Pray Network Forum

From time to time I have enjoyed rereading some of my favorite books. There are several books that I revisit every few years. I recently took up The Robe that I hadn't read for about 25 years. I was amazed by how much of it I did not remember. I do not mean I did not remember certain parts until I had reread them. Most of it struck me like a book I had never read. This is a fairly new and embarrassing experience for me. This past weekend we went on a short trip with my daughter's family. I was shuffling through books my granddaughter had brought to read and discovered, Snoopy's Guide to the Writing Life. I begin to read and laugh out loud with delight. I told my granddaughter I needed to borrow the book from her. I was quickly informed that it was my book. Sure enough I turned back to the flyleaf and discovered that the book was given me with a marvelous dedication from a friend who happens to be a really good writer.

I have recently had several far more embarrassing incidents of memory loss. This is not my worst handicap. And I have had to ask myself if they will hinder my ability to write. The answer that came to me immediately was, 'They won't, if I do not let them.” Most of us who know God wants us to write have to work through numerous handicaps.

My favorite fiction writer is Bodie Thoene. She and her husband Brock research their their historical novels together. They have over 35 million books in print in more than 35 languages. I once heard them interviewed at the end of one of their audio books. I was amazed to learn that Bodie is dyslexic and has found it too painful to reread her own books. This is something like Beethoven writing the 9th Symphony and other marvelous works after he was completely deaf.

What are your weaknesses? All of us have them. But if you will not let them they probably will not keep you from putting words up on the computer screen and publishing them to bless lives.

Now, I fear I have been a little too simplistic. Handicaps can be terribly difficult to work through. And despite the two examples I gave, some of them are absolutely impossible to overcome as a writer. However, I do believe there are three obedient actional attitudes to apply to your weaknesses.

One of them is conviction. Do you sense a compulsion, possibly even a calling from God? Do not give up because what you face is difficult.

Another is endurance. Stay at it, work at it. Think continually about ways to cope with it or get around it. When I brought up some evidences of my memory loss to my 10 year old granddaughter she immediately begin to tell me about a study done with nuns who remained sharp because they continued to be mentally active. And it was discovered by postmortem pathologies of their brains that they actually had full-blown Alzheimer's. They had staved off the effects by keeping mentally and physically active. You can look this study up it's easy to find on Google. Whatever your handicap, don't give up on it.

Finally, and most important, pray about it. Of course God may take away your thorn In the flesh. But in many cases God will glorify Himself by turning your weakness into strength as you obey Him.

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2 Chronicles 7:14 reads,

"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their wicked way, then will I hear from heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land."

Prayer is the natural and supernatural expression of humility. Humility is evidence of God working in our lives drawing us to His embrace.

When we pray we humble ourselves in our spiritual weakness. Many years ago God pressed on my heart that I needed to gather a prayer team to pray for me. To be honest I found this very embarrassing. I had to publicly admit that I did not have it all together.

We must humble ourselves before the will of God when we pray. In biblical prayer I do not approach Almighty God as if He were my assistant to give me my selfish desires. Biblical prayer longs for things to be made right. It prays for God’s good and perfect will to be done.

In prayer we often humble ourselves before other believers. Notice that this verse, like most promises and commands regarding prayer, is plural. When we pray together as a nation, a church, a small group or two or three agreeing, we yield to each other's concerns. Even praying alone is more fulfilling when we intercede for others.  

In prayer we also humble ourselves before the mighty hand of God. It is necessary for us to pray for things God is calling us to do. I often think the final confirmation that God is in something is impossibility. If God is telling you to do something, it will be impossible. If God does not work, such things will never be accomplished. By praying you admit that you cannot do what only God can do.

And ultimately we humble ourselves before the person of God in prayer. When we pray we expose ourselves to God's might, majesty and absolute holiness. We come to see our absolute inadequacy in the presence of God. And we humbly and joyfully rest in His sufficiency.

Next week I plan to write on seeking God's face. In prayer we seek God for Himself. We don't just want His things. We seek and find intimacy with God.

Twice, in Luke 22:39-46, Jesus instructs his disciples to pray that they would not fall into temptation. 

³⁹ Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. ⁴⁰ On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” ⁴¹ He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, ⁴² “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” ⁴³ An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. ⁴⁴ And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground^.

