3 Part Prayer Plan for the Unavoidable Crisis of Life

Kevin Senapatiratne 2015

Therefore let all the faithful pray to you

    while you may be found;

surely the rising of the mighty waters

    will not reach them. Psalm 32:6

This is one of my favorite verses from one of my favorite chapters of the Bible. It is so full of truth of the realities of life. Here are some truths to help you when that next crisis of life hits you.

Build the path of prayer when you are not in crisis.

The author is reminding us it might be harder to find God in the midst of a crisis so make a habit of prayer when things are going well. As much as I would like it otherwise difficulty will come in life, but I can prepare ahead of time by praying before I get there.

Call out to God the best that you know how in the midst of your crisis.

It may feel hard to find God in the midst of your crisis. When the storm is crashing down and you feel like you are sinking the only prayer you might be able to pray will be like Peter when he was sinking, “Lord, save me!” It may be hard but reach out as best you can on the path that you built before.

Give yourself grace when the storm comes.

As this passage reminds us when storms come it can be hard to even have the strength to reach out. But the beauty is that in those moments we can simply rest in God. The very next verse reminds us that He is our hiding place. In the hiding place you don’t have to do anything but stay still and let the hiding place protect you from the danger outside. God is able to protect you as you rest in Him!

2 steps to move you toward your life changing moment

 Tree

I have been thinking about certain before and after moments in my life. These are those moments where after them, “life will never be the same.” I didn’t always realize till afterwards how dramatic a change it would be after the event. The day that I got married was one of those moments. In the course of a 24 hour period my life would be changed forever. Other moments include the birth of our daughter, graduations, and job moves. In a moment things are changed in the story of my life for ever.

I have also had God moments that changed the direction of my life. They became like turning the page of a book and being in a whole new chapter. Some of them even felt like a whole new book was being written. One of my favorite sayings is that, “God can do in a moment what would take us a lifetime.” What if you could create more of those moments in your life? Here are two things you can do.

[tweetthis]God can do in a moment what would take us a lifetime.[/tweetthis]

Keep going after God even when it was difficult.

I love the story of Zacchaeus. I was in a prayer service and someone pointed out how Jesus said that “today” salvation had come to his house. Zacchaeus had a before or after moment. The trajectory of his life and maybe his family was changed from that moment. But he had to push through some challenges to get to his experience with Jesus. We may have to push through our own reservations, cultural expectations or something else to get in the presence of Jesus for our life changing moment.

Work at the skills that you have right in front of you.

I am doing a study of the books of 1 and 2 Samuel. We all love the story of David and Goliath. But in David’s mind he was prepared for that life changing moment because he had become good with the sling while he was waiting for a moment like that. He knew he was anointed to be king, but became skilled with a sling while he was waiting. If you want to experience graduation from high school there will be a lot of moments of working on skills when you don’t feel like it. What part of your your relationship with God do you need to work on as you move toward your life changing moment?

If you press in to God even when it is difficult and work on the things right in front of you there are life changing moments in your future. Don’t give up at the bottom of the tree that Zacchaeus climbed to get to see Jesus. Don’t get an attitude about protecting the sheep in your care because you are someday going to be king. Your future self will thank you.