The Power of Prayer in Pain

This is the Truth Network. Welcome to Hope in the Morning. turning tragedies and tears into testimonies of hope. Prayer is the most powerful exercise that a Christian can partake in, but sometimes our pain can distort our view of prayer. Today we're diving into questions that you've sent us and what scripture teaches us about the power of prayer in pain.

I'm joined today by one of our pastors, one of our shepherds in the valleys, Greg Barshaw. And we're so thankful to have you today. Thank you so much, Emily. It's a joy to be here. You know, I want to first preface, and I've kind of said this in some episodes that you've been on with us before.

But I think this is like. Such a perfect episode for you and I to do together because you've actually been the most faithful person to pray for our family since my dad got sick and then died. You know, I mean, you text message my mom and I almost every day, telling us that you're praying for us and checking with us. That's something that I think a lot of us, as believers, we fail in the long suffering of things. We get busy with our own agendas and we fail in that.

I wanted to kind of start. start talking before I ask you the questions that our listeners had. How important is it that we learn the art of long suffering? The art of long suffering. That's a great question.

Um I think maybe just back up just a second. We need to establish a couple of really. key truths. Oh. One is in God's sovereignty.

God is absolutely in control. And let me establish this through a couple of scriptures. One is in Isaiah chapter 45, he says this, verse 5. I am the Lord, and there is no other. Besides me, there is no God.

I will gird you, though you have not known me. That men may know from the rising of the setting of the sun that there is no one beside me. I am the Lord, and there is no other. The one forming light and creating darkness. Causing well-being and creating calamity.

I am the Lord who does all these things.

Okay.

So one is that God is Is in the middle of the pain. He's in the trauma. He's in the suffering. That's not something that's outside of him. And the second thing is probably his ultimate purpose is to bring himself glory, but also.

to form us into the image of his son. In Philippians, he says, that the things that I started in you, I'm going to complete them.

Okay, so God is sovereign. In himself, but he's also sovereign in my life. And his ultimate goal is that I would look like Jesus. And that I would go through this sanctification process and be pushed by that.

Now That being the case, those are two stakes that are hugely important: God's sovereignty and his ultimate desire for me.

Now let's put together the middle. Suffering, pain, struggle, loneliness. Suicide, all of those things. Are part of God's tools to accomplish those purposes.

So the question for us is. When we're experiencing those things, the thing that we need to remember is God's love and his passion for us. and his ultimate purpose for us. Because if we lose those, Then we feel the sense of loneliness, the sense of. He hates me.

Where is he? All of those things that cause us to go into stress out mode, to depression, to all of those things.

Okay, so let's let's start. putting that together. The farther God is from us in our mind. The more impersonal, the more cruel, the more difficult, all of those things. are for us.

God's intention in prayer is to bring our relationship. to ultimate intimacy. He desires to connect with us. And so That intimacy is important for us to understand a relationship. You as a mom.

If you have no relationship with your kids, Anything you do to correct them, to help them, to mature them. Scenes Capricious seems. Cruel, seems mean, seems all of those things, because without God's perspective, All I am is about myself. And about myself, I'm about selfishness, I'm about. Pleasure, comfort.

All of those things.

So, when we put all of those things together, prayer is the thing that connects me to God, that gives purpose to all the things going on in my life.

So long suffering and pain without that Seems cruel. Seems like it has no purpose. And it creates this sense of. Loneliness.

So, prayer is that, it's almost like an electrical connection. It connects me to Him. which gives me purpose. And so When we pull back from that, what is the reason for suffering? God is sovereign.

He wants me to look like Jesus. The purpose for suffering. is to Yeah. Part of what God uses. to grow me and to pull me into relationship with him.

Now, when Paul asked the question, why the thorn in the flesh? What was God's response? My grace is sufficient.

So, what God was doing in Paul's life is: I'm going to give you a calamity, a challenge, a struggle. That will cause you not to depend on yourself, but to be more dependent on me. which gives you unlimited power. and gives you the ability to grow. And to take all of the weight that I'm carrying and give it to Jesus, and then He gives me.

comfort Lightness, endurance, grace, peace, all of the things in that exchange.

