Can I Pray For You?

As we waited for our turn to walk up to the altar for communion, she leaned over and whispered a question in my ear. “Mommy, can we go over there and pray?” She pointed at one of the prayer partners who are stationed around the church to pray with you after communion. I asked, “what do you want to pray about?” “To not be so afraid,” she answered. I held her close, kissed her head and said, “of course, we’ll go over and pray.”

This tender-hearted one had been struggling with nightmares and fears of ‘bad guys’. Maybe her young ears had heard too much of the news, maybe my safety lessons had been a little too blatant, or maybe just the natural fears we get as we begin to grow up. This can be a scary world, filled with bad guys, death, illness, and more. The world around us too often resembles our nightmares.

So, how do we find calm and strength in such a world? How do we find peace amid the turmoil, joy amid tragedies, love amid so much hatred and vitriol, hope amid the seeming darkness of this world?

God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing.” ~C.S. Lewis

I held her hand as we walked over to the prayer partner and asked for prayers for strength to not be so afraid. The prayer partner reached out for my daughter’s hands and I laid my hands on her shoulders. As she prayed, I felt my daughter’s shoulders begin to relax. She leaned in and listened to the prayer, hanging on every word. I could see a weight lifted off her shoulders as we walked back to our seat.

What a gift it is to pray for someone, but something even more precious to pray with someone.

I pray often for my daughter to conquer her fears and have strength when she’s afraid. I could have sent out a prayer request to my friends to ask them to pray for her. Those are both great ways to pray – and we need people praying for us, even when we don’t know they’re doing it. Yet, how extra special it is to have someone pray with you.

For the receiver, it’s an opportunity to enter into sacred space and be filled. It’s an opportunity to hear words prayed that you may not have chosen on your own, but often are just what you heart needs to hear. It’s an opportunity to be still and listen for God’s response through the prayer.

For the giver, it’s an opportunity to step into someone’s world and be a blessing. It may be an uncomfortable step to initiate the prayer, to pray aloud, or to pray for something you don’t know all the details. So, it’s also an opportunity to call on the Holy Spirit to bring the right words to you, to hear the prayer and the unspoken words of the other person, and to powerfully work through you both.

How will you bless someone with prayer this week?

Who can you pray for? Who can you pray with? I’ll admit, it’s not in my comfort zone to ask for prayer or to initiate prayer with someone else, yet I’ve experienced just how powerful this kind of prayer is and I want to challenge myself to step into it more.

Look for an opportunity to pray one-on-one with someone right there in the moment. Trust the Holy Spirit and call on him to lead you and give you words. Start with the words, “Can I pray for you?” and then pray right then and there.

Resources:

If you want to learn more about God’s gift of prayer and how to use it in your daily life, “Pray Deep: Ignite Your Prayer Life in 21 Days” is a great resource. This 21 day devotional guide to prayer will lead you through nearly 20 different ways to pray and explore the very nature of prayer. Commit to exploring God’s gift of prayer for 21 days and see how God can ignite your faith, whether you’re just getting started or a veteran prayer warrior looking for a fresh spark. Check out other journals in the Pray Deep series, too!

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