Prayers for Unknown People

2013-06-05

An interesting idea related to prayer. I can't remember if it was me or (a specific) someone else who thought of it. It definitely first came up in a conversation between the two of us. I recently had another opportunity to use it, however, so it is probably useful enough to share.

You may be in a circumstance where someone you know has some sort of problem and you wish you could ask people to pray for him/her. However, explaining why might require you to share confidential information. (For some odd reason, serious problems often involve secrets.) This can put you in a difficult spot.

The solution I know is that you can ask someone to pray for an (unnamed) friend identified as something like "that friend of _____'s". God knows everything, including what is in your head, so He presumably knows the friend is, even if the person praying does not.

This also applies to prayers for an unknown reason, and other such things.

Back to essays page
Back to home page