So that's a lot, obviously, to kind of put our arms around, but tell me what you're thinking. Yeah, no, I agree with everything that you just said. And I think that those are things that we. we mature into those thoughts you know those are things that i think that Trials, as James puts it, trials are there to refine us and they do make us more like Christ. And they don't feel good in the moment, you know.

And I think one of the reasons why I think today's episode is so important is because. It can kind of shake our world when we go through hard things. I think it's meant to shake our world. You know, Greg, one of the reasons why I thought you were perfect for this episode is because I know some of the sufferings that you have been through. And we'll incorporate that a little bit in the next portion.

But There are seasons when you're praying and you're praying and you're praying for something, and it doesn't get answered in the way that you hope it will. And we have, you know, I have a whole handful of questions here in front of me from our listeners. But even, you know, with the question that I opened up with with you is, yes, I think that it's very important and crucial to our walk that we understand what long suffering looks like in our own life as a believer. But I also was intimating the fact that You have been a long sufferer with us, with our family. And I think that that is something that.

We don't necessarily Put a lot of attention to with one another within the church as far as like how can I walk alongside these people long term? Because we. We will live lives of suffering. But in addition to that, some trials that we go through, they're not over and done in a year. You know, people are still going to hurt and they're still going to need that reminder.

I'm praying for you. How are you doing today? And it's something that might seem like a very small gesture. And, you know, I'm sure it doesn't take you that long to text my mom and I. And yet, we both, we've talked multiple times about how much that has meant to us that you would take the time to do that.

And so today, as we explore this topic of prayer and as we get very transparent about some of the struggles that we may have as believers and then approaching those from a biblical perspective. I hope that we will also be challenged to step into each other's suffering. What does it look like to pray for one another? Not just to pray for yourself and your own desires. As you had mentioned, we all have that propensity towards that selfish perspective of where we use prayer almost like our genie in a bottle.

But it it's It's almost like it's not that at all. It's completely different and nuanced in so many ways. But we're actually commanded to pray for one another. And so, we're going to be talking about that as well. And so, when we come back from the break, we're going to dive into some of your questions.

And there's really some great ones here.

So, join us again in a moment on Hope in the Morning. Do you have a testimony of hope? Perhaps you've walked through depression or addiction. Maybe you were diagnosed with a serious illness or have suffered the life-altering death of a loved one. If you want to encourage others with your testimony and share the light of Jesus, Visit hopeinthemorning.org and submit your story.

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We are talking about the power of prayer in pain. And if you've experienced any kind of pain, which most of us have, You've probably struggled with aspects of prayer. You may have struggled with: is it actually powerful? Is God even hearing me? What's the purpose of prayer?

And Greg, you had talked about how God Has a purpose for our life. We know that even from Jeremiah 29:11, he has a purpose, he has ordained all things for our life. And so, one of the questions that we got in that I think is a great one is: it says, Why do I pray if God has already determined his purposes for me?

Okay.

Okay, that's a great question. And it works if That that question Has a sense of I'm looking for God for stuff. I need him to check my box. And if he's going to do it anyhow, then Why do I want to work so hard in that? But the reality is, this is not.

As you mentioned, the genie, this is not about requests, this is about a relationship. One of the metaphors that God uses over and over again is about Himself as a father. and it were his kids. And if you can imagine. A kid who would say Ah, if my parents love me anyhow, if they're gonna give me stuff anyhow.

I'm not going to have a relationship with them because they love me anyhow. They'll give me my stuff. They'll give me my room. They'll give me my toys. Yada, yada, yada, yada.

Well, what makes that relationship meaningful is to go and to sit on your mom's lap and to be held by your dad and the emotion and the relationship that goes with that.

So I guess I would say to this question. Would you rather have a relationship with the person that is giving you and blessing you and? And doing things in your life, or do you want to just Have it be like a slot machine or a vending machine. As you put in a quarter, it comes out whatever. It's not how life was meant to be.

