What if your struggle that seems to be crushing you right now will become the source of the greatest miracle of your life? This story should encourage you.
4 Things To Help You Pray When You Are In Distress
Sometimes in life things do not go as planned. We are trying to serve God and life seems to be going backwards instead of forward. Maybe the wheels seem to be coming off of a close relationship. Maybe we face a sudden health or financial crisis. It may be that we feel like God is calling us to do something and right now it just looks like we are banging our head against the wall.
There is a story in the Bible that might give you some encouragement. We read the story of a person like King David and we forget the journey that he went on to get there. He is anointed as king; so in other words it was God’s plan for him to be king. He kills Goliath and becomes a great warrior. He is friends with the king’s son and marries the king’s daughter.
But then life seems to turn to shambles. The king is trying to kill him. How would you feel if the military of your country was trying to capture you? He is on the run and must leave his close friend and wife behind. Then he gets the idea to go to the Philistines and hide there. Ultimately this would be a good plan, but the first time he goes to the king the only way to get out of there alive is to pretend to be crazy. I think that qualifies as a bad day.
Yet there is encouragement for us in this story. At the time that this is happening David writes Psalm 34 which gives us a backdrop for how to deal with these times in our life. It is even cool because each verse starts with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Now there is way more in this chapter than we can cover here but let me give you 4 things to help you with your prayer life during these times.
Turn your attention to who God is no matter what is happening.
It is easy during times of distress to lose perspective. David begins this psalm with praise to God. Throughout the psalm we are reminded that even in the difficult times of our life God is still in control of the universe. He is still on the throne and worthy of our worship. This will help us adjust our view of our current struggles.
Check your heart for any issues you need to deal with in this moment.
David is not for a moment suggesting that people should blame themselves when they are in distress. Rather he is encouraging people to keep their heart soft and pure in a situation that can easily turn a person bitter. We want to align ourselves with a holy and awesome God in these situations.
Bring your needs to God without reservation.
I love the language this psalm used to describe our prayer to God. “The righteous cry out,” “Seek the Lord” “the poor man cried” is all language of not holding back. When you are in distress that is not the time for religious posturing and pious pretense. David encourages an all out bringing of your brokenness to God. I have talked elsewhere about emotion and prayer.
[tweetthis]In distress that is not the time for religious posturing and pious pretense. Pour out your heart.[/tweetthis]
Trust God to answer your prayer.
One of my favorite parts of this psalm is that God is trustworthy and involved with His people. Such great promises are for those who pour out their heart to God. “He delivered me from all of my fears.” “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” And on and on it goes. When we focus on Him, keep our heart clean and bring our need to God we can trust Him to involve Himself in our situation. Will you go to Him today?
Preparing Your Prayer Life For 2017
The New Year is one of my favorite times of the year. I love it because people give themselves permission to look up from the daily grind and reflect on where they are and where they are trying to go. I try to build into my year times when God can speak to me big picture, but the week before and after New Years Day is a natural time for that.
I could write a lot about capturing the adventure of following Jesus. Actually my book that I am working on for 2017 will be perfect to challenge you to engage in the life that God has for you. But for now let me try and set you up for success in your prayer life in 2017. My top 5 most read new posts of 2016 will set the stage that you need. Here they are (not in order of most read):
5 Steps To Get Your Prayer Life Off The Ground: Maybe you are feeling overwhelmed by where to start with a prayer life. This post gives you 5 steps to get started.
11 Leaders Give Advice To Have Your Best Prayer Life Ever: The Apostle Paul says we can grow with models. This post gives you prayer advice from people like Mac Powell from Third Day or Dave Butts who is head of America’s National Prayer Committee
A great way to take a prayer life to the next level is to get involved in some sort of group prayer gathering. Whether you are leading a church in prayer or just starting a small group for prayer 6 Ingredients Of A Powerful Prayer Service and 4 Prayer Services Most People Won’t Go To are sure to give you some ideas for the new year.
10 Books That I Loved On Prayer: If you want to dig a little deeper in your prayer life in 2017 maybe read a book on prayer this year. Of course I wrote a book on the subject but this list is a great collection that could change your life.
Don’t let these suggestions overwhelm you. Pick one thing or one book and get started. To paraphrase my dentist: Doing something poorly is better than doing nothing perfect. Let us be a people that get to know Jesus more this year because simple decisions that we make.
[tweetthis]Let us be a people that get to know Jesus more this year because simple decisions that we make.[/tweetthis]
