Question

How can praying for others affect how we feel about them? (1 Peter 3:8)

Answer 1

1 Peter 3:8 calls Christians to be “like-minded, sympathetic, loving, compassionate and humble.” Praying for others is one of the most direct ways to cultivate those attitudes, because prayer changes the pray-er as well as the prayed-for.

How prayer changes our feelings toward others
- Shifts attention away from ourselves and our grievances and toward the other person’s needs. Focusing on someone else’s good reduces self-centered resentment.
- Opens us to God’s perspective. Asking God to show us how he sees a person (their needs, hurts, potential) softens hard feelings and increases compassion.
- Breaks down pride and judgment. When we pray for another, we implicitly admit we need God’s help to love them—that humility reduces hostility.
- Replaces bitterness with blessing. Praying for someone’s well-being makes it harder to keep hating or wishing them harm.
- Motivates loving action. Prayer tends to produce concrete acts of kindness, which in turn change our emotions toward that person.

Practical ways to pray so it changes your heart
- Be specific: name the person and pray for concrete needs (peace, wisdom, provision, healing). Specifics make empathy more real.
- Pray for blessing, not only for change you want. Asking God to bless someone—even an enemy—reorients your heart.
- Ask God to show you how he sees them and to change your own heart (forgiveness, patience, humility).
- Pray regularly. Repeated intentional prayer rewires your habitual attitudes toward that person.
- Combine prayer with action. Pray then look for one small act of kindness you can do; action reinforces the feeling change.

Short example prayers
- For someone difficult: “Lord, help me see [name] as you do. Give them what they need and change my heart so I can respond in love, not anger.”
- For a hurting friend: “Father, comfort [name], meet their needs, and give me wisdom and compassion as I care for them.”

Result: praying doesn’t just ask God to act—it invites him to transform your heart so you become more like the attitude 1 Peter 3:8 describes: sympathetic, loving, compassionate, humble.