And I think part of where we are, Emily, and I wanted to back up a little bit, and that is. And In Romans chapter 12, verses 1 and 2, he talks about. Don't be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds. We are so victimized by our culture. And our culture is: we want it fast.

We don't want it to inconveniences. We're efficient, so we want it done. quickly And we don't understand that suffering. and pain and trial is counter to all of that. The Jews had this.

Tradition of sitting in the dirt. You see that in Job and his friends. They just came and they sat with him. They talked. probably not the best thing but they should have just sat and been with them.

There is nothing more comforting to someone who is suffering. is to have a relationship and just be quiet. It takes care of that loneliness. There is nothing more lonely. than suffering.

So the question is: how do we as the church think countercultural when it comes to pain and suffering? What people need is to know that you care. that you're willing to sit. You don't have words of scripture necessarily. You just want to be.

present. Mm-hmm. and sit in the dirt. And that's against everything we want to do. We want to send a note, make a phone call, send some flowers, check, check, check, check, done.

Yeah. But that's not how suffering works.

So, the question is: how do we come alongside people? And part of that is. In prayer, what I want you guys to know every morning. That I pray for you. Oh, I pray for you all the time.

I only text you when I'm in the country. When I'm out of country, I don't, is that I'm praying for you and that I'm thinking of you and you're not lonely. Because I'm here. And what it does, it just continues to reinforce there are people in my life. People that care, that are praying, and that are thinking about me.

Mm-hmm. All right, so one of the questions I wanted to ask you that kind of goes with With the whole idea of like sitting in the ashes and Grieving in silence with those that are grieving. One of the questions that we had gotten is, does prayer always require words, or can it be a positioning of the heart when you're in a season when you just don't have the words? Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.

And even when I pray, I pray in silence. You know, I pray for you guys, I pray for a lot of different people. But the cool thing, the amazing thing about our God is He knows our thoughts. And so we have this. Ongoing conversation, but it's all in the brain.

It's just this mystical communication that goes back and forth. And I think it's the same mentality with the Holy Spirit. We don't need the voice of the Holy Spirit, but we. The Holy Spirit speaks to our thoughts. And we process that.

So that's the great thing about prayer is you can be praying when you're doing things, even if you're conversing with someone and the Holy Spirit speaks to your thoughts and you can relay that.

So it's a whole nother Form of communication that's in the spiritual realm that isn't necessarily in the audio realm like we live in. But um yeah, I I I pray out loud a lot, but I pray a lot. Just in my thoughts and communicate, and he talks to me all the time. And I hear his thoughts, but not in an audio way. I I think it's such a comfort too for people that are grieving When it clicks, that you know what?

Maybe you're feeling like nobody understands you, nobody understands the depth of the pain you're going through. And yet, I remember when we've gone through some of our losses, just that peace that comes when you realize Jesus does. I can take it to him, and he knows the fullness of what my heart is carrying. And he says, Let me take your burden, exchange your yoke for mine. And we're not even meant to carry.

all of those heavy burdens he doesn't want us to that's one of the that's one of the reasons why he gives us that gift of prayer is so that we can unburden our hearts to him and lay it before him um One of the things I wanted to ask you as well with a question, and I thought this was such a good one because I think so many of us struggle with this, is that is it okay to pray and tell God when we're feeling angry or hopeless? Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I think that it's like any other relationship. How do we know what you're thinking unless you tell me?

Now, obviously, God knows. That you're feeling that, but just to communicate it to him is part of that exchange and that relationship. You know, I think that.

Well, we learn a lot from Job as Job is talking back and forth with God and a lot of his thoughts. I think the one thing where Job Finally, God towards the end steps out of the whirlwind and says, Okay, stand up and gird yourself like a man and let's talk. is when Job accuses God. of not knowing. When Job says If I were an attorney, or if I were to be able to come before you, I would plead my cause.

And God says, Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Time out, Joe. I know your cons. And then all he does is he questions Job for three chapters. And finally, Job says.

Sorry, Lord, I didn't mean to accuse you of not knowing. Yeah. God is aware of both our audio prayers, but He's also aware of our heart to the point of where. Yes, he wants to know we hurt. I mean, obviously, Jesus in the garden says, Lord, I don't want to go through this.

