Unfortunately, when it comes to praying, it is known that the majority of people pray for others but not for themselves. This is due to the common and familiar phrase: “Place others before yourself.” Whether it’s on television or real life; there is a specific word that most individuals repeat: “Why Me? Why would I bother someone for me? I don’t want to bother anyone with my problems.” This is very common. How about you? Did you pray for yourself this morning; what about last night?
Pray For Yourself-Classic: Why Me?
You may tend to ask for family, friends and their surroundings; having the mentality that you are too heavy to be prayed for; or simply unworthy of God’s time. Thinking you are unworthy of anyone’s time takes us down different roads. Either you’re simply humble and completely unselfish, or you may have a low self-esteem. Regardless of either, God is eager to hear from you.
The truth is, you must pray for yourself first. You should ask God to forgive you for your daily recurring mistakes and sins, to bless and protect you. It is very important for you to pray for yourself because it’s your own life. Are you waiting for someone else to pass by and pray for you?
How will your issues go away if you don’t first pray for yourself? Is your mentality: “Well, God knows my problem and he should fix it.” That is what one usually thinks but; that is not how it works.
A story of A lovely girl
“No shoes? ” was what I got asked that night. So, my mother and I had just finished attending of a lovely crusade where I lost my shoes; yes, I lost my shoes. So we went to grab a shake to Chick Fil A ; where a young guy around 18 is asking for money to buy his 11year old sister a meal. She was at a corner away from everybody hiding from humiliation.
As her brother is ordering, she frighteningly asks me: “How do I know that God loves me?” I’m heartbroken by her reaction which brought tears to both our eyes. The Holy Spirit answered that question for her but I added: “He loves and cares for you so much. You are beautiful inside and out. It doesn’t matter what others think because you are special in God’s eyes and that’s all that matters.” She replies with a look of a thousand questions; “Really? He cares?” Her face and questions were priceless. I will never forget this girl.
“Pray, talk to him, that’s what God is waiting for us to do. If we don’t pray, how will he guide us? How will you know how special and beautiful you are if you don’t talk to Him? ” She smiled and gave me a hug.
I now tell you the same thing. Include yourself in your own prayer; pray for yourself.
After praying
So yes, God knows your problems but He won’t fix it out of nowhere. Helping you with your issues comes with a price. You must seek God when you’re joyful as much as when you’re down. Talking to Him isn’t a thing that just blows off. He does listen but you yet may not know how how he speaks.
Read: God Speaks
Others usually seek for help when it comes to prayer. As one of my mentors says: “If you know how to pray, then pray yourself.”
I know this might sound rude, but they’re right. Why should we ask for help in prayer when we are perfectly capable of doing it ourselves? You could ask for support in prayer, which is very different.
Your solution won’t always be right away. At times, it takes a while because going through trials and tribulations in order to learn from both, life and God. So don’t expect your issues to be instantly removed. Nor expect the solution to your issue to randomly appear because you prayed three times. You must have consistency with prayer. No, praying for yourself, i by including yourself in prayer is not being selfish; please get that through your head.
Think of yourself as the head of a household or business. If the head is not doing well, how will the people they’re responsible for be? What modeling are you actually demonstrating when not taking care of yourself first?
A blind cannot lead a blind.
“I’ll pray for my kids, but not for myself”
Excuse me? First, you need to be well. Pray for yourself!
Newbie to Prayer
All right, let’s assume you don’t know how to pray. I have to share this following story because it was so hilarious to me. So I was discipling a small group of 17-20 year old’s that specific day, and it came to pass the time to pray. I asked them all to say a small prayer on what they were thankful for. Taught them that praying is having a direct conversation with GOD; hence, he already knows it all.
So this young guy says: “What’s up God, so thank-” The face on his girlfriend’s face fell apart as she interrupted him with a “What’s up God? That’s not how you talk to God! I can’t believe you just did that!” What I found to be hilarious was her reaction, not the way he was praying because if “What’s up God” works for him, then hey; go for it.
Especially if you’re a newbie to prayer; which he was. The most important thing about prayer is to be completely sincere and transparent about it. Praying should never be filtered. However, one should always treat God with Respect; wherever and whenever.
Prayer Example
Heavenly father, I thank you for waking me up today and having the oxygen I need to survive. I ask for your forgiveness; there is oh so much I need to learn. I ask you to bless and protect my family and me from all harm. Place me in the cup of your hands and send an angel to protect us wherever I go. Help me see life with my spiritual eyes and not my flesh. I thank you for everyone you place in my path; for everyone has a purpose in my life. Thank you for showing me the content ‘Pray for yourself” which has reminded me that I am also important in your eyes. In Jesus name, Amen.
The bible comes with a prayer sample in itself. (source)
Read: Pray without ceasing
Please share below what you learned or your perspective regarding this content 🙂
Yes, prayer is so important! We should start each day talking to God, and surrendering it all to him!
Inspiring Post. I leave you with the only response I can think of.
And this is the confidence that we have in Him: that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: and if we know that he hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have petitions that we desired of Him 1 John 5:14-15
This was a thought-provoking article, and I never actually thought about why we never pray for ourselves. Maybe it is because we are taught to put others first and it feels almost wrong to do so.
We do however tend to thank God for our health and blessings, but maybe we think it is wrong to ask things for ourself. You have a good point though that if you are not 100 percent, how can you perform your best for others, so I think it should be perfectly fine to pray for your own health and well being too.
Yeah, our well being affects those around us.
Besides, who says we’re not worth praying for?
Ourselves? Lol.