Fostering a “Let’s Pray Right Now” Culture

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prayerIt is under the vaguely pleasant tingling of a mild sunburn (youth group car wash) that I write to you this morning, dear readers, and I wish to talk about a “let’s pray right now” culture.

The other day, I walked past this guy speaking with a friend in church and saying “…let’s pray about it right now”. Heads bowed, eyes closed, right there.

I don’t know what the need was, but I know this is quite commonplace in my church. Right there, right then, in the middle of everything going on, we will often pray for each other’s needs, even if it is a remote uncle with an optimistic minor surgery. Not just because it comforts the person whose uncle it is, but because we believe prayer makes a difference. It is one of my greatest joys in belonging to this church family.

I used to think it was commonplace throughout Christendom.

But during my travels, I discovered differently. I found churches where apathy met even dire prayer requests. I found believers who, trying far too hard to sound smart, waxed philosophical in debates about whether it actually bore any power to pray for someone you didn’t know.

But most of all, I found countless promises of “I’ll be praying about that”.

Why say that? Why not do it right there? Embarrassment? Inconvenience? What great cost is charged to you to obey God’s command to pray without ceasing? And are we so boorish that we won’t drop a friend (or even a stranger) the slightest goodwill?

The other big problem with this, of course, is that we rarely ever do pray. We forget. We go on with our daily grind and forget. Don’t we?

My father taught me to keep a prayer list so that I wouldn’t forget. So, of course, I forget to keep a list.

Which is doubly ironic given that we all have electronic list-making tools in our pockets these days.

I don’t want to live in oblivion any more. I want to be intentional, determined, and opposed to laziness in my prayer life. We owe it to our brothers and sisters in Christ as an obedience to our command to love; we owe it to the lost as a witness; and we owe it to God, for it proves that we actually take gifts like prayer seriously.

Let us foster a “let’s pray right now” culture in our own spheres. It isn’t going to kill us. In fact, it might save someone.

28 thoughts on “Fostering a “Let’s Pray Right Now” Culture”

  3. Our pastor taught us this, too. I’m still practicing to get into that habit of doing it right then and there. Sometimes we have to remind ourselves that others can provide grace, too, so if we’re late for a church event because we stopped to pray with someone at the grocery store it’s going to be ok. Our pastor’s motto is ‘they’re not going to care about what you say unless they know how much you care’ and praying with someone right then shows them they matter. Thank you so much for sharing this. 😊

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  5. I love the response of let’s pray about it now. That way the one who needs prayer is involved as well as those praying. It’s like corporate prayer is even better than l’ll pray for you .

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  6. Yes! I forget to pray so often, even when I tell someone that I will. Recently a coworker opened up about some struggles, and we prayed together at a cafeteria table. I didn’t need to feel guilty for not praying later, and we both felt encouraged. Great reminder.

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  7. I so agree with you! Prayer is where the power is. I have been seeing wonderful results to prayer requests within our church fellowship lately. I believe we are going to see more and more powerful answers as the time for His arrival draws closer. Let’s indeed plug into the power source!

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  8. Dude!!! I totally agree. I make it a habit to stop and pray right wherever we are at… Cause honestly, I will probably forget to pray about whatever we talked about within an hour or so.

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  12. Being someone who did not grow up in church this is a struggle for me, my Christianity and especially my prayer always felt deeply personal to me, being that it was just my mom teaching me about God. In fact when I first met my husband and we went to his church the first time I was incredibly put off by how happy everyone was and random people coming up to me hugging me and telling me they love me. While that has become something I have embraced and come to love about church life, praying in public is still a struggle for me. I too want to be more intentional but I also often think of Matthew 6:5-7 and don’t know how to reconcile the two.

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    • It can certainly be an adjustment.

      Matthew 6:5-7 is a discussion on the heart. Jesus is criticizing, not all public prayer, but prayer done to receive praise from men. The context was a heavily religious Jewish society in which commoners, priests, and even Roman occupiers were conditioned to honor public prayer when they saw it. If that was your motive, Jesus was talking to you.

      But prayers done out of a heart to honor God, encourage others, seek his will, and spread his name to those who haven’t heard it, don’t fall within that verse’s purview. So it’s basically about your motive, as it always is with Jesus.

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      • Yes I am realizing this more and more, button the moment somehow it still begins to feel disingenuous to me, I think this is because I prefer private prayer, so in situations where public prayer is expected (the beginning of a Bible study for example) I feel put off by the situation, it is something that I am seeking the Lord in for sure. But I really appreciated your post because I feel like what your talking about is a kind of middle ground for me with it, there is nothing wrong with praying over a friend when they need it and I should make more of an effort to do it in that moment, not only to make sure I actually do but for their comfort in the moment.

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