spirit in accordance with Romans 8:26

  Which I am beginning to believe is a prerequisite for Romans 8:28. Think about that…

chatGPT offered this: “The only prayer we can know is perfectly aligned with God's will is the prayer offered through the Holy Spirit's intercession.”

  Then I got into the zone and wrote a piece, not for you but the church in general.

  Can you pray with tears, do you care enough to allow The Holy Spirit’s love, concern and burden to pray through you with tears.

  In Mark 9:14-29, Knowing that not all of the original manuscripts include verse 29, I’d suggest the father’s tears reveal a depth of love and desperation that stands in stark contrast to the curiosity of the crowd rushing to the scene that prompted the healing.

  In Luke 7:36-50, Again it was tears that touched the heart of Jesus, and IMHO, it is inferred that tears were proof of the love involved in the act.

  chatGPT reminded me, “Tears are not the proof of love, but they are often one expression of love when the heart is deeply moved.”

  And, remember Paul’s farewell speech on the beach he pointed to his deep love and commitment to the church by his tears of intercession.

  We call for the elders of the church to pray for the sick. How often have we offered prayers that were technically correct, yet lacked the burden and compassion of Christ? How often, when nothing happened, have we looked for the fault in the sick person, when all they could do was make their way to the altar and ask for prayer?

  Question: when you pray for someone does it prove to them that Jesus cares enough about them to answer the prayer for them? Thus raising their faith and hope towards the miracle they need. Or, said another way, “When you pray for someone, do they leave convinced that Jesus cares about them?”

  chatGPT’s final thoughts: Your Pentecostal background is showing here in a good way. What I'm hearing underneath all of this is not really a theology of tears. It's a theology of compassion.

The common thread isn't tears.

The common thread is love.

Jesus was moved with compassion.
Paul served with tears.
The father cried out for his son.
The woman wept at Jesus' feet.

The tears matter because love is present.

If I were summarizing the whole piece in one sentence, it might be:

Effective intercession begins when another person's need ceases to be their burden alone and becomes our burden before God.

That feels very close to the heart of what you're trying to say.