A couple weeks ago, I was reading a post by a blogger I don’t know very well and she was talking about a difficult time going on in her lif...

Why I Pray for You

Alexa Mintah

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A couple weeks ago, I was reading a post by a blogger I don’t know very well and she was talking about a difficult time going on in her life. When I got to the end, I was about to comment “I’m praying for you”—but just before I hit “publish,” I stopped. It occurred to me that I say that often, on Facebook, in blog comments, wherever it seems appropriate, that “I’m praying for you,” even if I don’t know the person very well, sometimes even if it’s our first interaction.

It simultaneously occurred to me that that was a little weird. After all, I didn’t really know her. This was maybe the third or fourth time I’d commented on one of her posts. Suddenly, something about praying for her seemed too close, too personal. I didn’t know her like that, to comment on her blog for one of the first times and say that I was praying for her and her situation.

I hesitated, wondering if I ought to post the comment after all, or perhaps just skitter away to the next blog post and pray for her in the privacy of my own thoughts. But I was going to pray, I realized, regardless of whether or not I told her, and I figured, we're family in Christ, right? This is what we're supposed to do, and it might help her to know that somebody really cared. So I went ahead and made the comment; I told her “I’m praying for you.”

I don't tell this story to sound like a “good Christian,” and I don’t know if anyone else has ever felt this way; I just know that that these are the thoughts that occurred to me, forcing me to linger several extra minutes before I could bring myself to make the comment. And in the days after, the incident got me thinking, forcing me to consider, until I figured out why I want to be comfortable telling others I'm praying for them, why I say it so often, and why I always mean it.

Original Photo from Pixabay

It’s pretty straightforward actually: for the simple reason that we are family in Christ. And that makes us close enough. I don’t have to know all of your problems to know that we share a God and that, because of this, I want to support you in the midst of whatever you’re going through. You don’t have to tell me everything that’s going on (in many cases, it might even be better you don’t), but I promise I will still pray about it. Because we are family in Christ, you are a part of me and I am a part of you (1st Corinthians 12:12-14, 25-27. Galatians 3:26-29. Ephesians 4:15-16. John 17:20-23). You are important to me. Whoever you are and whatever you’re going through, you matter to Christ and you matter to me.

So, yes, I will pray for you.

And if you’re not a believer in Christ, does this exclude you? Absolutely not. See, I believe all people matter to Him, matter enough that He died for you and for me, before we were even born, knowing that we would start our lives in sin (Romans 5:6-11), knowing that we would spend much of our time rejecting Him, through our actions if not our words, knowing how we would hate Him and ignore Him and smear His very name. But He did it anyway, because He loves us, because He is love, because we are His creation, because all of us are important to Him. My God is love to all creation, and you, dear one, are a part of that. You are important to me. Whoever you are and whatever you’re going through, you matter to Christ and you matter to me.

So, yes, I will pray for you, too.

That said, I’d like to end this post by asking: is there anything I can pray for you today? You don’t have to tell me all the details, you can private message me if you need to, or you can just comment saying you’d like prayer, and I will gladly hop on that. You matter to Christ and you matter to me, and He loves to hear people call His name, to obey His command to pray, to hand their problems over to Him, and trust Him to handle the worst of it. It’s a way we can come together, in trust and in love, growing closer to Him and to each other.

Regardless of whether you comment or not, know that I’m praying. Know that I care. Know that you matter. To Christ and to me.

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