If there's any other way, please, please help me.

So, God does want to know our heart. Just like we want to know when our children hurt, we know when they're hurting, but it's great to be able to hear them verbalize so that you can process with them. That's all God wants from us as well. Yeah. Greg, when we're going through A hard season.

Maybe, maybe, like you've had before, maybe you have a child or a grandchild that's in the hospital, and you don't know if they're going to live or not. And you're petitioning the Lord. Constantly, Lord, please, please be gracious, please spare their life, please heal their bodies. And the Lord says no. How can we How can we bring our petitions before the Lord With fervency while also keeping those open hands to know that if he says no, he's still good.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, one of the characters of Jesus that you see all the way through the New Testament. is the area of submission. He always submitted to the father. And I think that's part of our whole prayer process that's super important.

I'm going to tell you what my desires are, Lord. But ultimately I'm going to submit that you know more than I know. that you know what will fulfil me more than I do. Because I'm like the kid with candy. And he wants to give me vegetables, and I don't want vegetables, I want candy.

And as simple as that illustration is, it's the same thing that we are with him: we're going to give petitions that. are immediate to our pleasure. And God is playing the long game. He's playing the process of our maturity and the ultimate glory that he's going to receive through it. And so, yes, did I pray for my granddaughter that she would survive?

Yes. But to watch now in hindsight, all that God did through that process is. is immeasurable. And what would I have lost if he had answered that prayer the way I wanted it answered? And so I think The hardest part for us.

is to say Lord This is what I want. And give me a heart that's willing to accept what you want. Yeah. And to be able to submit my will to your will because I know. You love me more.

you know more And I want to be okay with that. Yeah. Yeah, I'll just let the listeners know this neat fact about your story is that. You had two granddaughters at the time. And the Lord did spare the life of one and chose to take the other home.

But you have subsequently had four more children by that daughter. And that was not necessarily their plan initially. And yet, the Lord used that loss to put this new desire in their heart.

Now you have these beautiful children as well that you don't know how the Lord may use their lives to bring him glory and to testify of his goodness. Um I know that the way that you and your family walked through that hardship was a huge, a huge testimony to us. and to our family and Of being able to trust that God is still good. when it doesn't feel good. And there are many times that we walk through.

Those hardships, and we struggle because we think, you know, how could God be good if He's allowing something that's bad? And we have to go into the break here at the end of the radio portion. But if you're listening on the radio portion, join us on the podcast, join us on our YouTube, because this is a conversation that could change your spiritual life. This could change the way that you view prayer and the way that you view communion. with your heavenly father.

So join us there on Hope in the Morning.

So going forward with this conversation. As I was saying, I think that people Do struggle. And I'm sure as a pastor, you've seen this that they struggle with. If God is good, if God is for me, why is He allowing such pain and hardship? Again, I think that with maturity comes us being able to say.

I don't know. I guess in some ways I would say a quicker turnaround of being able to say, okay, God is still good. God is still for me, even when this doesn't feel good. Um How have you counseled people to Look to the goodness of God to see that He is still present, He is still hearing you. Even When he said no, even when you're walking through suffering that feels like, God, do you see this?

Do you see what I'm going through? How can you encourage people to continue to see the the truth of God's character. I think so much of it, Emily, is to, and I think this is why journaling is so really, really important, and that is. As you look through scripture, God always says, remember, remember, remember. Like part of our spiritual walk is: if God has been faithful in the past, is there any reason he won't be faithful in the future?

And the hope that we have From the past will get us through a lot of the things in the future. You know, when we look at the life of David. Faith is like a ladder. It's it's a step. And remember when David goes and he takes stuff to his brothers.

And and um he s finds out about Goliath and and He goes and he stands before Goliath, but he makes a statement to Saul. God has delivered me from the lion and the bear. Who is this Philistine that he could confront the armies of the living God?

