Lord, are you
saying I pray wimpy prayers?
Shocked, I sat
up with a start. It was the early hours of the morning. I had been
suffering the disease of Rheumatoid Arthritis for a year. So crippling at
times I could not move. The pain and
fatigue it brought with it laying me low of spirit as well.
Fierce Reaction
As my soul rose
up with indignation against God's rebuke of wimpy prayers, I heard a distinct
crack in my shoulder. God was putting it back into order. Then I knew we were
working together against this affliction despite my feeble praying.
Yes, I still
felt discomfort but not the level of pain before. After a while I fell into a peaceful sleep. Waking four hours later,
something had shifted within me.
Ups and Downs
Despite this
affliction in 2017, I published two books, travelled to Kenya and Uganda teaching
and preaching and lectured in Solomon Islands. With each
commitment, local or overseas, the Lord rose me up. Then I
was laid low again. My energy level disappointing. My motivation ran its
own hilly course. Medication helped to some degree but my hair fell out in
handfuls as a result.
Assertive prayers
Towards the end
of the year, I kept reflecting on the powerful prayers of the Solomon Islander bible
college students for their Island people (see photo below). They demonstrated their knowledge of the
power of God to hear assertive prayers. I had gone to
teach the truth of God’s Word but come away with the knowledge they believed
God heard their bold prayers to heal their nation and bring transformation.
And God reminded me of Jabez’s prayer.
1 Chronicles
4:10, ‘ Now Jabez called on the God of
Israel, saying, ”Oh that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my border, and
that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm, that it
may not pain me!” And God granted him what he requested.’
I repented of
wimpy prayers and asking God to do what he had already made available to me - his
power to heal, to rise up and overcome this physical hurdle.
Has the stiffness all gone and
pain disappeared? No, but I am different. The Holy Spirit within is moving and
working, bringing joints and marrow back into order. My gift of faith has risen
up once again. Bold prayers are producing personal transformation.
False humility
I had let my confidence slip.
I became my own worst enemy by wrong thinking - this is my lot - this is my
thorn in the flesh. False humility believed the lies.
Living the Truth
In Matthew 6 Jesus told his disciples to pray for
his kingdom to come. In Exodus 33:18, Moses asked God to show him his glory.
Paul was bold enough to ask for the greatness of God’s power in Ephesians 1:19.
Hebrews 4:16 encourages us to ask big prayers in confidence, not demanding but
in faith. These examples leave no room for wimpy prayers.
Warrior Bride
I believed God could heal. I had already
experienced this emotionally. I believed everything I wrote in a chapter in my
book, Warrior Bride: Building Women of Strength about
healing. But it was not until I had to live it myself that faith rose to
bring me onto a level where I became a Warrior Bride myself concerning physical
healing.
What is holding you back? Are
you praying wimpy prayers out of false humility? In what area of your life have you let your
confidence in God slip?
About Rusty A. Lang
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