A little earlier I was listening to christian music on the radio, & heard
Matthew West speaking about something at 1 of his concerts.

Basically he was talking to a female, & she indicated that the following
morning she was having surgery, as she has been battling cancer for
some time.  He responded that he would be praying for her, & it struck
him that was not the correct response - why wait, he should be praying
immediately for her, calling on Jesus for her.   The "will be praying for you"
sometimes does not happen, he gets busy with things, or just forgets.

It hit me that I am guilty of this as well.  I try to respond here (the site),
when someone requests prayer, has lost a loved one, battling health
issues, etc., with a response that I will pray for them, but have to admit
there are times I have "dropped the ball".

I also thought about the question- why wait?  If someone is in need of
prayer, there is probably nothing else on here (the site) that is really
more important that I need to go to.  When prayer is requested, it
is probably needed, now- not later.   My take anyway, ymmv..

I pray before every meal and when i say ill pray for you i do it with my wife and children or i do it then and there. Never really thought about saying it but not doing it.

I am guilty of the same, which is why I sometimes add to my prayers "and for the intentions that I've promised, but failed to pray for."

I have no doubt that, God working outside of time and being infinitely merciful, late prayers are not wasted.

This^^^^^^

I fully agree

I couldn’t tell how many people have said that they will pray for me and in most cases, I’m sure that they did but I vividly remember every person who has prayed over me and with me. I try to be deliberate about doing the same with others. It can be awkward and uncomfortable but I believe that it is ultimately very powerful.

Good idea, I have started trying to stop and pray at the time when I read or hear of a request, doing it immediately

I remember reading something once about a guy's daughter that was brutely killed in an extremely painful matter 5 years ago.

He said since God is outside of time, he would pray daily that God would reduce her pain that she had to go thru.

Interesting to think about.....can we pray that God intercedes in past events? (past to us anyway)

100%.  I have faith in the power of prayer.

Who knows what someone has prayed in the past or future for me, but I am eternally grateful.

The Apostle Paul’s beloved analogy of the Church as the Body of Christ. The Body’s members, Christians throughout time and space, are intimately connected: “As a body is one though it has many parts, … so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body …. If [one] part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy” (1 Cor 12:12-13, 26).

In the 18th century, As a young man, Bishop William von Ketteler of Mainz had a conversion — a vision of Christ revealing His Sacred Heart and, kneeling before Him, a nun, her work-roughened hands raised in prayer. A voice admonished, “She prays unremittingly for you!” William abandoned his career as a lawyer and entered the seminary, embarking upon a priestly life that proved as spiritually fruitful as his former one had been worldly.

Thirty years later, distributing Holy Communion at a convent, he froze in disbelief: the nun of his vision was approaching the Communion rail. Later he learned that she offered the difficult menial tasks of her daily life to Christ’s Sacred Heart for one particular soul whom God would choose. Would she like to know who that soul was? “No. Our dear God knows, and that is enough.” Ketteler asked her age and then, astounded, her date of birth; she was born on the day of his conversion. He confided to a friend: “Now I found the one I have to thank for my vocation. It is the poorest lay sister of that convent. On the day she first saw the light of the world, God worked my conversion, accepting in advance her future prayers and works.”

St. Padre Pio taught that you can retroactively pray. Can't hurt, right?  https://www.ncregister.com/blog/is-it-possible-to-pray-across-time

Interesting thought indeed.

Since God is all-knowing, and knows what will occur in the future,  God knew when the event occurred (5 yrs ago), that this
man would be praying (to this day) to ease the pain at the time, possibly easing the pain before death occurs.  

I believe yes, God will consider prayers after our time of need.

