Part 2: Praying for the Distracted
Soccer is an exciting sport for many parents to watch their kids here in Colorado, and our family is no different. When the season begins, Saturday mornings find us next to a long line of folding armchairs at the edge of the field - Luke and team mates running drills, working hard, persevering often in the struggle against a veteran team, Grace cheering him on, Katie and I with our coffee cups trying to stay warm in the early spring air.
I love watching my kids involved with team sports. There's something beautiful about seeing them push themselves, improve, and celebrate with teammates. These are the things that make parents proud.
But I've noticed something. When Saturday mornings are filled with soccer. Sunday mornings become the only morning to sleep in, and the week is a blur of work and homework and practices and errands... God gets crowded out. Not rejected. Just... displaced by a hundred good things.
I see this pattern everywhere. The neighbor who'd love to talk sometime but is juggling two jobs and aging parents. The coworker who knows he should think about spiritual things but can't get his head above water. The friend from college who used to have space for deeper conversations but now only has bandwidth for logistics.
They're not running from God. They're just running.
And that prayer I mentioned in Part 1 that I started praying for them, helped me see I needed to name this barrier: distraction.
Praying for the Distracted - Example
In Part 1, I shared how I started naming barriers in my prayers rather than just saying "Lord, help them knowYou in a personal relationship."
Now let me show you what that looks like when praying for someone who's distracted:
"Father, these are good people trying to do good things. They love their families. They work hard. They're not rejecting You - they just can't slow down long enough to hear Your voice. The noise of life drowns out everything else. They wake up tired, go to bed exhausted, and the days blur together.
They're not necessarily avoiding You intentionally. They've just built a life that leaves no margin for You. Every moment is spoken for. And when they finally have space to breathe, they're too depleted to think about anything deeper than sleep.
Some of them have good intentions - to pray, to understand You better, to find a church. But 'someday' never comes because there's always something more urgent demanding their attention right now.
Lord, have mercy on them. They don't see what they're losing. They don't realize they're trading their souls for schedules. Open their eyes. Create space. Interrupt their routines with Your presence in a way they can't ignore."
Biblical Precedent: Martha & Mary
When we think about Martha and Mary, one of the things that connects with me is that these were believers - and they still struggled with distraction.
Martha loved Jesus. She opened her home to Him. She was serving Him. But listen to how Jesus described what was happening: "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her" (Luke 10:41-42).
Martha wasn't doing something wrong. She was doing something good - preparing a meal and being hospitable. But her good work had become a distraction from the one thing that mattered most in that moment: sitting at Jesus' feet.
This is the trap of distraction. It's often not sin that crowds God out - it's good things. Important things. Necessary things. Things that feel urgent and justified.
Martha's distraction wasn't Netflix or laziness. It was service. It was responsibility. It was done with a desire to show love and taking care of legitimate needs. And yet Jesus still said, "You're missing what matters most."
Why This Matters
So why does it matter if we pray for the distracted in this way?
Because when we pray with this kind of specific compassion, something shifts in us. We stop being frustrated with people who "just won't make time for God." We start seeing them the way Jesus saw Martha - with tenderness, not condemnation.
We recognize that distraction isn't defiance. I’ve lived this tendency more times than I care to admit. It's a slow drift that all of us have likely experienced many times. And the people caught in it often don't even realize what's happening until years have passed.
When we pray like this, we position ourselves differently too. Instead of waiting for distracted people to "get their priorities straight," we start asking: How can I create space for them? What would it look like to interrupt their routine with an invitation they can't ignore? How can I be part of God's answer to this prayer?
Maybe it's a text that says "I've been thinking about you - coffee this week?" Maybe it's an invitation to something simple, low-commitment, that opens a door. Maybe it's just being present in their chaos without adding more demands.
Prayer for the distracted isn't just about asking God to change them. It's about asking God to use us in their lives - to be the interruption, the margin, the reminder that there's more to life than the grind.
Closing
Here's the takeaway: most people aren't far from God because they hate Him. They're far from God because they're exhausted, overwhelmed, and out of bandwidth.
And when we pray for them with compassion - when we name their distraction without condemnation - we start to see them the way Jesus does. Not as people who need to try harder, but as people who need an invitation… to rest.
That's the kind of prayer that doesn't just move heaven. It moves us to meet them where they are.
Next in this series: Part 3 will explore praying for the religiously deceived - those who think they're right with God but have never truly encountered His true grace.
Invitation to the Pilot Devotional - Everyday Evangelism
If you want to go deeper in learning how to engage lost people with confidence and compassion, I've created a 40-day devotional that equips believers to recognize moments of spiritual openness and respond with grace. I'm currently looking for a small group of people to pilot this resource and provide feedback before a wider release - if you're interested in being part of the pilot group, email me at grant.reed@rd2tell.com. The pilot involves 15 minutes of daily reading for 6 weeks, plus one hour of weekly group discussion (virtual is an option).
Author Bio
Grant Reed is the founder of Ready to Tell Ministries and serves as Prayer & Care Director for Marked Men For Christ, a global men's ministry reaching 19,000+ men across 30 countries. He holds an M.Div. and M.A. in Ministry from Southwestern Seminary and is a graduate of the Billy Graham School of Evangelism. Grant is a passionate speaker, teacher, and author focused on bringing others to Christ and equipping believers to share their faith with confidence and compassion.