Praying For You

I have heard unbelievers say they are offended when Christians say they are praying for them. I don’t think they truly understand what Christians mean when we offer to pray for them. It makes me sad to hear that some people don’t want us to pray for them. Hopefully this will help those who feel offended by prayer understand the love that we mean to share by offering to pray for people in our lives.

There is so much thought behind a Christian offering to pray for someone else. When we offer to pray for someone, it is our way of showing that we care about them. We are letting them know that we are going to think about them throughout the day and it is our way of being empathetic. As Christians, we would want someone to pray for us, so we offer to pray for the people around us. We even pray for complete strangers because we care about them. 

Prayer is a conversation with God. When we have a relationship with Him, we talk to Him about everything. We are not only supposed to pray about our requests but we are supposed to also thank God for all the blessings He has provided for us. This can be a challenge to remember at times but God tells us, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God” (‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:6‬).

We are to pray in every situation. When we offer to pray for someone, we do not at all mean to be offensive. We pray for all people in all stages of life. We are not implying that something is wrong with someone when we offer to pray for them. In fact, we could be thanking God for them and the blessings He has provided them. 

As Christians, we believe in an all-powerful God who is truly capable of anything. We pray to Him and trust that He always listens to us. He may not always answer in the way that we want Him to, but He does always listen. We trust that He knows way better than we do and His decisions are always best.

When someone prays for you, that doesn’t mean that your situation will end up the way they prayed for it to happen. God always answers our prayers but sometimes His plan is different from our plan. When someone prays for you, you can be confident that God heard their prayer and that He is with you as you go through life. The same is true when you pray to God for yourself. God will always hear you. It is very comforting to trust that His plan will work out better than any plan we have for ourselves. 

Prayer is a wonderful way God has given us to communicate with Him. It is something Christians do every day and we do not only pray when something is wrong. We show our love for others by offering to pray for them. Instead of being offended when a Christian offers to pray for you, I hope that you feel loved.