I recently turned 60. (I know, I don’t look a day over 65!) Trudi wanted to craft a special gift for my birthday. What a wonderful gift she designed! To celebrate my 60th birthday, she filled a decorative book with 60 handwritten Bible verses and 60 prayers for me based upon those verses. Now, whenever I sit down to write, as I did this morning, I first open my wife’s curated prayer book and read two to four Scriptures and their corresponding prayers before I begin work. Today as I read three more prayers based upon God’s Word, I teared up as I was reminded once again that I had a wife who constantly prays for me.

One of the reasons Trudi’s gift to me was so meaningful is that for years I’ve been writing prayers for others, usually at the end of emails. Especially when someone is suffering, I’ve found that a written prayer that includes the kinds of things I’m already praying ministers more effectively to my hurting friends than simply writing: “I’m praying for you.” I’ve also found that it is a helpful way of communicating to Christian friends the kinds of virtues that I’ve been praying will develop in their lives.

Maybe you should consider incorporating written prayers into your correspondence with others.

Observe that writing prayers that are read by the person you’re praying for isn’t some sort of modern idea, but is something that appears a number of times in the Bible. Here is one well-known example from the Apostle Paul:

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith — that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God (Eph 3:14-19).

Paul tells the Ephesians that he is praying for them. And then — in written form — he prays for them. His readers, consequently, receive encouragement both from knowing that Paul is praying for them and from getting a glimpse into the kinds of things he prays for them.

My own experience tells me that the benefit of writing prayers for others doesn’t only accrue to the one reading the prayers; they also benefit the writer. Writing prayers helps us to focus more precisely on what we want to pray. Luther, I believe, once gave the warning: “Beware of hit and miss prayers.” Writing prayers keeps you focused on exactly what you want to pray.

Yes, there is benefit for the writer. But never underestimate how much a written prayer could help the person you’re praying for. Who knows what may be going through your friend’s mind, or even what he or she might be struggling with at the precise moment your prayer arrives. God could use your prayer to soften a hard heart, encourage a weary soul, or comfort a grieving spirit. Besides, God truly answers prayer. A written prayer is every much a true prayer as is a spoken prayer.

Years ago, Dave Talley, then chair of the Biblical Studies department at Biola University (and now a pastor in Tennessee), reached out to see if I’d consider moving to California to teach at Biola’s Talbot School of Theology. Trudi had twice in the past resided in Southern California (once as a child and once with me as an adult), but never really wanted to live in So Cal again. Nevertheless, we prayerfully considered the invitation, and then replied no. A couple months after receiving our refusal, Dr. Talley reached out once more — just in case — with an email letting Trudi and me know that the position was still open, and once again encouraging us to come to Biola if there was any openness on our part.

I now wish I had saved that email. That’s because Dave finished his email with a rather long prayer. It was the most open-hearted and genuine prayer you can imagine — that God would lead and bless Trudi and me…whether we came to Biola, moved somewhere else, or continued to teach college students and serve in the church where we already were established. His written prayer included requests for our spiritual growth, for effectiveness in ministry, for blessings in our marriage, and wisdom in raising our daughters. When I showed the email to Trudi, Dave’s prayer melted her heart and opened up in her a willingness to move back to Southern California — a place she really hadn’t wanted to live again. It was the same prayer that made me ponder whether Biola might be a place where people not only cared about imparting head knowledge, but where the heart of the professor mattered — something that was of critical importance to me.

Receiving that written prayer considerably influenced Trudi and me to move in the direction of Biola, where I’ve been teaching for the past 22 years.

I know that writing little prayers isn’t world-impacting ministry. It’s merely one small thing a Christian can do to encourage others. But whether you write hand-written notes, like Trudi often does, or include short prayers at the end of a text or email, the impact is likely to be further-reaching than you anticipate. You might later discover that a prayer you prayed — that is, a prayer you wrote — became a catalyst for a significant work of God in someone’s life.

This post and other resources are available at Kindle Afresh: The Blog and Website of Kenneth Berding.