Well, what is he saying? Is I've been through hard times before, God has always delivered me. And that faith from the past will give me the ability to go through this one as well. And that's why To journal our past challenges will give us. The ability to obey first and understand that God always asks for obedience first, and then He follows up with emotion.

Can we be thankful off the front end? That's hard. Yeah. But if we choose to thank him for the struggle, and then he will help us with the thankful heart after that. Yeah.

You know, I actually, our producer and the guy that co-hosts me sometimes, Robbie, they had reached out to me during a hard season that happened recently in our family. And I remember I text messaged them and just said, My My feelings have not caught up with my theology yet. And I think it's important for us to not only acknowledge that. But I think that there are times when, like, wrestling with that, that's what refines our faith. I mean, I've seen that in my own life, is that to actually.

wrestle with that and have God kind of Take off the dross of what we believe that we may not even think we believe until it surfaces. through through trials But to keep our theology in mind. and work diligently to align our feelings. With our theology and not allow our feelings to Take over. What advice would you give to other believers that are?

Maybe feeling overwhelmed with their emotions right now and having a hard time reconciling. their emotions with their theology. I'll go back to one of the things that Jesus always did, and that is to submit. And you can submit your emotions at the same time. I'm a I've also been a first responder to disasters around the world.

Um I've been involved in starvation and watched thousands of people die from lack of food. I've been involved with earthquakes and dug. people out of rubble that were some were alive, some were dead. Been involved with a tsunami and watched that happen. And every time there has been an emotional struggle.

To look at the ocean of crisis and say And and you're good? Really? But then to go back and say Got all that I'm feeling, I want to submit to you because I know theologically you're good. But I'm not feeling it.

So, but I'm going to choose to submit my emotion to what I know is true. And then ask you. to help me. Just like a little kid, I mean your kids come to you and say, Mommy, help me. And what do you do?

You hold them and you give them the emotional support to be able to deal with the crisis. The father is the same way. I know this is true, I'm not feeling it. But I'm going to submit my emotion to you, Father. And help me be able to get through this.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think, you know, understanding To an Letting it take root in our heart that God is a compassionate God. He is a faithful God. He does not delight in suffering. I think that's where the world gets their perspective of.

If God was good. And God was sovereign. Why is there suffering in the world? That's their conclusion. But the reality is that God Uses that just like you know, you see in the story in Genesis with.

Joseph, God uses what is intended to harm us. Which is what Satan wants. Satan, he's firing those diary, those fiery darts all the time. He wants to see us stumble in our faith. He wants to see us say, This is just despair.

There's no hope here. Yeah. But Christ in his compassion does step in. And he's a shield. Our faith is a shield to us.

How can we Develop a strong faith.

so that we have that strong Shield, and we know. How to pray. as we ought when we're in those trenches of hard seasons.

Okay.

You know, I think first of all, you know, you you talk about God. being cruel or mean or su causing suffering. Understand that God's ultimate goal is to bring us to the reality of who He is. Because the ultimate in suffering will be hell. And so is short time suffering worth it to bring us to the ultimate?

Salvation of suffering, which is Had us. When I watched many, many people die, over 200,000 people die in Africa. What happened as a result of that was that. The church grew three times larger because people came to Jesus. Lives were lost.

But people came to Jesus through that process. Same thing with the tsunami, same thing with in Haiti with the earthquake. We had over 2 million people come to Jesus, but 300,000 people died in that process.

Now Is God sovereign? Yes, he is. But his greatest passion is not to relieve us from short-term suffering, but to relieve us from long-term suffering. Which is ultimately eternity. And part of what he's doing for us as believers is preparing us.

To be able to minister to other people. My Son-in-law and daughter are now able to come alongside someone who is. Suffering the loss of a child. I was talking to a friend of mine who's 16-year-old, just got diagnosed with cancer. 16 years old.

And I told him, Ben. God has complimented you. You have the opportunity to go into a cancer ward. And be delighted. to a bunch of people who have no hope.

