What happens when we stop praying for people? When their situation gets better and we take them off our prayer list, do we forget about them until they are in desperate need of prayer again?
Do we trust that someone, somewhere is praying for that same person when we aren’t? This was a serious question I had. I used to keep a list of people with me and every morning during my devotions and morning prayers I would call their names out individually. As time went on, I transitioned to just calling out names of people as I thought about them. Normally, that consisted of people I recently interacted with who were in need of prayer for their current situation. My question stemmed from the following experience: I was in the store and I saw someone whose name I would call out every morning in my prayers about a year ago. At that time, I would see them often and their needs were apparent to me. Needless to say, they were bumped down on my list of people to pray for and when I saw them, they were in a worse state than before. God, is it something that I could have done to make things better? Could this have been prevented? I seriously forgot to pray for them. I followed the bible when it advises us to seek out wise counsel when you don't understand something. The response they had for my question was powerful. You may have forgotten about them, but God didn’t. We can’t do it all. If I tried to remember or write down everyone’s name who has ever asked me for prayer and bring them to God everyday, that would become a burden that I placed on my own shoulders. Trust the Holy Spirit. When you are praying to God, be still and be sincere; he will give you the right words to pray and put the right names on your heart to call out. Be encouraged!
-Christina Eve
Proverbs 19:20-22