We've all been there: Sitting at your desk minding your own business. Standing in line at Target after picking up an extra $56 of stuff, but completely forgetting about the shampoo you actually went here for (how does that place do that to us every! time!?). Driving down the road between meetings or after school activity pickups...

And then, out of nowhere, someone comes to mind. It might be a name or a flash of their face, but in that moment we know: The Spirit brought this person to mind for a reason... If you're anything like me, there's often a brief moment of panic. What am I supposed to pray for? Are they in trouble right now? Should I call them and make sure they're ok?

Sometimes when the Spirit prompts us to pray for someone, we later find out there was a good reason for it. Other times, it's just because.

So, what do you do when the Spirit brings someone to mind? Here's what I do:

Sit quietly for a moment to see if a specific prayer comes to mind. And if it does, I pray it, then text the person and tell them specifically what I prayed for them.

If nothing specific comes to mind, here are a few things I do:

Thank God for them and for whatever relationship I have with them
If they're married, pray for their spouse by name and ask God to help them guard and protect their marriage.
If they're not married, ask God to come close to them in that moment and remind them of how much they're loved.
If they're a parent, pray for each child by name, and ask God to give them grace, peace, and wisdom in their parenting that day.
Ask God to reveal Himself to them as whatever it is they most need at the moment. (God is everything we need, sometimes we just need the reminder.)
Wait another moment to see if anything else comes to mind.

The most important thing I do when I'm done praying is let them know I was thinking of them and that I prayed for them. There are days when we just need to know someone loves us enough to pray for us, right?

There's no need to panic when the Spirit puts someone on your heart and mind. You never have to pray the perfect words for another person. In fact, God Himself is the only one who even knows what those words are. But we know that Jesus is constantly praying for us (see Hebrews 7:25) and that the Spirit prays on our behalf when we don't have the words (see Romans 8:26-27).

The words we pray aren't the important part. What is of greatest importance is that we respond to the prompting of the Holy Spirit quickly and faithfully. We may never know why that person came to mind in that moment, but the battles we face everyday are spiritual (see Ephesians 6), and our prayers can move mountains!