Some weeks you can zing through happily without many troubles or trials. Some weeks you trudge through feeling as though Job from the Old Testament would feel sorry for you. 

Last week for me was not one of the good ones. 

Yet one evening as I paused to reflect, I found myself thinking: “Why don’t I feel more upset and anxious? How is it that I am relaxing, reading a good book and not worrying?” 

But already I knew the answer. People had been praying for me.

Even then in my spirit I had the distinct sense of being carried along by God’s Spirit, like a boat being carried along by the wind. This brought great peace and alleviated the need to strive or despair. 

This has reconfirmed to me how important it is for us to pray for each other. 

The epistles contain frequent mention of the early believers praying for each other. 

Praying for each other was an integral part of the outworking of their faith. 

James explicitly instructs believers to pray for each other, adding that the “prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16). 

The apostle Paul said that to “bear one another’s burdens” is how we “fulfil the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2). 

What more effective way is there to help carry each other’s burdens than by praying for them? 

We need to pray for each other more; prayers to build others up, to bless, to encourage, for help in times of trouble.

I thank God (literally) for the people that prayed for me this week. Some were trusted friends I asked to pray about a specific problem, others were a group of older women who I barely know, another a friend wise enough to interrupt a discussion to pray; knowing that would be of more help to me. 

You might join me in trying to rebalance your prayer life this week. 

A bit less about me, a bit more for others.  

Kate Polack, Horsham College chaplain for the Horsham Christian Ministers Association.