Someone Prayed for Me at My Restaurant

Four years ago I was out to lunch with a Christian business man. It was a simple lunch. One, that to be honest, I don’t remember much about that lunch except for this:

When our food came – the man asked the waiter if we could pray for him…

“Excuse me. I have a question for you – we are going to ask God to bless our food before we eat. Is there anything that we could pray about for you? Anything at all?”

It was so simple. But it was so impactful to the waiter. He was caught off guard. He struggled for words. But in the end he shared a prayer request. We acknowledged it and prayed for him and his request – as we prayed for our own meal.

That’s it.

And yet I was struck that this was something God wanted me to do when I was out to eat. So I have. Over the last four years I estimate I’ve done this more than 500 times.

So with this website we simply want to do three things:

1. Invite people to share their story – of being prayed for -or- praying for someone.
2. Share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with people – which is our only hope for eternal life with God in heaven.
3. Invite people to join us in praying for others when they are out to eat.

Will you join us?

Did you pray for someone? Did they pray for you? We would love to hear your story!

If you are willing, share your testimony below of what happened. One day we hope to anonymously share the many testimonies we have witnessed while praying for people at their jobs – most commonly as servers in restaurants…

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.” – Romans 1:16, Paul

What the Gospel is Not:

There is no hope of heaven with God or forgiveness of our sins apart from the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

THE TEXT BELOW IS FROM TOM HARMON (and his website – TDHarmon.com)
(his website is an invaluable resource of teaching on the Gospel and victorious living in Jesus Christ)

A Sixty Second Sermon
Point #1, Life is short and death is certain. When a man gets between 35 and 40 yrs of age, he realizes he is entering into the second half of life. If he’s honest he will admit that it’s going by in a blurr, and even an atheist must admit he will some day die.

Point #2, Life treats all of us differently, death treats all of us the same. No one chooses his parents or many or the circumstances that shape their lives. A few different situations in my life and I could be in prison rather than a pulpit, a drug addict rather than a doctor, etc. Death treats all of us the same, rich, poor, white black, young, old, male female, educated or illiterate, when you’re in the coffin, you’re just dead.

Point #3, Where are you going to go when you die, and upon what do you base that hope? I’ve written a book, “You Must Be Born Again”. It explains from Holy Scripture God’s only provision to escape his wrath and spend eternity in heaven.

Scriptures upon which this message is based, James 4:14, Hebrews 9:27, 1 Corinthians 4:7, Ecclesiastes 2:16, Romans 3:10-12, Ecclesiastes 7:20, John 17:3, John 14:6, John 3:1-19.

Sixty Second Follow Up Sermon
I think you believe in God, I think you believe in life after death. Surely you must think there is more to life than a house, a car, a profession, and some clothes. I think you are a good guy, but if your hope of heaven is that you hope you are good enough, I must cut to the chase and tell you no one is good enough. Heaven is not for those who hope they are good enough it’s for those who know they are not. If you and I could be good enough to get to heaven, God would never have sent his Son to die on the cross to pay the penalty for our sins. It only takes one sin to keep us from being right with a holy God, ask Adam.

Have you ever had a time when you’ve told God that you accept the provision of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as your only hope of heaven? Have you ever had a time when you have confessed your sin to him and asked him to forgive you, to come into your life and be your savior? God desires to place his Spirit in all those who will humbly ask for mercy and receive him into their life. Have you ever been born again? If you would like to do that right now I can help you with a simple prayer from the Bible.

Sinner’s Prayer: Oh Lord, have mercy on me. I confess I have sinned against you, and that Jesus [the Son of God] died for my sins. Forgive me Lord. Jesus alone is my hope of eternal life in heaven. Right now I ask you to come into my life and save me.

Scriptures for this message: Genesis 3:6-11, Luke 18:19, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, Ephesians 1:7, Luke 18:13-14, John 1:12, John 4:10

So here’s the very simple process we use to pray for servers at restaurants.

1. Go out to eat.
2. When you give the server your drink order ask them this, “What is your name…?“
3. Then simply say, “Thank you, [their name].”
4. When your drinks come to the table again thank them, using their name, “Thanks [their name]!“
5. Your food will come eventually and that is your time to ask them if you can pray for them.
6. “[Their name], we have a quick question for you.“
7. “Before we eat, we are going to give thanks and ask God to bless our food.“
8. “Is there anything we could pray for you about? Health, family, job, school, finances? Anything at all?“
9. Then wait…
10. They may not understand and you might have to ask it again. People are often caught off guard by this question.
11. Eventually they will offer up something to pray about.
12. Tell them you’d love to pray for that.
13. 90% of the time they will walk away – remember they are working.
14. Just add their prayer request into your prayers to the Lord for your meal.
15. It is just that simple…

Our teenage kids can do this at a restaurant and have!

One last thing – come back to TheyPrayed.com and share your testimony!