I had every intention of praying for her, believe me, but somewhere along the busyness of my day, I simply forgot. It wasn't until I saw her again that I remembered I had forgotten to do something I had promised to do.
I lied. And of all things, I lied about something sacred and holy. My heart sunk, and from this post, I'm sure you can tell I have been very convicted about my sin.
I feel like this is something we do often as Christians. By no means do I think that any of us intentionally lie about praying for others, but I do think that we toss around the phrase "I'm praying for you." as if it's something we take lightly, which is why I'm writing this post.
Prayer is far from something that we can just take lightly. I read a quote on the National Day of Prayer website that says the following, "Prayer has subdued the strength of fire. It has bridled the rage of lions, hushed anarchy to rest, extinguished wars, appeased the elements, burst the chains of death, expanded the fates of heaven, assuaged diseases, dispelled frauds, rescued cities from destruction, staid the sun in its course, and arrested the progress of the thunderbolt. In this communion with God, there is an all-sufficient panoply, a treasure undiminished, a mine that is never exhausted, a sky unobscured by clouds, a heaven unruffled by the storm. It is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings!" And to think, we take something that powerful, that beautiful, and that astounding and simply just forget to do it, even when we promise others that we will.
Honestly, I don't really have a "solution" for the problem, we are all forgetful beings and sometimes we don't really think about our words and our actions very thoroughly. But I have definitely been taking steps towards staying accountable in my prayer walk, which I wanted to share with you guys!
- When someone asks you to pray for them (especially in person) just pray for them right then and there. It's so encouraging knowing someone is praying for you, so why not lift them up in the moment by praying over them while they're there?
- Be honest with people. Sounds simple, right? But really, only take on the responsibility of praying for someone if you know that you can handle it. Don't promise more than you can or will do.
- Write prayer requests down! I don't always have pen and paper with me, but I generally always have my phone. (I finally found a use for the Notes app!) Then just simply go to your notes daily and get a quick refresher on those prayer requests of the day!
- Focus more on your own personal prayer and quiet time. Take time out of your day to be diligent and focused on The Lord, and start to ask Him to remind you to pray for those that you say you will be praying for.
Prayer has become something that we offer rather than we do. And today by writing this post, I just wanted to challenge you to take the same steps I have been taking towards being more accountable in your prayer walk. Let's stop with the empty statement "I will pray for you." and start taking the responsibility of following through with what we say we will do.