First Corinthians talks about The comfort we've received gives us the ability to now give that to someone else. And part of what God is doing is equipping us to be. This instrument of hope to other people, but we can't do that until we've experienced it. I can come along someone now. Who is starving to death, who has gone through tragedy, has gone through all of those, because God has given me the ability to do that.

but I couldn't have gone there otherwise. Do I wish I didn't have that? Yes. There is nothing worse than Have watching someone starve to death. Nothing, I will tell you, nothing.

Hmm. because they consume themselves. Watching a child digging them out of the rubble. They're doing the funeral for my own granddaughter. There is nothing more painful.

But that ushers me into a whole new world of suffering and now be able to be the light of Jesus that I couldn't do any other way. Mm-hmm. So the suffering now has purpose. Mm-hmm. And that is to meet the ultimate end, which is to help people not have to suffer for eternity.

Yeah. And as you mentioned before, like we see the faithfulness of God when we've gone through those sufferings, I think it's easier each time to come back around and say, He was faithful, he'll be faithful. In this, and so I think, as I mentioned before, I think maturity comes from that. That we are able to more quickly come to that conclusion than maybe we did years ago, before the Lord had refined us and refined our faith. And I you know, one of those one of those things that I think is Such a crucial thing for us to understand in the church is how to pray.

And that's something, something that someone asked as well. They said that they don't ever know exactly what to pray. And so they said, how can I learn how to pray? Learning how to pray is like so many other things. It's a discipline.

Um You know, it is so easy in today's world with all the noise we have with our phones, with the computers, with. Music with everything. It's a discipline to learn, to hear. The Voice of God And the only way you hear that is through silence. And that is I'm going to go to my prayer closet.

I'm going to go away. I'm going to be someplace where I'm not distracted by all the things going on.

So that I can hear God's voice in my head, I can hear Him talk to me. I can share with him without distraction.

So, I would say that it starts with a discipline, and that is a commitment to say, I'm going to remove myself from all the distractions so that I can be purposeful. The one thing I hear from so many people is: how do you stay focused? You know, I can pray for five minutes and then, you know, the phone rings, or this happens, or whatever else.

Well, put yourself where you aren't distracted by those things. And then make a list. I work off of a list all the time. because our memories don't retain all that. But but Make a list.

Get away from distraction. and learn to be comfortable with quiet. Because the only thing that drowns out the voice of God is noise.

So be in a place where you can be quiet so you can hear the voice of God. And his voice will get louder and louder and louder as you learn the discipline of prayer. But prayer requires Discipline, and there's no way around it. There's no magic pill, there's no, you know. To say that I'm excited every day to go and pray?

No. But once I'm there... It's awesome. Hmm. But it takes the discipline to go there.

It's like working out, it's like any other discipline in our life. Is it easy? No. But once you do it. It's great.

Greg, do you? I know that you have a list of people that you pray for. Do you also try and pray through certain portions of scripture if it's what you're learning at that time? Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. That always, that always focuses, helps. But yeah, both and. You know, obviously, this is a big book that is the voice of God. And the voice of God is what I want to hear.

And so there are times I just start with tuning my ear to his voice by reading Scripture and praying through that and then just continue on to share. What the needs of people are. Mm-hmm. I've noticed that when we pray for other people. It drastically helps us take our minds off of our own circumstances as well.

And I think it's in 1 Timothy that it commands us to pray for one another. And that. That is also a discipline, which I know you just shared that you do, but that's a discipline that. I think it actually helps lighten our burdens when we take on the burdens of others and we say, Let me carry that for you for a little bit. Let me take that to the throne for you.

Let me, every time I think of you and you come to mind, I'm going to pray for you. And it makes it so we're not dwelling all the time on ourselves and our own circumstances and our own suffering. Instead, we're able to go to the Lord, love somebody else in that time. And I've seen that be a tool in my own life, but I've seen it be a tool in the lives of some other people, too, that have suffered. Chronic illness, people that I mean, chronic illness is a hard thing because it is unrelenting.

You know, it's like you can go on vacation and forget for a few minutes, like, It's completely unrelenting. But There is something really precious about bringing other people's burdens before the Lord and then looking for ways that you can encourage them. Through it is I think that that's a really neat way that we can love one another. And The Bible talks about that, that we will be known as his disciples. if we love one another.

