Journey of Prayer - Day 10
And a woman who had been suffering from a hemorrhage for twelve years, came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak; for she was saying to herself, “If I only touch His garment, I will get well.” But Jesus turning and seeing her said, “Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.” At once, the woman was made well. Matthew 9:20-22
(For the full story, take time to read Mark 5:25-34).
Desperation.
No one wants to land in a place of desperation, the place where the need is so great that hope is threatened at every turn. Maybe I shouldn’t speak for you, but I dislike feeling desperate. I’m sure that’s just one more indicator of my strong need to control as much as possible.
However, I’m learning that the desperate place is a good place. When I find myself in a spot where Jesus answering is my only hope for a positive turn in a tough situation, I’m most likely in the safest place I could possibly be. I love the way Chris described the prayers of desperation. They’re usually short and sweet, but they come from a place deep within our souls, and they build faith, trust, and peace with the Lord.
I hope you’ve read through all of pages 23 and 24 in our prayer journal. I agree 100% with our need to cry out and reach for Jesus with desperation. What a gift that we can go straight to Him. Today, though, I’m reminded that sometimes we also need to reach out to trusted prayer warriors in our desperate situations. At times in my life when I’d grown weary of praying all of my desperate prayers, when my faith was growing weary and worn, when I wasn’t sure if I could hold on one more second, I needed to borrow the faith of another sister in Christ. Often, when I hear a believer praying powerful prayers over my life and situation with all of the boldness and fearlessness that I lack, I am strengthened. As precious as it is that I can spiritually reach out and touch my Jesus in a very personal way, sometimes I need to literally reach out and touch the skin of a faithful believer and borrow strength for another day.
What are you praying desperately for today?
Who do you need to reach out to for partnership in that prayer?
The name of God that we are studying, “The God Who Sees,” is first introduced in Genesis 16. Hagar, the servant of Abraham and Sara who had a child with Abraham, was sent to the wilderness to die with Ishmael. Talk about desperate times! She was alone, frightened, and scared. But, the angel of the Lord came to her to let her know that God saw her. She’d not been forgotten (Genesis 16:1-13). You haven’t been forgotten either. No matter what you’re praying for today, God sees. Take your requests to Him.
God Who Sees, we need you to act. We are crying out to You with absolute trust that You see us and know what is going on. We are asking you to intervene and answer. We are asking you to answer in ways that make the world turn and pay attention, because Your ways are marvelous. Strengthen us through our prayers. Build faithful relationships through the praying we do with other believers. You are awesome in power, and we need You to pour out that power over our desperate situations today….. Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven.
For further reading: Matthew 14:34-36; Isaiah 66:2
