I will pray for you
What does it mean when people say "I will pray for you". Be honest with yourself on this. For most it is a shallow attempt at being nice before going on with your daily task. I probably should have asked the question like this, how many people truly do stop and pray for someone when they say they will.
In my years of being what I will call a spiritual person I am positive that several times when I made that statement that I never followed through. I suppose we could rationalize it by simply saying "I will pray for you" is indeed the prayer. When people are broken and seek spiritual relief it has been my experience that those words fall on deaf ears.
By now I have you thinking, some are thinking positive thoughts about how they can better serve up prayer to a wounded soul while some are thinking negative thoughts such as, how dare him question when and who I pray for. Either way you are thinking and that was the intended goal.
Wounded souls seek out spiritual people in an effort to build their diminishing faith. If you stay close long enough the wounded warrior may end up building your faith. There are stages of healing just like stages of living a dying. Each stage has to be dealt with in a particular manner. It is just the way life is set up. We seek and need human touch as much as we need comforting words. Both can help us work through the anger, denial, and bargaining stages of life and death situations. I am confident that God our wonderful loving creator places well intentioned people in our lives to help guide us in tough times. What can happen however is that most people are ill prepared through no fault of their own to help those suffering.
I suggest when people seek out prayers that you truly lift them up for a few seconds. If the opportunity presents itself it is much better to take the time to listen and feel the depth of the pain they may be feeling. This is not the time to push the door open and tell the suffering about the time something happened to you or Uncle Ed. That places a shadow on their pain and in their eyes minimizes the suffering they feel. Simply be a caring concerned friend. Listen intently and then pray accordingly.
In the last few years I have spent countless hours with people dying of cancer. I have watched people navigate through the stages of life in preparation for death. Each one took various twist and turns however they all somehow someway found the comfort of Christ as they neared deaths doors. The interesting thing is that these seemingly broken souls ended up healing the walking wounded that surrounded them. The very people that thought they were doing the comforting wound up being the ones comforted. The same people that said "I will pray for you" turned out to be the ones the dying person prayed for.
Life is almost perfect in the way it all works out. I conclude this reflective thought by asking you to use what God gave you which is one mouth and two ears accordingly. A listening heart can feel the warmth more than empty words.
peace to you
Dale
In my years of being what I will call a spiritual person I am positive that several times when I made that statement that I never followed through. I suppose we could rationalize it by simply saying "I will pray for you" is indeed the prayer. When people are broken and seek spiritual relief it has been my experience that those words fall on deaf ears.
By now I have you thinking, some are thinking positive thoughts about how they can better serve up prayer to a wounded soul while some are thinking negative thoughts such as, how dare him question when and who I pray for. Either way you are thinking and that was the intended goal.
Wounded souls seek out spiritual people in an effort to build their diminishing faith. If you stay close long enough the wounded warrior may end up building your faith. There are stages of healing just like stages of living a dying. Each stage has to be dealt with in a particular manner. It is just the way life is set up. We seek and need human touch as much as we need comforting words. Both can help us work through the anger, denial, and bargaining stages of life and death situations. I am confident that God our wonderful loving creator places well intentioned people in our lives to help guide us in tough times. What can happen however is that most people are ill prepared through no fault of their own to help those suffering.
I suggest when people seek out prayers that you truly lift them up for a few seconds. If the opportunity presents itself it is much better to take the time to listen and feel the depth of the pain they may be feeling. This is not the time to push the door open and tell the suffering about the time something happened to you or Uncle Ed. That places a shadow on their pain and in their eyes minimizes the suffering they feel. Simply be a caring concerned friend. Listen intently and then pray accordingly.
In the last few years I have spent countless hours with people dying of cancer. I have watched people navigate through the stages of life in preparation for death. Each one took various twist and turns however they all somehow someway found the comfort of Christ as they neared deaths doors. The interesting thing is that these seemingly broken souls ended up healing the walking wounded that surrounded them. The very people that thought they were doing the comforting wound up being the ones comforted. The same people that said "I will pray for you" turned out to be the ones the dying person prayed for.
Life is almost perfect in the way it all works out. I conclude this reflective thought by asking you to use what God gave you which is one mouth and two ears accordingly. A listening heart can feel the warmth more than empty words.
peace to you
Dale
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