And has that been your experience that You have learned to love people more deeply by praying for them more fervently. Yes, and that love comes from Jesus. It doesn't come from anywhere else because, you know, people are hard to love. And, you know, to say that. I think like anything else, life is a matter of comparisons or contrast.

And like you said, so often what I need to contrast my suffering is to come alongside someone else who suffers more or the same or even less. And so it does, it puts my life in perspective by inviting a whole lot of other people into my life through prayer. Um And it does create a An interesting dynamic. I mean, I have people that I've prayed for for months and never hear from them. And then all of a sudden they'll dump their emotional truck on me and say I didn't know who else to talk to, but I know you pray for me every day.

And I know you care. And um That's been sweet. But I will tell you part of... Prayer when you pray like that is I don't know how many more people I can carry. You know, I feel like.

I've taken their burden on, and that's heavy on me, too. And it's only Jesus that can help you carry that kind of burden. Yeah. We have a prayer ministry here at Hope in the Morning. And for those that are listening, if you ever have a prayer request, you can go to info at hope in the morning.org and submit your prayer request.

We pray faithfully for those, but Greg, I can completely relate to what you just said because I get a lot of people that come to me and Lay heavy things on me, and I am honored to carry those, but they can almost sometimes feel like physical burdens, you know. And so, I am so thankful for our prayer team. And I would assume that pastors at churches feel this way about their elders or a prayer team that they have at their church is that. When you can go to that group and you can say, here are the people that we're praying for. And can we all be faithful to pray for those requests this month or the next two months, however, whatever the duration is?

It takes some of that burden off a little bit because you know. There's a bunch of people that are lifting up this person before the Lord. And so it's not all on you. And yet, you've got all these brothers and sisters that are coming before the throne. to lighten that person's burden.

And There's a real deep community that comes. from meeting together. And taking other people's burdens before the Lord and saying, I. I will carry this for you. Trust in the Lord alongside you that he is good and he is sovereign and he hears you.

Psalm 116 is one of my favorite verses. It says, Because he bends down to listen. I will pray as long as I have breath. Yeah. I just think that is one of the most beautiful poetic verses.

That reminds us that He does bend down. He does listen to you. He does hear you. And I wanted to pivot a little bit and ask you this question that I think is important too, because scripture is clear that we are. To bring all of our supplications to the Lord.

With thanksgiving, and again, as we, you know, it talks about that in First Thessalonians, it says, it says, Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. That's very similar to what James says, as far as consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter trials of various kinds, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.

So, with that, knowing that we are to give thanks in all circumstances. How can we develop a heart that gives thanks in all circumstances? And what are some biblical examples that we can look to for that? Twenty eight. Yeah, I think they uh First of all, I think the The circumstance without the person behind the circumstance is meaningless.

Do I thank God for cancer? No. Do I thank God for illness, for separation, for death, for all those things? No. But the purpose and the person behind that.

is what allows me to be thankful. Because I know that the purpose is to bring him glory and to cause me to be more like Jesus. that I can be thankful in. Does the situation stink? Yes.

But the person behind it has purpose. And I think that's where. Uh people lose it in that we We wonder This seems so um Isolated, it has no purpose, it has no meaning, it has nothing.

Well, in and of itself it doesn't. But because God, who is sovereign, and that's why I wanted to start with his sovereignty. God has purpose in it, and God is in control. And so, because his goal is his glory, my good. me looking like jesus I can be thankful because this is part of the agenda, part of the program, part of what he is doing.

That's where my thanks comes from. That's the only thing I can be thankful for. Yeah, I appreciate when you say that. You're not the first pastor in our Shepherds in the Valleys that has made that point. John Cox made the same point.

And I think they're There's a freedom in what you said as far as we don't need to be thankful for the cancer directly, we don't need to be thankful for the death of a granddaughter or the death of an unborn baby. but we can be thankful for God's purposes in it. And There there is something I don't know why.

