When you’re in a place of despair because you have been diagnosed with a terminal illness—or someone you love has—you try to pray, but all you can think is “get me (or them) out of this, Lord!”
When you’ve lost your job, wrecked your car, lost investments, experienced abuse, addiction, or the addictions of a loved one—you try to pray, but all you can think is, “get me (or them) out of this, Lord!”
We get really uncomfortable when life interrupts our daily lives. We want our health to be fantastic, even if we don’t take care of ourselves. We don’t want pain, we don’t want disease. We want our things to be just as they are at purchase, no dings, no issues, always working. When that is not the case, we head to prayer, asking God to fix whatever we deem broken.
I’m not saying that our feelings of brokenness and grief aren’t valid or real. I’m saying that we really don’t know how or what to pray in these situations. We just don’t.
- We’re not God, so we don’t see the full ramifications of what is going on.
- We don’t think like God whose thoughts and ways are much higher than ours. He thinks and acts on a different plane.
- We are selfish, wanting what we want and wanting it right now.
Our incredible, amazing God knew this would be the case before He said “Let there be light” and He made it so that His Spirit would communicate in prayer with and for us.
We don’t know what to pray for, He does.
We don’t know His will for this situation, He does.
We can’t form a thought, much less a prayer, He does.
What would happen if we slowed down enough
to allow the Holy Spirit to pray for us?
God listens to our prayers. He hears us, leaning in to catch every word. That’s truth.
When we’re crushed, broken, hurt, angry, grieving, or unsettled, the Holy Spirit comes to our aid. He wants to keep us from entering God’s presence unworthily, asking things we shouldn’t. If we slow down a hair, we’ll notice. We’ll sense His guidance. We’ll move toward His peace. We’ll speak life and truth. We’ll walk in God’s will.
When you’re overwhelmed, just stop. Get in His presence and just stop. Weep. Groan. Cry aloud. Pound the table. Stomp your foot. Have no words? It’s all good. God Himself will supply those for you, going to bat for you Himself, taking into account your aching heart, molding it’s yearnings to God’s will, and pleading for your request. All you have to do is rest in His arms as He bears you up, cradling you like a beloved child.
Do you hear His heartbeat? Stop struggling and lean in. You’ll notice.
Coffee, Bible, Journal.
Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube Channel where you’ll be able to hear more about this devotion and others.
Faye Bryant is an author, coach, and speaker who helps individuals escape the lies of the enemy, live into God’s truth, and build a better life by first feeling, dealing, and healing their way through a stuck future or an abused past, toward a deeper path of purpose, and into the unhackable life of their chosen legacy. Hers is a story of resurrection: from death to life!
