Praying for friends is an important part of being a Christian woman. I have not always been very good at keeping up with this unless there was a big crisis in their lives. But what about praying for their weekly struggles or the day to day grief?
This year I started a special prayer time for my closest friends. It seemed that these friendships were drifting. One moved away, one is often flying off to take care of her parents and the other has a very busy household raising several kids. How do we keep up with these friendships as the years go on and we all seem to be carrying different responsibilities? My thought was: “If I knew what they were praying for, then I could join them in their prayers.” I could pray with them!
Time seems to slip away from us, right? We forget to check in with each other. So I set an alarm with the sound Ripples at 10:30 every Friday morning. It says: “Pray for Friends” on it. I homeschool my daughter. She is usually doing math at 10:30 on Fridays, so I sit there with my phone and check in with these three friends and my mother while she works on her math assignment.
To each of my friends I text something like this: “What are you praying about this week? How can I be praying for you? I would love to agree with you in prayer before our very loving and powerful God.”
When I get the text messages back, I sit there and pray for each request. Then I text a reply saying I have prayed and and I write a few short words of encouragement. And guess what? They do the same for me! Now I don’t feel as disconnected from them. I know exactly what’s on their heart and they know what’s on my heart too.
Praying for friends suggestions:
- Keep the list small. Of Jesus’ 12 disciples he had 3 close friends. It’s super hard to keep up with 12 friends at this level of closeness. If the list is too big, then it will be overwhelming and you probably won’t keep the weekly prayer commitment.
- Set a time. When do you have a 15 minute window of time you can commit to prayer? Consider setting a reminder on your phone or an alarm to remind you keep to your commitment.
- Don’t fix, pray. When you receive what they are praying about, spend that time to pray. This is not the time to fix or try to help your friend. If she wanted your help or opinion she would have sent a text to you about it already. These are her prayers, so honor her by praying them as well.
“If two of you agree here on earth concerning anything you ask,
my Father in heaven will do it for you.
For where two or three gather together as my followers,
I am there among them.”
Sometimes we can’t be together geographically. Since one of my friends moved, I really miss the times we were able to hang out at the park with friends catching up on life while our kids played. But life just isn’t like that any longer. Each of us is in a new season. Life has led us in very separate directions. But we can make time to hear each other’s heart cry and our prayers can link us together. There is no distance in prayer. And I believe this is a holy moment where Jesus is right there with us. He is praying too.
Here at My Heart’s Cry you hear a lot of “everyday prayers.” In fact, that’s our tagline. But as I sought the Lord for this closing paragraph on “Praying for Friends,” I have the sense that He just wants to hear from you. Maybe your first step is to say hi and tell Him about your week. So start there. Find a quiet moment today and start to pray. It may feel a little awkward at first but it’s important to start. Connect with God first, for yourself. Then pray for your friends. Prayer will keep you connected. I will be praying that you have courage.
Reach out today and love your friends by praying for them. -Kim
Matthew 18:19-20 NLT