So many of us in the church, I think, kind of grew up thinking that you need to be thankful for. The hardship. You need to be thankful for the cancer. You need to be thankful, but instead, coming to that understanding that we're not thankful for what sin has caused. We're not thankful for the results, which is that's what it is.

That's what death and pain and sorrow and tears, those are results of the fall. But we are thankful for a God that redeemed it. For a cause that sees our sorrows, that bends down, that gathers our tears in his bottle. And even as we, you know, reflecting back on the question as far as do our prayers always need words, sometimes our prayers are just tears. But God collects those in his bottle and he knows the heart behind them.

And What What a powerful thing that the God of the universe says: come to me, lay your burdens on me. We We don't have to shoulder. the consequences of sin. in this life on our own. The Lord has redeemed it, and He will continue to do so.

Um What as a pastor What would you say is one thing that you wish more people? understood and lived by when it comes to Prayer and the power of prayer.

Well, I think going back to Romans 12, I think we have become a very Instant culture, you know, even weight loss.

So take a drug, take a shot, whatever, everything is instant. And prayer is not instant. Relationship is not instant. There is nothing about it that's instant. And so I would just love to see and I think our our Our younger cultures are having more and more challenge with That part of one, it's, and I think this is part of what makes prayer difficult, it's not tangible.

That's not something we In marriage, we can talk to a husband, we can talk to a wife, in a relationship with Jesus, we're talking to. What? you know a a spirit Yeah. And that's challenging, but we can get through that by By that repetitive practice, and then listening to his voice and that communication builds that sense of intimacy.

So, I would just love people to really learn to discipline. There is no shortcut, there's no quick way. It's purely a matter of discipline and practice. And you will forever be grateful because that relationship with Jesus will be the thing that will get you through all of life's circumstances. Yeah.

I have Chronic pain, you talked about chronic issues. I have chronic pain, and it's exhausting. Um But I tell people pain is my friend.

Well, how can pain be your friend? Because pain reminds me To pray. Pain reminds me to look to Jesus. Pain reminds me of that relationship. And it's just like When you fast you use the hunger pains.

to pray and to Two. to guide yourself back to him. Pain does that for me. Crisis can do that, cancer can do that, all those things can be used as an incentive. Or as a reminder of our relationship that we desperately need, and that is him.

Mm-hmm. And so I tell people: I don't want you to run away from pain. I want you to run to it. Because if it is indeed God directed, Then, why would you run away from God? Why don't you run to Him?

And in that process, You will find him, and he will give you the comfort that you desperately need. Discipline yourself to that and you will forever be thankful. I think that's great advice. And as we conclude this episode, I wanted to read one of the poems that we have in the book, Hope in the Morning, and then conclude with one of my favorite verses. And this is called Cry for Mercy.

And it says, Oh, how I long for this pain to cease, For fear to fade and faith increase. Restore to me my joy, O Lord, for I am weak and often forlorn. Strengthen the bones that you have made. Make my voice steady to give you praise. Focus my mind on the truth of your scripture.

Take captive my thoughts, so my life may be richer. How I long to feel the depths of your peace, to be assured of the grace you afforded to me. Though I am frail, unsteady, and weak, Your promises hold fast for those who earnestly seek to know you as you've made yourself known. to cling to Christ and call heaven home.

So as a compassionate father looks down on his child, Cradle me now in arms meek and mild. Show tender mercy as tears stream down my face and wrap me in unfathomable grace. Remind me that I am fully known, And bring to my thoughts all past mercies shown. Precious Saviour, bestow deep rest on my soul, for even in my brokenness in you I am made whole. And one of my favorite verses that I hope encourages you as we conclude this episode of Hope in the Morning says.

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. That comes from Hebrews 4:16. I hope that that not only encourages you, but that you will use that to bless somebody else today. Thank you for joining us today on Hope in the Morning. Hope in the Morning is a non-profit ministry that seeks to encourage the hurting, equip those who walk beside them, and evangelize the lost with the hope of Jesus Christ.

to partner with our ministry or to make a donation in your loved one's honor. please visit hopeinthemorning.org. Your donation helps keep these stories of hope on the air. and helps tangibly meet the needs of the herding.