Have you ever felt like you need a change in your life ? I mean a real and deep change, like a revolution ? It may be about yourself or your loved ones, it may be about health, marriage, kids, or whatever.
We all have areas and situations in our lives where we want to see God bring change. And we pray for it, don’t we ? Of course we do. But, there’s prayer and there’s prayer!
There are prayers we pray in comfort, when things are not too bad or we don’t perceive them as that bad. And there are prayers we pray when we can no longer stand it.
The Bible says in James 5: 16 that “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working”. The same verse in the LSG version speaks of the “fervent prayer”.
Fervent means “having or displaying a passionate intensity”. Let’s look at how Jesus prayed in Gethsemane:
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch[d] with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26: 36 – 39
Here, Jesus was pressured by the suffering he was going to endure. In Luke 22: 44, we read about the same episode:
“And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground”.
Jesus’ soul is very sorrowful, even to death. Luke says that Jesus was in agony. These words describe the state of mind of Jesus as he thought of the sufferings he was going to undergo. And that brought him to fall on his knees and pray earnestly and his sweat was like drops of blood! Wow! That was extremely strong and powerful!
The intensity, the fervor of your prayer are determined by the heaviness of the situation you want God to change.
Today I can look back and see how tolerant I was to a situation I find unacceptable now. Did the situation annoy me ? Yes! And I was praying about it, but my prayers were undoubtedly weak. At the same time, I was trying my own ways to change things and people involved in the situation, but to end up only making things messier.
As the situation grew worse and worse and I understood that nothing I could do can change it but only God can heal sins, hearts and behaviors, the Holy Spirit grew in me such a discomfort that I could no longer stand it. Something needed to change and it was urgent. My whole understanding of what was happening changed and my prayer changed with it, becoming more fervent, insisting, focused and continuing. I understood that everything was played out in the spiritual world in the situation that bothered me.
Can you relate ? Is there a situation that bothers you but you seem to not be praying for enough ? Is there a situation that you have prayed for and you have tried to change but it keeps getting worse ? Today I encourage you to seek the Lord earnestly about it and let him give you the understanding you need to pray about your situation properly.
Before long, you will no longer be able to stand it and you’ll be ready for the war. God wants to partner with us to change situations around us. But we need to first surrender our ways to God, receive understanding from him, and accept to partner with him in prayer.
There are spiritual wars we’re going to win on our knees. And the good news is that we’re fighting from a position of victory.
Prayer: Lord, this situation has lasted too long and it’s dishonoring your name. I want to partner with you as you are willing to make change. Give me strength and equip me. In Jesus name, Amen.
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