Randy and I had been in a little church plant for about a year when something special arrived in the mailbox. Let me back up and say church planting is NOT for sissies. It’s hard stuff but it’s really awesome stuff as well. This was like any other day and I grabbed the mail and sat at the kitchen table opening mostly bills and then discovered one handwritten envelope. When I opened it an index card fell out with all kinds of handwriting and more than 12 different dates written down. A small note attached said, “We have been praying for you and your church.”
A small group of people had been gathering every Sunday afternoon unbeknownst to us and had been praying for our church. I remember sitting there with chills all over my body and thanking God for that encouragement. It had such an impact on me that I have made it a practice to let people know how I’m praying for them in written form. Sometimes it’s an email or text, other times it’s a card with scripture written out and a specific way I’m praying for them. As a friend once said, “It’s one thing to hear that people are praying for you but it’s especially comforting to see how they are praying for you.”
Texting is faster and meets our busy demands but it’s so worth slowing down enough to write out how you are praying for someone. If the Holy Spirit leads you to share that prayer with that person do it. If not, hold on to it until the Spirit prompts you to do so. Recently a lady told me that she made an umbrella prayer for her sister but held on to it for a few months before sending it. When she did send it to her sister called her up and told her how much it meant to her and how perfect the timing was. God will lead you in these things.
Prayer is the single greatest gift, besides sharing the Gospel, we can give someone. Y’all, it’s simple and it’s free.
Heard of an umbrella prayer before? Here’s a sample of one I made for an individual walking through an addiction. An umbrella prayer starts with praising God for a particular attribute or characteristic of God. In this written prayer I looked to Daniel 2:22 as a reminder that God reveals hidden things. Praising God for this incredible ability reminds me of who God is in light of this person’s struggle. After meditating and praising God for being a Revealer I brought up under the umbrella my specific requests for this person trusting that God was hearing everything I was writing. He’s Omniscient so he can know what we’re writing without us uttering a single word out loud. Is that not the coolest thing ever?!!
Grab some paper. Make an umbrella prayer for someone today. Check out the umbrella prayer workbook for a compilation of many attributes and characteristics of God accompanied with scripture.
I’ve never heard it called an “umbrella prayer” before, but it makes perfect sense! I love this and look forward to putting it into practice. Thanks for sharing!
My pleasure – it really is a lot of fun yet profound all at the same time! Check out the Umbrella Prayer Workbook – it has more details about how to make an umbrella prayer and is compiled with lots of attributes and characteristics of God.
I love this. I’ve been writing out some of my prayers lately and I’ve noticed that the more I write out my prayers, the longer they get. There is something about putting a pen to paper and it’s permanence that seems to provoke my heart to think deeper about what I am praying for and what God wants me to pray for. I like the concept of umbrella prayers and am looking forward to giving it a try!
I love this! I am going to start writing prayers to people that I have been meaning to write prayers to. I am so glad that I read your blog because I have been thinking about this for a long time.
That’s wonderful Tona – I know they will blessed by seeing how you’re praying for them.