You'll be in my Prayers

Having grown up in the Christian Church my whole life, I have heard this phrase and used it my whole life. I've told people that I would pray for them and their situation but most times I didn't actually pray.

I don't like listening to people about their problems because I know most times I can do nothing to help them. I always feel terrible about this but I have no idea what to do. I really wish I could help them, but I have nothing within my resources to help them. So, because I know there is nothing I can do, I give them some sympathy by letting them know, "You'll be in my prayers."

My intention is not to point the finger at anyone about this. I am writing about this because I know that this has been something I have done many times. We tell people that we will pray for them and their circumstances, but I am afraid that we only say this because it is a way of only showing sympathy. If it were more than showing sympathy then we would actually be praying for these people and their circumstances. Many situations are hopeless and we don't know what to do with them, so we make others feel a little better by saying, "You'll be in my Prayers."

Just today I found myself telling someone I would pray for them because I knew I couldn't help them.

I believe that coming up against hopeless situations is good for us though. This is where we are actually pushed to bring people and their situations to God in prayer. And we don't have to just tell people, "You'll be in my Prayers" to make them feel better, but we can tell them this because we actually will pray for them and because we actually believe that God will these people in our lives through their circumstances.

In 1 Timothy 2:1, Pauls tells Timothy, "I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf, and give thanks for them." Verse 3 says, "This is good and pleases God our Savior..." Paul didn't tell Timothy this because it sounded nice, but he told Timothy to pray for everyone because, he knew that hopeless situations would come up and because he knew that God would hear his prayers.

God really does hear our prayers. So, let us then take our hopeless situations, as an opportunity where God can be glorified, and actually pray for His help. If we never pray or ask for God's help, how can we ever expect to receive His help. Let's not use it as a sympathetic way of telling people that we care for them but we can't help. We can do something, we can pray!