The Prayer That Looks Outward

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Date: June 18, 2024

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. 1 Timothy 2:1

 

What can we learn from a woman who lived 700 years ago and wrote the first book in English published by a woman?

 

Her book was called Revelations of Divine Love. Julian of Norwich devoted her life to prayer after almost dying when she was 30 years old. In response to her miraculous healing, she decided to live and pray in a small room attached to her local church. But she didn’t cut herself off from the world. Her little room had two windows. One looked out on the church so that she could join worship services, and the other looked out at the street so that she could talk and pray with people passing by.[1]

In the same way, we too are to see our lives as connected both to God’s family and to the wider world around us. Prayer is the space where we allow God’s care for people to flow through us. Nothing makes us love people so much as actually setting aside time to pray for them.

The Bible says, “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” (I Timothy 2:1). Praying for people means prioritizing taking the time to ask for God’s blessing in their lives. God answers these prayers with His power, and releases His love in us. Julian dedicated her life to praying like this, saying, “Lord, let not our souls be busy inns that have no room for you and yours, but quiet homes of prayer and praise where you might find fit company.”[2]

If you don’t know how to help a friend in need, start praying for them now. How can you make time for prayer today? Who will you pray for?

[1] Julian of Norwich. Revelations of Divine Love. Penguin Classics, London, 2003, p. 169.

[2] Ibid.