How To Pray When Everything Is Against You

This is Stu Epperson from the Truth Talk Podcast, connecting current events, pop culture, and theology, and we're so grateful for you that you've chosen the Truth Podcast Network.

It's about to start in just a few seconds. Enjoy it, and please share it around with all your friends. Thanks for listening, and thanks for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Anytime, about anything. On Encouraging Prayer, Dr. James Banks, author of the best-selling Prayers for Prodigals and many other books on prayer, provides weekly biblical insight to help you learn to love to pray. And now, here's James. So today we're going to talk about how to pray when everything is against you. So, James, I take it you've had a bad day.

You could say that. I mean, it started when my wife found a sinkhole in the backyard this morning, and everything just, well, went downhill from there. A sinkhole?

Are you serious? Yeah, it was just a small one, but you could, you know, look down a couple of feet into it and see a cable and a pipe, and we'd had a lot of rain, and that must have caused it. And that sinkhole is just kind of a metaphor for a lot of days that we can have, you know? I mean, you get that sinking feeling, and one thing seems to go wrong after another, and it feels like the devil is just unloading on you. And the question is, how do you pray on a day like that?

And while these are minor things I'm mentioning, you know, it could be something far worse. And that makes me think of what Jacob said when he thought that Joseph was dead and that he could lose Benjamin. He says, everything is against me.

So, yeah, you wrote in our Daily Bread piece about that recently, didn't you? I mean, everything seemed like it was against him, but it really wasn't. God was actually at work behind the scenes to bring good that he never expected, and he would find that out. That's right. And that kind of helps us keep our heads when we pray.

I like what C.S. Lewis wrote about this in a letter to a friend. He wrote, just listen to this, I have a notion that what seem our worst prayers may really be in God's eyes our best. Those, I mean, which are least supported by devotional feeling and contend with the greatest disinclination. For these perhaps being nearly all will come from a deeper level than feeling. In feeling there is so much that is really not ours. So much that comes from weather and health or from the last book we read.

One thing seems certain, it is no good angling for the rich moments. God sometimes seems to speak to us most intimately when he catches us, as it were, off our guard. I love that because what he's saying is that when we just give everything to God without holding back, you know, praying with your will in those moments when you even wonder if someone is listening and you're just, again, honest about that. Well, God loves that kind of praying because you're just not being carried along by your emotions or the lack of resistance that we have on a good day, you know, when everything's going your way, you're, again, being honest to God. Yeah, that's a really interesting observation because it seems like we have to have things just so before we can feel like we've really been with God, you know, and kind of telling me something is wrong.

Yeah, exactly. You know, if you have to have the room quiet and the devotional music playing and you have to get yourself into that place of feeling spiritual. I mean, I've done that, you know, where I think, OK, now I'm ready to pray. And what Lewis is saying is that you have to be especially careful at moments like that, that you're still being real with God.

That's why so much comes from the weather or our health or the last book we read. Because the question is, is God getting the real us? Because that's what he's after.

That's what he wants. And when you have one of those terrible, awful, rotten, good for nothing days and you're honest to God, it may be then that you meet him in a way that you never have before. This may not be the best analogy, but think of the crime show where the criminal mastermind is being interrogated by the police or, you know, it's in the courtroom. He said a cross-examination and everything up to that point has kind of been a facade. But then something happens. You know, there's that classic tell that disclosure of who they really are. And suddenly everything becomes clear, you know, case closed kind of thing. And that's what bad days can do for us. The beautiful thing is about them that they can help us really just get down to brass tacks with God.

And what Lewis is saying is God will meet us there. That's actually when it really gets good. Right, and I think of that court scene, famous court scene where you can't handle the truth. So yeah, like, okay, so besides just giving it all to God, what do you think is a good strategy for praying on a day like that? Well, I think trust is the next part of it. You know, first again, just being real, just praying with your will.

When you can't with your emotions, that's the first thing. And the second is just trust. You know, you think of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's prayer, you know, that you're able to save us. But even if you don't, you know, I mean, even if he doesn't save us, we will not bow the knee. So it's that kind of, I'm going to be with you, God.

I'm going to go with you. That seeking after him with our wills really matters. Again, so much of this has to do with being real with God. Think about Proverbs 15, 8, where the Lord says that he detests the sacrifice of the wicked. So, you know, those times when the wicked are going to God and praying and everything sounds so good and looks so good. Ah, but their hearts aren't in it.

And that's the very thing Jesus talked about, right? You know, your hearts are far from me. Your words may be right, but your hearts aren't there. And so this is all about coming in that place in our hearts where we can say, God, I'm yours. It's a bad day, but I'm going to keep believing because I know you're good. And above the clouds, the sun still shines. And even though that's a cliche, God, I know you're there.

I'm going to stay the course because I know you've got me. And I praise you for it. Yeah, you know, the heart is really where it's at. And, you know, it's the place where we meet with God. And, you know, I'm recently reading a new book that might be coming out soon. And the first chapter just is right on that subject, isn't it? I think that book might be Peace Through Prayer.

Yes, you're right. Coming soon to Amazon near you. Well, yeah, we officially get to mention it today for the first time, according to the publisher. So that's a cool thing.

So I'm excited about that. Well, we're out of time. I guess I better pray because I know you've had a bad day.

I'm just kidding. Oh, Lord, I do. I thank you so much for my friend. And I thank you that we kind of know why the day is as it is, as there's a lot at stake with this subject of prayer and peace through prayer. So, Lord, I pray that you would win our appetites to come to you when on the ox is in the ditch and we don't feel like it. Lord, help us to be real with you.

And we know you really can handle the truth. And we're so grateful for that. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. Amen. You can hear more from Pastor James by visiting his website, jamesbanks.org, or by visiting Peace Church in Durham, North Carolina. May God bless you and encourage you as you pray. This is the Truth Network.