Sometimes the most obvious thing to do is to pray. Yet, even when it’s terribly obvious, I sometimes miss it. Thank goodness for friends.

Last night a friend shared something huge and heavy with six of us who work in the same ministry. It was the first time the painful situation—which has been going on for years—had been shared. I made a note to myself to do some serious intercession for this family. And I will. But we were in the middle of a meeting, and honestly, it didn’t even occur to me to pray on the spot.

Thankfully, another person in the group asked, “Can we pray for you right now?” Of course, both our hurting friend and the leader of the group agreed. So we spent the next 20 minutes or so in heartfelt, Spirit-led intercession. The sense of God’s love and presence was powerful, and I believe the experience of in-the-moment praying will help us all to remember to pray more faithfully for our friends in their struggle.

I know this already: In-person, real-time prayer means more to me than prayer promised (although I’m happy to receive both!). So I want to remember that and do the obvious thing: When a friend shares a God-sized need, I want to pray for that person right then and there. It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it?

To read an article on this topic, go to http://www.navpress.com/magazines/archives/article.aspx?id=21346.