Writing Prayers for People
Within the first responder’s comment to the post “Try Writing Prayers” on The Blazing Center blog is:
In our Shepherd Group we actually pick one person that we will pray for that week and then sometimes we will write the prayer to them during the middle of the week. I know I have been so encouraged during the week when I receive a written prayer from one of the guys that shows up in my email. I love writing prayers and sometimes model them after the Psalms. I know my kids and my wife have some of the prayers that I have written over the years in their Bibles and that encourages me to continue to write my prayers for them.
I feel a little mixed. I like the idea of writing prayers for people. It’s very possible I may have e-mailed a prayer(s) before, but I don’t regularly send people written prayers. I am not a prayer warrior. Writing out prayers in a journal or praying aloud with another person(s) are techniques that may generally tend to produce a wordier and perhaps more substantial or heartier prayer out of me. But words aren’t everything.
In Matthew 6, praying in secret is commendable. What is not commendable is “many words” & “empty phrases”.
But it must be okay to write out a prayer for someone. In Bible gatewaying, I can see that Paul has mentioned the content of some of his prayers, and perhaps some of those are his actual prayers.
And there’s something about communal prayer, so perhaps writing out a prayer for someone and giving to them could ‘count’ as a sort of communal prayer and means of encouragement.
Anyway I like the idea, though perhaps with a little hesitation…
I didn’t like the idea in the past. But I believe a written prayer can show forethought. Just like a written sermon can show forethought. I don’t think a prayer needs to always be a knee jerk, spur of the moment thing. Prayers in the Bible are written for us to see (and we can model after them). The Lord’s Prayer is not only written, but written so that we can use those words. I have written out a prayer, to say what I want to say, and read it as a prayer yet again. Anyway, I have changed my own thinking on written prayer!
Ann
February 23, 2009 at 10:20 am
Thanks for your comment…I’m not against written prayer, and I like the idea of writing a prayer for a person for them to keep. Feel a little mixed on the latter, but I like the idea….
Rachael
February 23, 2009 at 12:25 pm