You spend time focused on the needs of someone else, pouring out your heart to God on their behalf. Praying for someone else keeps your prayers from becoming too self-focused. #2: Keeps your prayers from being too self-focused Jesus taught that prayer is more powerful when prayed by more than just ourselves. Hearing our needs prayed by someone else can help to refocus our own prayers. We may not have the words to pray and need someone else to stand in the gap and pray for us. Sometimes we need someone else to pray on our behalf. Or, it can be a more formal prayer partner relationship – a person or small group with whom you commit to regular meetings and prayer.ĥ Benefits of Praying with a Prayer Partner #1: Someone to pray for you Praying with a prayer partner can be informal, such as prayer partners during a church service or a friend in your small group or Bible study. Praying with someone else can be instrumental for your prayers. The gift of the prayer partner for me that morning was to help me listen and know I wasn’t the only one praying. Her prayer that morning guided me into a moment of stillness with God.
I’d been doing a lot of praying about this particular issue, but not much listening. What struck me most about this prayer was that it forced me to stop talking and just listen. I didn’t get many words out, but she prayed anyway.
I knew I was supposed to pray with her that morning, so I kept putting one foot in front of the other and walked over. Why was I being prompted to ask for prayer when I’d already been in deep prayer over this particular item? Why did I need to have someone else pray for me? It felt awkward to walk over, not knowing how this was going to go or what I would tell her about my prayer need. As I stood up after receiving communion one Sunday morning, I turned, not to return to my seat as I always do, but to walk over to a prayer partner who is available to prayer with anyone during this part of our service.