Pray for people by name

Today I stand at the threshold of a tipping point.  As mentioned in previous posts, I’ve been preparing for an 8-hour licensing exam that is now only 2 days away.  I’m feeling mostly prepared and confident I will do well.  Whether or not I will do well enough to pass is a separate question.

I know that the people who care most about me will be praying for me, and their prayers are appreciated.  They remind me of when someone prayed for me at the threshold of an earlier tipping point in my life.

If you want to help someone along a journey towards positive changes, all you need to do to start is pray for that individual by name every time you pray.  Whether it is in private or in public, whether early in the morning or late at night, pray for individuals by name.  Let your hearts turn  towards those for whom you pray.  And if said individual actually hears your prayer, all the better.

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A personal story

Towards the end of my graduate school days, time to complete my thesis before the deadline for the current year was diminishing.  Before leaving home to return for that final push across the goal line, I knelt with my folks in prayer.  I’ll never forget my mother pleading for me to the Lord by name and asking Him to help me to finish my program.

It was the memory of that prayer that pulled me through.  I wasn't getting along with my major professor, and the demands placed upon me had become so difficult and frustrating that I just wanted to just pack my things and leave.  But the memory of my mother praying for me filled me with a feeling of love and support that re-energized me just enough to keep trying.  I don't think I would have finished if not for that prayer in which my mother pleaded for me by name.

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Tipping points

With another tipping point looming before me, I’ll of course be praying for myself by name.  But perhaps there are others unbeknownst to me who are facing tipping points in their own lives.  Perhaps praying for them by name will help to tip them to the more positive side.  I can think of some names that I know should be in my prayers.  For the rest, I’ll have to seek to be more sensitive to the Spirit to reveal those names to me.

And that’s actually good counsel for all of us.  Have you prayed lately for anyone by name?  When you next kneel to pray, seek to be sensitive to Spirit and pray for those whose names fill your mind or your heart.  And keep praying for them by name.  Perhaps your prayer may be just the gentle push they need to receive great and glorious blessings in their lives.

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