Lifting You Up (in prayer)

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The longer version

What it means

To lift someone up in prayer is to pray for them — specifically, to bring them and their situation to God, as if carrying them into His presence and holding them there. "We're lifting you up" means "we're praying for you, and we mean it." Inside a spoken prayer, "Lord, we lift up…" is the phrase that introduces each person being prayed for; a prayer meeting may lift up a dozen names in a row.

Why people say it

The image comes from the Psalms — "to You, LORD, I lift up my soul," "may my prayer be set before You like incense; may the lifting up of my hands be like the evening sacrifice" — and from Moses holding up his hands over the battle while Israel fought. Lifting is a posture of offering: you raise the thing you're worried about toward the One who can do something. It's also warmer than "praying for you," which can sound routine; "lifting you up" says the prayer has weight.

How to respond

"Thank you" — that's it. If you want to say more, "I appreciate that" or "I could use it" are both honest. If you're not religious, the offer is still kindness and can be received as such. If you're in a prayer meeting and someone says "let's lift up Sarah," they mean it's Sarah's turn to be prayed for; you can add a sentence or stay quiet.

If you hear it in different churches

Evangelical, Baptist, Pentecostal, and non-denominational mostly. Catholics say "I'll keep you in my prayers" or "I'll remember you at Mass"; Orthodox say "I'll remember you"; Anglicans and Lutherans say "you're in my prayers." The idea is universal; the lifting image is evangelical.

Where does “Lifting You Up (in prayer)” come from?

The Psalms lift up the soul (25:1), the eyes (121:1), and the hands (134:2) toward God, and Lamentations 3:41 says "let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven." Moses's raised hands in Exodus 17 — supported by Aaron and Hur when he tired — is the picture of intercession that won't quit. "Lift up in prayer" is old Protestant devotional English; "lifting you up" as a conversational promise is twentieth-century evangelical usage, and the text-message version ("lifting you up!") arrived with texting.

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