Can I Pray for You?
I found this post on prayer evangelism while browsing the Off-The-Map stable of blogs this arvo. (Update - This topic was originally posted here.)
This kind of thing actually scares me silly. But ... there are always opportunities for me to do this, particularly as I work directly with people and their problems.
I have been digging deeper into prayer this last month or so - it is an area I struggle with, more so at some times than others. How to have consistency in my prayer life, how to pray, how to pray when I don't want to pray, how to pray publicly, how to pray spontaneously?
I am reading a great little book on prayer at the moment - I think it is the kind of book you could give to a seeker or spiritually inclined person, as well as read and find value in it yourself. It's called Prayer-Centred Life by Dudley Delffs.
Grab it if you get the chance.
3 comments:
We're having an interesting discussion about that particular incidence of (attempted) prayer evangelism on the Ordinary Attempts blog.
It seems like most of us feel it could be too intrusive or weird to say "Can I pray with you (right now)?" to a relative stranger; whereas, saying "I'll pray for [that situation]" when someone has shared a difficult situation with you, meaning you'll pray for it by yourself after your conversation with them is over, seems to go over ok.
Helen,
I actually started writing something about the appropriateness of this approach but deleted it. I wanted to see what sort of response it garnered.
I struggle a little with it - I think there is definitely a time and a place, I also think there is nothing wrong with telling someone you will pray for them privately or, as Jim calls it, praying for someone behind their backs.
I ran through several possible opportunities I have had in the last week to openly pray with someone who I knew wasn't a follower of Jesus, and I don't think in any of those circumstances it would have been the right thing to do. However in each of them I did still pray for the people, and in one case told them I had been praying for them and would continue to pray for them.
As I said - scares me silly! ;)
I'm glad you do think about where that line is between caring and too intrusive.
I think it's good when we face our (unnecessary) fears and practice overcoming them. But (imo) other people shouldn't suffer just so we can practice being courageous.
I see two main things Jim wants to incorporate into evangelism, throught doable evangelism/ordinary attempts: 1) it becomes 'doable' for ordinary followers of Jesus 2) it gives the other person something they will perceive as a gift, not an imposition.
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