The Blessing of Prayer

Lord, thank you for today. Bless this day for us.
Be with the kids, let them not fight or cry a lot today.
I pray that my husband’s work won’t cause him to stay late in office today.
Keep us all in good health. Use us for your glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen!

A year ago, that would have been my typical prayer on any given day. My prayers revolved around me, my husband, our kids, our problems and our plans. Sure, we would occasionally pray specifically for someone who requested our prayers – but I’m ashamed to say, it wasn’t a regular happening in our home.

In the beginning of June 2011 however, God reminded me to start praying for others on a regular basis. I made a list (of course!) – the first half of it contained specific prayer points pertaining to our own family. The latter half was a list of our extended family members and friends who had specific prayer needs.

I started replaying the list in my mind during my regular prayer time or when I walked to pick the kids up from school. Over the months, I found myself crossing several prayer requests off the list; marking them YAAP (Yet Another Answered Prayer) and adding new prayer requests in their stead.

It took me a while to realize that praying for others was more a blessing for me, than it was for the people I was actually praying for. Doesn’t the Bible say “It is more blessed to give than to receive” (Acts 20:35)?

When I prayed for someone else, God taught me to empathize with them. He taught me to pray with love and compassion. And as the number of YAAPs increased on my list, so did my faith.

Sick grandparents were healed.
A mother grieving the loss of her son was comforted.
Pregnancies resulted in healthy babies.
Surgeries were successful.
A baby struggling to breathe was healed.

The baby I mentioned was from our church. This was his second stint in intensive care and his parents had been through a lot. The entire church was praying for him. God didn’t “need” my prayer to heal him. But He wanted me to pray so that I may be blessed, just by praying for that sweet child. And I was!

I don’t want to give you the impression that every item on my prayer list has been crossed off. Nope! There are some people/situations I am still praying for, over the past 9 months. I believe in God’s time, in His own way, according to His will – He will bring it to pass someday. Until then, I will pray.

I urge you to start praying for someone else’s needs today – you will be blessed. Here are some pointers…

• Start with just one other person – ask them if you can pray for something in specific.
• Make a prayer list with specific prayer requests.
• Memorize the list or carry it with you, so you can pray over it anytime, anywhere.
• For each item on the list, take a few moments to actually pray for specific details related to that prayer request.
• Take your time and don’t rush through the list.
• When the prayer is answered, cross it off; but keep the original list. Crossed off prayer requests are great faith boosters.
• The next time someone asks you to pray for something in particular, make sure you add it to the list before it slips your mind.

Are you praying for someone else today? If you have a specific prayer request, I would like to pray for you. Feel free to leave your prayer request in the comments below, or e-mail me at sheensteve@gmail.com. It would be a blessing to pray for you. Enjoy your weekend, people!