Ever had a desire to be “that” prayer warrior? “That global worker” who people can trust to pray, who remembers them. 

Goals=good. But I can also cart my Americanness into my prayers (I must accomplish!). Would you want to be the one I pray for so that I’m a better person?

Me neither. 

This swells to an “aha!” in the words of Ruth Barton. 

I am…careful about how I use prayer lists. Now, as I sit quietly in God’s presence daily, I see who God brings to mind and heart. As they come into my awareness, I invite them into that place where God’s Spirit and my spirit are communing, and we sit together with that person. If I have a list or if there are people and concerns weighing on me, I bring those, too, and we sit together with them. I don’t feel burdened by the need to figure anything out or to say words that indicate that I somehow have a handle on the situation. It is enough to share the love, the rest and the care of God with them in this way.  

…Most times there is nothing for me to do or say except to hold the people and situations that are of concern to me in God’s presence and listen.*  

I want to love people in prayer like this, presenting them to God’s presence in a way I somehow imagine Jesus interceding for me. Surely he wasn’t just hammering through requests on his long nights away.  

This shifts my focus from getting my prayer “right” for this person, and allows the Holy Spirit to intercede for me and for them (Romans 8:26-27).  

Sometimes praying for others can feel like contributing to a social share: “‘Like’ this post to help us raise $500!” Or like I’m flipping through reminders loaded into Siri. Submit visa paperwork. Buy dragon fruit. 

We pray to interact with God. To be the daughters and sons who ask. To know him. And we pray for others in order to love them; to stand in the gap for them – like the ultimate Person who stood in the gap for us.

So I’m moving people off an index card…and into my heart, where I will love them less like something I should purchase at the market.