A parishioner told me a story a few weeks ago; this parishioner goes out for Sunday brunch with a friend each week after having attended service.
One week, the friend asked my parishioner why she hadn’t gone to worship that morning. Shocked, my parishioner asked how the friend had known this.
“I can feel it.” the friend replied. “I know when you’re praying for me.”
My parishioner went on to tell me how her friend had tried to explain this feeling, this sentiment, this absolute knowledge of being prayed for; she then admitted that she just didn’t understand it.
A few weeks had passed when she was sitting in church one day, and suddenly she had a feeling – a powerful, peaceful, all-encompassing feeling of being cared for and loved. She glanced at her watch, noted the time, and continued in the service.
At brunch that day, her friend asked her how church had been. She replied that it was a lovely service, spiritually uplifting, sharing even how she had felt that one precise moment of being embraced. Her friend then told her that they had decided to pray for her that Sunday – intentionally, without distraction, just to ask God’s blessing on my parishioner.
For my parishioner, it was exciting and exhilarating. She had finally felt, beyond words, what it was like to be so delightfully prayed for. She asked me if I had ever felt that way (yes, I have). We went on to have a lovely conversation about prayer, the power of prayer, the benefit of prayer.
Prayer isn’t always easy. We don’t always want to pray, or we feel our prayers are ignored, or that the answer we get isn’t what we asked for. Yet prayer is powerful; it’s an opportunity to submit to God, to ask that truly God’s will be done (not our own), to hold one another in prayer – not for wish fulfillment but for the benefit of the blessing itself. This is the privilege of praying for one another, not to change them but to delight in the gift that they are; this is the honour of being asked to share that feeling of peace.
So pray. Pray for your loved ones, pray for the ones you don’t want to pray for, pray for the strangers in your midst. Ask someone to pray for you too – that you too might feel the blessing of being held in prayer. And when that feeling does come, I hope you will be open to it, that you will be moved by it, and that you will be inspired to pray for someone else too. May we all feel that we are prayed for; may we all celebrate being able to say “I feel it when you pray for me.”
By Ellen Yuhas July 15, 2015 - 11:28 pm
Thank you for sharing this with all of us!
It’s good to hear that God hears our prayers and answers themðð½ðð½
By Laura Marie Piotrowicz July 16, 2015 - 11:59 am
Thanks Ellen!
By Janet Tweten Craig July 16, 2015 - 12:40 am
For many years I have been praying for friends, acquaintances and loved ones…especially for continued remission from cancer. When I tell these people that I have been including them in my daily prayers, they will often say thank you and some say, it must be working because I am still in remission. I then got cancer and was on the receiving end of prayers for me, I would literally lay down and feel prayers for me….unexplainable, but I knew someone was praying for me.
Today I include myself on my remission list. Prayers work.
By Laura Marie Piotrowicz July 16, 2015 - 12:00 pm
Thanks Janet! What wonderful news about your remission. What a great experience of feeling prayed for! And whether the outcome is what we want or not, those prayers work.
By PJW51 July 26, 2015 - 11:55 pm
If this sounds concited forgive me . However I could not feel I have started the day without prayer. And I am remembering people I was school with, who I served in other churches , family I haven’t seen in years ,but in praying for them I feel connected and believe they know someone out here is remembering them.
By eric October 18, 2016 - 9:00 pm
I can feel when people pray for me. Not everyone. Those I most closely associate with being an intercessor. Or being in spiritual athority over me. But not always. Sometimes I can tell who it is and what they are praying for. Never knew what this was or how it worked. Or more importantly why no one else talks about this kind of stuff. Like its some kind of rare spiritual gift. But again I dont know what its for. If you have any insight email me at [email protected]
By Laura Marie Piotrowicz October 18, 2016 - 11:39 pm
I’m not sure if we ever totally understand the hows or whys of it, but the feeling of being prayed for is a gift! Perhaps there’s an invitation for you to discern how to respond to that gift, when you do feel it.
By Stephen Hollis February 17, 2017 - 3:50 pm
Feeling prayer. I know when I feel prayer being said for me. What I am looking for is any scripture in the Bible that supports this feeling. Does anyone know of scripture that says that you will know when you are being prayed for?