PRAYING WITH FRIENDS

Do you pray with your friends? I tend to skim sentences so let me ask that one more time, do you pray with your friends? I think a lot of us would definitely say we pray for our friends, but it is likely that not many of us spend time praying with our friends. Our excuses are probably similar to the reasons we don’t make it a habit to pray with family: it would be awkward, we’re embarrassed, we’re too busy, or we just don’t even think about it. But there are definitely biblical reasons we should pray with friends.

There are numerous examples of the church praying in the Bible (Acts 4:24-31, 13:1-2, 16:25). Have you ever done ministry with friends? Whether it’s a missions trip or a weekly scheduled time of serving in the church, doing ministry with a friend can be so rewarding. It can deepen your friendship and cause you both to be more spiritually minded. In the Bible, Paul often mentioned how he and other believers were praying for the churches he wrote to (Col. 3:1-7). He and his fellow workers were on the frontlines of the spiritual battle and they were praying together. Also, Paul prayed with his friends and he said to be like him as He is like Christ (1 Cor. 11:1), so that means we need to be praying with (and for) our friends.

There are also so many benefits to praying with friends. Your relationship will deepen because you’ll be more honest and open with one another. It will help you refocus your perspective on eternal things. Remember that feeling of serving with a friend? It’s a great spiritual high until you’re done serving. Then it’s easy to slip into old habits of surfacy conversation drifting away Keep praying together to refocus.

The biggest benefit is that you will be more unified. This in turn will help you keep your friendship stable if you hit a bumpy road in your relationship. Imagine we kept Christ at the center of every relationship! People talk about keeping Christ at the center of a marriage or a family, but why not friends? There would be a lot less bickering, arguing, and broken relationships if people were focused on Christ. People would also probably be a lot more willing to forgive wrongs and reconcile because the goal of the relationship is to glorify God, not to selfishly get the most personal satisfaction out of a friendship.

What if your friends are nonchristians? I would say that’s even more of a reason to pray with them. Don’t be ashamed of the Gospel. It’s so hard, but if you really consider them a friend then you’ll care enough for their soul to pray with them.

It might be awkward, it might be weird at first, but try it. What do you have to lose? Your reputation with that friend? Comfort? Life is short. We should all be striving to grow deeper in our relationship with God and let that overflow into our relationships with others.

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