Fellow Christian; I won’t pray for you, I will pray with you

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I’ve had many people ask me to pray for them and immediately I respond as expected with assurance to do so but not anymore.
So what’s happened? Why this resolution? Have I stopped believing in prayer? Not at all? Has the guilt of forgetting to pray finally made its highest toll?
Not really? Have I turned into a mean lazy unloving Christian? I believe not. As a matter of fact I believe this to be the most loving response in some situations.
You see prayer exposes what we value and believe in. Hence, it is when people share their prayer requests or not that we can begin to know how to love, correct and help them. But what do we do? If you are like me you don’t even think about it but promise to do so, mostly out of love but probably out of ignorance or laziness to think it through as well. At least that’s has been my case.
It’s worse when you work for a church, even worse if you are the pastor as some might think God hears you not them especially with Roman catholic priests.
God does not have a hierarchical consideration when it comes to responding to his dear children as long as they are his sons in Christ Jesus. That is the only qualification of which all of us who believe in Jesus have awesomely attained as to call him like he calls him; our Father. Hence we can pray to our father individually or together and he certainly hears us. Galatians 4:6, Romans 8:15.
Of course, it might be we have wrong expectations of what it means to be a child of God and a Christian in this broken and perishing world in which case study Matthew 10; 16-42. If this is the case then the more reason we may need to think and talk before just saying yes I will pray for you. Do you see how we can miss the opportunity to correct, build and help a fellow Christian just by saying yes to prayer?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we put aside praying. Not at all, as a matter of fact we should do more. But we need to employ biblical teaching correctly on this and help others through the word of God and ultimately present this to our heavenly Father who has asked us to pray and by which we should live as Christians.
So before saying you will pray for them why not ask a few questions to find out more how you can biblically and lovingly help and pray for them!
And it follows that for those who are not Christians the priority prayer is that they will give ear to Jesus offer of forgiveness and salvation from the sure eternal judgement awaiting them.

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