This is the Truth Network. Encouraging Prayer. God offers an open invitation for his people to talk with him at any time about anything. On Encouraging Prayer, Dr. James Banks, author of the bestselling 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. We both live in North Carolina, and our state was hit hard by Hurricane Helene in one of the most devastating storms in decades. And over a week later, they're still trying to reach people whose homes have been entirely cut off because roads have been washed out or covered by fallen trees or taken out by mudslides. And we always need to be in prayer. I actually have friends in that very situation I'm praying for. But it's at times like this that we especially need to see the need for prayer. So, James, let's talk about how we can pray not only in the wake of the storm, but as we face so many different storms in life.
Yeah, that's a great way to put it, Robbie, because storms occur in so many ways. When someone you love has an addiction and they're making bad choices and it just seems like one thing after another. Or when you want to help someone who's in danger more than they know, you know, and they don't want to have anything to do with you. Or you're sitting in the doctor's office waiting for that report or in the courtroom. And, you know, it's just those times when circumstances are so far beyond our control. And let's face it, we don't like that. Or when the rain won't stop falling and the water comes rolling down.
Oh, yeah. I understand you had some damage in this storm from a lot of water on your property. Yeah, we did.
I mean, even flowing into the crawl space under our home. But we were so much more fortunate than many. Just yesterday, I was having lunch with my friend Tony Sauter, another author on prayer, who's written the Pray For Me series. And he's helped churches and families really organize to pray for the next generation. And he was talking about how our prayers often start with desperation. And then God brings us to this place of dependence. And then as we wait with him, he brings us to the place of delight. And I think that's really helpful because often when you're going through the storm, whatever it is, sometimes you can't feel God.
And you wonder why he's allowing certain things to happen in those moments. And I was there just the other day when I was praying hard for someone I love who was going through a crisis situation. And all I could do was just cry out to God. It was that desperation place. And as I was praying, Lord, help, I had to tell him, I can't feel you right now, but I'm going to keep trusting you and calling on your name.
I appreciate your honesty with that. I've been there a lot. And it's a tough place to be.
Yeah, yeah. But that's so often, if you think about it, how we see prayer at work in Scripture. I mean, think of all the Psalms that start with that desperation and then continued dependence and then they come out in that place of praise like Psalm 116, I love the Lord for he heard my voice.
He heard my cry for mercy. And what's hard is when we're in that in between place where the help or the answer hasn't come yet, you know, before the answer to that cry for mercy comes. And it's then that we have to do two things, things that may seem a little counterintuitive.
What are those? Well, first, we have to keep praying, which can be tough, you know, hard work, because it's like you're not seeing anything happen. But again, this is what we see in Scripture again and again.
And so, you know, that's basically our template. And the second thing is we have to keep believing. And that isn't easy either when you wonder how God can be allowing, you know, what's going on. But if we keep doing these two things, you know, keep praying, keep believing in him, keep believing that he's good, then when the help does come, we'll see it where we would have otherwise missed it. And we'll thank God for it. So, James, is there something you can suggest to help us pray at a time like that, you know, when it's tough to keep going?
Absolutely. And again, we've been talking about how this is a scriptural principle. So if we can memorize, you know, just a phrase or two to pray from Scripture beforehand, you know, to pray when we're in that moment. And we practice praying it beforehand because Jesus said we'll have trouble and it'll help us be prepared when those moments come. If we can do that, it's a really good thing. So like Psalm 116 one that you already mentioned, I love the Lord for he heard my voice and he heard my cry for mercy.
Right. Keep praying that, you know, just keep putting that into your prayer. You know, pray it like a promise from God because that will build your faith, especially in those moments when you can't feel him and you wonder what he's up to.
F.B. Meyer wrote that the promises of God will be inoperative until we turn them into prayer. And he, like Spurgeon, compared them to sign checks made out to us that we must endorse and cash ourselves. But if we don't do that, we don't have the benefit of them.
That makes so much sense. I mean, how can you be assured that God is good unless you take his word to heart? And that's what his promises tell us again and again.
Yeah, that's that's exactly right. There are promises in God's word for every need that we face. And if we stay in his word daily, he'll help us find the ones that are especially for us.
You know, and then underline them, write them down again, take them to heart. When the storms come, you'll be better prepared. So, Robbie, for the last of our talk, I'd like to suggest that we just take a moment to pray with our listeners for those in the wake of the storm in North Carolina and Tennessee and Georgia this past week. Could we do that?
Please start, and then I'll go ahead and wrap it up. Oh, Lord, thank you. Thank you for a chance to pray in the midst of this horrible storm that a lot of folks in North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia are still in the midst of in so many ways, dealing with the loss of family members, dealing with the loss of property and occupation and all sorts of horrible things. And, Lord, we just pray your presence in their lives, that they would know you're there, that they would feel your presence like never before, that your mercies would come so strong in those ways that perhaps it would be a light for others to see and people to turn their hearts to you as the rescue efforts are so profound that are coming this way. Lord, I just keep pouring it on as we know you are, Lord, and I thank you for my chance to pray into this in Jesus' name. Yes, Father, and we do pray, especially for those who are helping those in harm's way, for first responders and just, Lord, please just make them as effective as they can be. We pray for the victims. We ask, Lord, that you will bring good out of this, and sometimes that's so hard to see, but we trust you and we rely on the promise of your word. Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God. And, Lord, you are our help and you are our hope. And so we ask that you just pour that out for the dear ones who have been in harm's way, whether they're victims, whether they're first responders. Lord, please, we ask for what only you can do. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. This is the Truth Network.
