A Random Act of Prayer

Hi sister! I love your blog and now I finally have a question for you! I feel compelled sometimes quickly pray for those I pass in my car on the street. Since these people are nameless and faceless to me is the fleeting prayer Even worth it? I love when an intense prayer moment happens and words just start flowing. Does the quick intercessory prayer carry the same weight as an intense prayer? And what about perseverence? I feel bad when my intercessory prayers feel so light And insignificant...they lack perseverance, often only one quick prayer offered even if the situation is rather grave. Am I doing something wrong? I find myself discouraged with intercessory prayer because they seem weak and feeble.

I don't see how intercessory prayer is weak and feeble. Surely, when people ask you to pray for them, you do and surely you have asked people to pray for you (or really, really wanted to). You do that because you know that people praying with you and for you is actually helpful.

This is my best guess as to what is happening here. When you quickly pray for someone on the street, you're not really invested, in the same way that when someone asks you in passing "how is your day", you're liable to say "just peachy" because you know it's just a polite moment and not an actual request to probe into how you're doing.

So you see some poor soul on the street and you think "God help them", which may in turn lead to a little more of a prayer, "No, really , God, help them" and at that point the light has changed and the guy in front of you is trying to change to your lane without having signaled his intentions and the guy behind you is right up on your bumper. In another second you'll be praying someone doesn't hit you. Or praying you don't jump out of your car and hit somebody.


I'm exaggerating. Although the ability of the human mind to go from intercessory prayer to road rage in under 30 seconds is astonishing.

I think your prayers feel light because they are light. But that doesn't make them insignificant. Think of them as shining a little light.

And I don't think you're doing anything wrong. But I do think you could get better at it.

Going back to my "have a nice day" analogy, those words don't have to be so light. If you're a bank teller saying to someone "how is your day?" , you probably really don't want a real answer from every customer. But...what if you did? Or you were at least willing to hear a real answer when you asked that question.

Just invest a little more care into your little prayer.

And keep it up! It's a random act of kindness. Never to be under rated.