⁴⁵ When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. ⁴⁶ “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”

Turning our focus on God, zeroing in on Him, His Word, and the ministry of His Holy Spirit, helps fill our focus and attention with the One who is greater than all; the One who sent His only Son as a perfect, unblemished, sacrifice for all mankind- that fully and permanently defeated sin, death, and the devil- after being tempted in every way as we are.


Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— ¹⁵ and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. ¹⁶ For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. ¹⁷ For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. ¹⁸ Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.  - Hebrews 2:14-18

Bob Hostetler offers 31 ways to pray for your teen (or a teenager you know or see around you).  His first prayer point is vital to pray; and the Scriptures that each prayer point is focused or centered upon are worth looking up, reading, and praying through individually beyond simply praying or parroting what he's written!

Praying for Your Teen is a link with additional Scripture-based prayer points to help focus on praying for teens.  A statement in the article, "There is a myth that teenagers cannot practice self-control, that the teenage and young adult years are the time for "sewing wild oats", and Scriptures refuting that idea, are also valuable.

As you'll see as you read and pray through many of the Scriptures and prayer points offered in these links, you may also find that you pray some of these points for yourself and your personal walk with Jesus Christ.  That's perfectly okay!

God often does His greatest work of answered prayer in the heart of the person praying- although He often reveals ways He's answered our prayers for others in their lives/circumstances as well.  Our personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ is our most valuable possession- and it's one of, if not THE most valuable possession to God as well.  Let's continue seeking and pressing into Him through today, tonight, and the day(s) to come.  Whether we focus our prayers on children, teens, ourselves, or others, we won't be disappointed as we turn to God as our Rock, Center, Stronghold, and more!

In His grip,

Rob Griepentrog

But one thing we can forget to pray is, "Lord, please help quiet my heart so that I can accurately hear from You."  Then after He does, ask, "How would You have me pray in this moment, for this person/people, or situation?"  It can make a significant difference in both how you pray, and how you see God answer your prayer(s)!

Many Christians (including me) have offered such prayers, sometimes with an expectation that God will respond in one particular way or another, only to later be disappointed when the condition worsens, the person prayed for passes away, or God doesn't answer in the way we've specifically requested or hoped.  Sometimes the disappointment wounds the Christian's faith in God or makes them question if they can effectively pray again if faced with a similar situation.

God has given all of us emotions.  Happiness, sadness, anger, amazement, wonder, awe, frustration, tiredness, and many more.  Emotions are a gift from God to enhance and embellish our lives.  Without them, our lives, our interactions with God and each other would be very flat, dull, and expressionless.  We can, and should, thank and praise God for giving us emotions- they're a gift He's given us out of His perfect wisdom, love, and affection!

Different emotions, if driving instead of embellishing us, can steer us to pray and behave differently, depending on the emotion.

Heart-Check

When we begin by asking God to help us pray beyond our emotions, we're not asking Him to cancel or negate our emotions as we pray.  What we're asking Him to do is help us balance the emotion(s) that's dominating or attempting to dominate us as we pray and seek God to intervene somewhere.  It's a request to help us see clearly; see the matter, circumstance, or person we're about to pray for through His eyes and understanding.  It's a spiritual and emotional heart check.  If we take time to allow God to align our hearts, minds, and emotions with His, we'll hear more clearly from Him about how He'd have us pray.  When we pray as He instructs (He instructs us in alignment with His Word and Spirit), we can be confident He'll answer our prayer(s) in the ways He's instructed us to pray.  It's also possible He may grow, strengthen, and deepen our faith in Him as a result!  That's a double-blessing (answered prayer and personal growth together)!

What if You're Prayerfully Stuck?

When faced with a shocking or stunning prayer request, and you can't seem to come up with words to pray, yield to the Holy Spirit to give you words or ideas/impressions about how He'd have you pray.  Although He personally intercedes for us, He will also give us His impressions as a way of guiding us how to pray and respond in the moment.  God invites our prayerful involvement in every moment of every day- and He'll help instruct us how to pray (especially when we feel inadequate or unable to pray- if we press into Him).

²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. ²⁷ And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.

²⁸ And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. ³⁰ And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. – Romans 8:26-30

Blog also found at:  http://www.prayonsite.org/blog/handling-significant-and-shocking-prayer-requests