What do you do when life seems overwhelming and the tasks are piling up to a point where you just don’t think you could ever get it all done? I usually revert to my automatic response of shutting down and avoiding the thing all together. This is not a very productive response, however it is my go-to. I like to think of it like an ostrich stuffing it’s head in the sand hoping that whatever it is will just pass along and then I can pop back up when the coast is clear. Brilliant idea, right? I like to think so! I can tell you it doesn’t work very well and thus the necessity of a better strategy. Enter: prayer.

I know here I go about praying again. You might be thinking is that all she talks about? Is this her solution to EVERYTHING?! Well, the answer is quite frankly, yes, it is my solution to everything but only because I know it works. You see, God is our Heavenly Father and He listens to our prayers.

1 John 5:14 “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”

Hebrews 4:16 “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” 

James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

From 1 John 5:14 we see that we can have confidence in God knowing that He will hear us. Our prayers are heard! In Hebrews 4:16 we know that we are invited to draw near to him in our time of need with confidence knowing that we will receive mercy and grace and that He will respond in this way. I love this verse. I can just picture sitting with God on His throne giving Him my fear and doubt and anxious thoughts as He tenderly listens to me lament all the while comforting and loving on me as a mother does her child. In James we see that the prayer of a righteous person has great power. This is incredible. It is the confidence we can pray with knowing that when we are in a right standing with God our prayers are effective and powerful. What a gracious God we serve that He would allow us to approach Him in confidence, and that He will respond and move on our behalf.

Now that we have seen these things what do we do when we feel completely overwhelmed? What do you do when you see a friend in need who is unable to see clearly to pray and ask for God’s provision? Is your natural response to go into “fix it mode”?

Another response I have witnessed when a time of need comes up is withdrawal. You know the feeling when someone shares their life burden and you just don’t know how to handle it or help so you believe the lie that it’s “too complicated” to step into or “too much drama” to deal with. Can I just say that no one is ever going through something that is beyond the power of prayer?

What if we responded by giving them the best gift we can and pray with them over their situation? I say this is the very response we are to have as Christians.

I will be praying this week that you will have opportunities to carry out this obedience in your own life. Push through that awkward fear of praying with someone and instead extend a hand and carry them to the cross. Watch the power that is revealed through this simple, yet incredible act as you bring the Lord directly into the circumstances of your own life and those lives around you. Prayer is a position of humility where we recognize our short comings as human beings and cry out to our Creator and praise Him for all He has done… but you have to be obedient in order to see the blessing from this practice.

Step out in faith and pray for all things.

 Ephesians 6:18 “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people.” 

Father you are so good to us. To open the lines of communication that can be directly heard by you through your son Jesus is just incredible. To think that you love us and cherish us this dearly that we can approach your throne without fear and ask of you anything and you will answer us is just amazing. Help us to remember to pray. Keep our minds fresh and renewed so that we may not fall into a pit of complacency or spiritual paralyzation where we are rendered ineffective. Instead bolster up our ability to connect with you and keep us in a place of humility that we may not seek to solve things on our own ability but rather through your mighty power. Grant us opportunity to serve you in this way and may our hearts be cleansed so that there is nothing keeping us from a pure relationship with you! Thank you Lord for all you have done and for going before us in all things. In Jesus name, Amen.

For even more on what it looks like to bring friend in need to Jesus check out the passage in Luke 5 about Jesus healing a paralyzed man. Really try and picture these men carrying their friend on a stretcher and lowering him through the roof of the building in order to get him to the Healer for help. It’s such a beautiful depiction of what a godly friendship looks like. We are called to carry one another in this way (both physically if needed and spiritually through prayer) in times of need. (Luke 5:17-26)