‘If you could spare a moment would you please pray for…’ ‘I don’t ask for much but…’ ‘I’ve done all this… and I still need your prayers.’
I see these and similar pleas for prayer in person and on social media frequently. I often shake my head in wonderment, not about the prayer request, but that it is presented with some kind of proof that the requester is worthy of your prayer.
You are worthy to request prayer. Just as you are. Even if you make a request every single day.
Because no one is counting and keeping track of how much prayer you request. And if they are, maybe they could mind their own business.
You are worthy to request prayer. Just as you are.
If it is on your heart, then I am honored to share in lifting up your concern or joy. Period.
A number of Unity authors including James Dillet Freeman and May Rowland have said that the purpose of prayer is to change us. In prayer we call forth wisdom, wholeness, faith, abundance and know that they are moving in and through everyone who is a part of the situation.
When we ask for prayer, we are saying that we’re ready for the situation to be different, to be improved, to be as we wish to see it. We are ultimately opening our hearts for that change in us that clarifies who we are and who we’ve come to be.
If you want support knowing you are healthy (because sometimes it’s hard to see for ourselves) then you call on others to pray with you.
We are not amassing numbers of prayers to petition God like those online contests for cutest baby. We join in prayer to hold the consciousness of health that you are aiming for. We pray together so that the requester can have their faith raised in knowing they are whole.
It’s true, that in some faith traditions there has been some talk about worthiness or petitioning, but Unity doesn’t teach it that way. Because we believe you are worthy as-is. The only one who can say if you are worthy of love, prayer, consideration etc is you!
You are worthy to take up space, and if you want to ask for prayers every single day, then do that.
However there’s one more thing to consider, prayer is a faith-boost. And the most faith-filled thing you can do once you have prayed about a topic is to trust that it is done. Do not spend your energy fretting, instead turn your face back to the knowing that it is done. Ask your prayer partners to know this too.
Asking knowing that others joining in your consciousness of prayer makes a difference is also an act of faith. Ask on dear friends, ask on.