Something I have often wondered - if a true victim is going through a horrific/brutal murder, rape, assault, torture, etc..
does God ease or block the pain and suffering they may be going through before the point of death? Does God "remove" them
from the devastating pain & misery they may be experiencing?  (such as a young child or a female being abducted, tortured,
sexually assaulted, etc..)  I know we will all feel pain, suffering and death, but I truly hope that pain is eased for those type of
situations,  we live with a lot of evil demons in this world

1 Thessalonians 5:17 (NSV)
Pray without ceasing.

5:16-18
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

If you are always praying then it is easier to insert something in your prayer.
But, I am not a very good Christian. I wish I was more of example of continuous prayer. I would be a better man if I followed this advice.

Not trying throw the thread off the rails, if you haven't read a book about Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson, you need to. Jackson was a very interesting and very religious man. Before the war, Jackson was a very bad Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy, or Physics, at VMI He was also probably a very good and Instructor of Artillery. When asked by a friend what did pray without ceasing mean? He said:

“I have so fixed the habit in my own mind that I never raise a glass of water to my lips without lifting my heart to God in thanks and prayer for the water of life.

Then, when we take our meals, there is grace. Whenever I drop a letter in the post-office, I send a petition along with it for God’s blessing upon its mission and the person to whom it is sent. When I break the seal of a letter just received, I stop to ask God to prepare me for its contents, and make it a messenger of good.

When I go to my class-room and await the arrangement of the cadets in their places, that is my time to intercede with God for them. And so in every act of the day I have made the practice of prayer habitual.”

https://fundamental.org/2023/01/21/stonewall-jackson-on-praying-without-ceasing/

What is the authoritative biography of him?

I like the one by Byron Farwell.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0393310868?tag=arfcom00-20

Perhaps one of the best ways to learn about someone is get as close to them as possible. His second wife (first died), Mary Anna wrote a book of Memoirs, perhaps a bit biased, however it provides an interesting perspective on their home life. Farwell uses a lot of Mary Anna's book as references.
One of the local libraries has an original copy which I have read much of.
I am not sure about this version. It has mixed reviews.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1494450860?tag=arfcom00-20

Jackson was a quirky man. If it had not been for the Civil War, he would have been a long forgotten eccentric professor at VMI. He was by all accounts of his students, a horrible teacher. He memorized his lessons and if a student asked a question, he would stop, not answer the question, but start at the beginning of the lecture going word-for-word all over again.

Mary Anna wrote about the daily home life and that her husband had a rigid schedule, especially concerning eating and prayers, he would start, even if she was late.  

He had a great faith in God and went to great lengths to practice Christianity. One evening a man that lived some distance away from Jackson was awaked in the middle of the night. I seem to recall it was around 2-3 am. He found Jackson at his door. Jackson told him. In a conversation, he had told the man something they were discussing a few days ago occurred on a Monday. It had actually occurred on Tuesday. Jackson then turned and left. I am not sure if that was just Jackson's idiosyncrasy or his genuine desire not to accidentally lie and when he remembered the truth, he had to clear his conscious.

To humbly answer your question about praying: "Why wait?"

Yes! PRAY IMMEDIATELY!

But, we created beings are limited by the aspects of time and space; God is not. We may not immediately have the time nor space to do so.

God knows, recognizes, and understands this as any father does.

Prayer is our 'life-line,' our communication fixing and continuing our personal relationship with the living God. Do it whenever possible.

"For me, prayer is a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy." ~ Marie Françoise-Thérèse Martin

Interesting concept.

I understand praying for the future, protection, and preparation, but praying for someone in the past? I have never thought of it before.

We can't change the outcome, but we are linear (?) in time and God is not. He knew the event would occur thousands of years ago, would He not also know that you are praying for the people that went through the event, even though it occurred long ago, but He knows you would pray for them, although in the retrospect, prior to the event occurring in His timeline.

I asked several people this yesterday and it is a mind blowing exercise in thought.

Since God is outside of time, He exists in all of "our" times, He is present in all our times at all times.  

So praying today, for something that happened 5 years ago, He hears it while it's happening 5 years ago(our time).

It's even confusing for me trying to think about how to type it out.