The Who of Prayer: Praying for Other People

Generally, our prayers include prayers for people who are not with us while we pray. How often do we include our family members, friends, neighbors, and other people in our prayers? And I suspect that we pray more for them when they cannot hear us because we tend to be self-conscious about prayer.

"I'm praying for you" might be one of the most grace-filled statements in the English language. It is an intimate wish of well-being which we can offer each other, the idea that we think of someone else during our personal moments with God. And even when the people we pray for do not hear our prayers for them, our prayer creates a bond between them and us.

We cannot fully comprehend the power of these prayers. Sometimes it appears that God answers them favorably -- people who were sick recover, sometimes from terrible illnesses; sometimes we see little effect to our prayers when God does not act as we hoped. But much as we can be drawn together through acts of worship, I believe that we are brought closer together when we pray for each other, even though it is difficult to explain how.

Today's Prayer Prompt: Pray for someone else today. Write that person a note or call them and tell them you prayed for them.