Should we ask the saints in heaven to pray for us?
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INTERCESSORY PRAYER
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People often say to me that they don't need an intercessor, they go straight to God. I respond; "That is a shame because they can never ask anyone to pray for them"!
St. Paul a very devout man had no problem asking for prayer, if it is a mistake to ask someone to pray for you or a sign of an immature Christian, then St. Paul had a real problem! He was famous in asking for prayer: Ephesians 6:18) "Pray at all times in the Spirit, ... making supplication for all the saints, and also for me,..." (Colossians 4:2-3) "Continue steadfastly in prayer, ... pray for us also,..." He also asked prayers for others; (1 Timothy 2:1-2) " ... I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving's be made for all men,...". We see how it is good and holy to ask someone to intercede for us to God, now let us cover another point.
Some would point out that Mary and the saints are dead. Why would anyone want to go to a dead person for intercessory prayer!
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SCRIPTURE SAYS:
Basically scripture says the only dead people are those who have never heard of God and those who have heard of God/Jesus and rejected Him! (1 Peter 4:6) "For this is why the gospel was preached even to the dead, that though judged in the flesh like men, they might live in the spirit like God.". (Ephesians 2:5) " ... even when we were dead through our trespasses,... ". By the same token scripture says those who know God/Jesus never die! (Luke 20:38) "... and He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for to Him all are alive." (John 6:58) "... he who eats this bread will live forever.". (John 8:52) "If anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.".
John 11:25 Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
Do you believe this?
Then our opposition might be willing to admit that intercessory prayer is permissible, and that the people in heaven are indeed alive, but they have no idea what is going on here on earth! So, why on earth would they intercede for us? This seems like a reasonable question, but like all the other objections I think can be easily answered. (Luke 16:19-30) In the story of the rich man and Lazarus, we see in verses 27 & 28, that the rich man is very much aware of his brothers on earth and is interceding on their behalf. "... Then I beg you father to send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.". (Revelations 5:8) "And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and with golden bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the saints; ...". We can see by this verse that those in heaven are interceding for the saints on earth- they offer our prayers to Jesus in the form of incense! This is one reason why we use incense!
We see here that it is scriptural to ask the saints in heaven to intercede for us! In (1 Kings 2:19) we see King Solomon's mother Bathsheba speaking to the King on behalf of someone!
In this verse King Solomon sets up a throne for his mother on his right hand, and he bows to her!
How appropriate it is for the Blessed Mother to speak on our behalf to her son the King of Kings!
V e r s e b y V e r s e - Departed Christians and Old Testament saints are really alive, not merely asleep in the grave as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists, and some others wrongly assume.