Praying for and Praying with

We were in the supermarket the other day, when a bent and wizened old lady approached us. She muttered through a mouth that had few teeth, “Please pray for me.”

She then poured out a litany of problems with her family that so burdened her to the extent she was prepared to confide in complete strangers.

We listened, and when she had finished, I said, “Well, let’s pray right now.”

She looked surprised, and, I think a little shocked that we should pray in such a public place, but she consented, so we stood in the supermarket and prayed. As we did so, the peace of God rested on her. You could see her countenance change and she thanked us profusely.

Different dynamics

I have found there is a completely different dynamic in praying for someone and praying with someone. If I have the choice, I’d sooner pray with a person any time. When one prays for a person, at best, the person is a passive recipient of someone else approaching God. When one prays with them, they are included in coming to the Throne of Grace. At worst, they are witnesses to your intimacy with God. At best, they experience that intimacy themselves.

Opening the gates of Heaven

Sometimes our prayer opens the gates of heaven in a very special way that touches hearts supernaturally. Early on in my Christian walk, I befriended Emmanuel, a wonderful Black man and we had glorious times of prayer together. Usually this was during the day, in a church or other public place, but one day I suggested we meet together at his house. It was in the dark days of apartheid; in my ignorance, I didn’t appreciate the peril for a White man to enter an African township at night. There was a real danger I would not return alive. It was dark before I reached the township and soon I was hopelessly lost in the maze of unmarked dirt roads. I stopped a passerby and asked for directions.

“Give me a lift to my house and I’ll give instructions from there,” he said.

On the way, I told him I was going to pray with Emmanuel and he said, “Can you pray for me?” I agreed..

When we arrived, I said, “So shall we pray?”

He looked surprised. “What, now?” I nodded.

Then, though it was late at night, he woke his wife and children and called them into the main room. As they knelt and I prayed, the power of God and a tangible peace descended. The heavens were open to that little family. Everyone was hushed with awe. We were afraid to move. Eventually I had to get to Emmanuel, but my helper would not let me go until I had given him my contact details and put him in contact with my beloved friend.

How different it would have been if I had just said, “Okay, I’ll pray for you.”

God’s opportunities are there

Don’t throw away an opprtunity to pray with someone in need. Apart from anything else, it sometimes opens the door for conversations about God with people who have questions.