I'm Praying for You

Last Sunday, during Sunday School, I got an idea. It's a relatively simple idea- everyday pray for a specific person.

People immediately started coming to mind. Certain dates for certain people came to mind. Later that evening I started making a list of people. Every person whose name I wrote down made me think of another person. The list continued growing. I thought I just want to pray for everybody. That reminded me of a child's prayer I once heard. "I want to pray for everyone and everybody." That's exactly how I felt. I mean, really, who shouldn't go on the list?

This idea the Lord gave me to pray specifically for a particular person each day excites me for multiple reasons. I'd be lying if I said I'm praying every day. This will help me in becoming more intentional. More intentional in my prayer life and praying everyday. More intentional with whoever I am praying for.There are people I think of often but never tell them anything, people I don't see much anymore. Simply letting them know, "Hey, I'm praying for you today," or asking them, "How have you been?"  Be honest though,  I'm doubtful I actually will let whoever know every day.

There really isn't a strict structure to this. Some people I'm sure I will pray for multiple times. Some days I will be praying specifically for more than one person. I have a notebook that I've listed the dates for the next year and on certain dates I already have names for some reason or another. Some days I'll just wait and see who the Lord puts on my heart to pray for that day. Other days I may just look at the list of names I started compiling and pick one.

It's been a week and I'm already seeing how the Lord is using this and teaching me. Thursday morning, as I looked to see to see if I had already written down the name of someone to pray for, I had someone in mind that I wanted to pray for that day. I was a bit disappointed when I saw I already had not one but two names written already. Praying for three would just be ridiculous. (That is sarcasm, for clarification). Later in the afternoon, I got word that one of those people I was praying for was having some physical problems. It wasn't until about another hour later that I was thinking about that person and realized this is why I am praying for them today. It was one of those times when the Lord teaches you something and just leaves you thinking, "good one, Lord, good one."