In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. – Romans 8:26
Prayer…it’s something Christians do every day. Sometimes it is only once per day and sometimes it is multiple times during the day. No matter how many times you pray each day, you should always make sure each one is beneficial.
Praying for situations and others benefits us and those we are praying for. Well…it should.
As humans our own thoughts and desires can interfere in how and what we are praying for. Prayer requests from others help us to know what to pray for but what if we want to pray for others but receive no specific request or we feel the need to do so because of internal prompting.
You may look at someone and think I need to pray for or with that person but what are your reasons for doing so? Do you see a real need or a perceived need? Are you looking at that person with your own eyes or with God’s eyes.
If you are praying for someone because you think they need something or to be someone you think they should be without asking them first, then you should look at your motives. Assuming a person needs prayer in one way is a good thing, but it can also be a bad thing. For example, if you all know about someone is what you see of them at church and you pray for them based on this assumption, is the prayer worthy or useless?
Useless prayer doesn’t benefit the person we are praying for, it benefits us. We want to see others pray, worship, praise and interact with others in the same way we do. If we think that they don’t measure up to our standard, we pray that they do but disguise it in a way we make ourselves think that this is what they need. Praying for what we think someone needs isn’t the same as praying for what they do need.
When you feel the need to pray for someone, you should first go and find out if it is correct. Take the time to know if you are praying for the right thing. God doesn’t want us to pray useless prayers, He wants us to pray useful prayers. It’s no use praying for someone to be more like you in their faith or for things they don’t really want. Praying based on our own assumptions and wishful thinking never works out.
The next time you feel the need to pray for someone and it is based on what you think they need…think again. Only God knows what each and every one of us truly needs, so just pray that God will take care of their needs whatever they may be. A prayer about someone’s needs, even if we don’t know what they are, is far more useful than praying a useless prayer about needs we have own thoughts about.
Originally published June 2019