Prayer Not Panic

I have a confession; I love to read a great dystopian story, but living in one is not quite as enjoyable. Each day I get up and check my emails and listen to a little morning news, this has been a normal way to start the day. Now it doesn’t feel as ordinary. When the emails have messages from banks and stores reminding me they have ways to stay connected with me, even if I can’t leave my house; and the news is all about what schools, and sporting events they have canceled. All of this can make you worried. For the past few months my ladies’ group has been doing a Bible study on worry, and just when I felt we were making progress on beating back our worrying the world wants to send us more things to worry about.

But just like my husband always says “this is not a surprise to our Lord.” God didn’t get up today and look at the things happening and say “Wow, I wonder how that all got started?” Our God is sovereign; Jeremiah 10:12-13 tells us, “God made the earth by His power; and He preserves it by His wisdom. With His own understanding, He speaks in the thunder, the heavens roar with rain. He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from storehouses.” With God’s power He set the world into motion, with His great wisdom He controls the weather and illnesses. He alone is in control. He has all the power.

We need to live in this world, but we can’t let the world decide how we will react to these stressful events. I don’t mean to say I am not concerned about my family and friend’s welfare, I am very interested. But now is the time I need to lean into my faith, I need to practice what I preach. I need to know that the storm that is raging out in the world need not shake my foundation. So, I ask you as your anxiety is being pushed to DEFCON levels, how strong is your faith? How big is your God? Is He more than able to answer your BIG PRAYERS or do you think that God is out of the miracle business, or has He closed His doors to keep out the Coronavirus?

2 Chronicles 16:9 states, “For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless.” When was the last time you asked God for the filling of the Holy Spirit? When we are full of the Spirit, we can ask God to give us unbelievable outcomes. We will have His strong support to face our worries. Now is the time for all of us to pray BIG IMPOSSIBLE prayers. When you and I pray for things that we could not possibly handle on our own, we are proclaiming to everyone just how big and powerful is our Jesus! If you haven’t seen many or even any impossible prayers answered, it’s not God but us that is to blame. What we need is a plan of action, a 5 step Power Praying Plan.

1. Ask, Jesus to increase your faith, ask Him to increase your expectancy, Ask Him to increase your belief. Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

2. Be Specific, do not make weak appeals to God, be clear and exact in your requests. You are praying to the powerful God who speaks thunder and releases the wind. Luke 11:9-11 “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

3. Clear your mind, you must fight against your fears and doubting thoughts. Cut out the noise of the world, be open to the voice of the shepherd. Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to Me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”

4. Delight, in your time with the Lord. Be joyous in your trials. James 1:2-3 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

5. Encourage, others to step up their prayer life. Keep a list of all the ways God has fulfilled your prayer requests and share it with everyone. John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

We may wonder why this pandemic is in the world, but we can use this time of forced separation from the world to spend more time with God. It’s times like these that God calls His people to Him. Turn off your TV, stop listening to the panicked voices; instead read your Bible and use this prayer plan and you can have the confidence to face whatever is ahead.