This is the first post in a four part series on bold prayer.
While I could write an entire book on God’s answered prayers, I have chosen three distinct times that God has radically transformed my life as a result of a bold prayer. This is the first.
My friend, Rocky, and I had been reading through the book, Fervent, by Priscilla Shirer. Now if you are one of the few people who has not heard of Priscilla Shirer, allow me to introduce you to her. She is a phenomenal author, speaker, and star of War Room. She speaks truth boldly with power, wisdom, and confidence. She highlights the fact that the enemy is out to attack and teaches on the important of putting on the Armor of God and praying with everything you have. After you are done here, order every single book she has written. You won’t be disappointed.
So back to the story…we had read Fervent and learned Priscilla was coming to Austin in February of 2016 for a tour to discuss the book specifically regarding prayer. The entire evening was wonderful, but one piece in particular stood out. She asked every woman there to write the biggest prayer they could possibly think of. She prompted us with the idea that if God could only give you ONE thing in the entire world, what would that be. Once I thought about it, I spent some time in personal prayer and put my request in a basket at the end of our row.
At this time, Jacob and I had just graduated college, and Jacob was struggling to find a “real” job. He was unhappy with his job at H-E-B and was feeling increasingly pressured to provide for our family. I knew it had been weighing heavy on his heart, so that was what I wrote as my request. I asked that God would give Jacob a job offer that we could not refuse. Two days later, Jacob received an incredible offer for his current job at General Motors that was far better than we could have ever imagined.
You might think the story stops there. Even if it did, God would be a good and gracious God who blessed us immensely. But there was more.
After we turned in our cards, Priscilla led the entire crowd through a night of prayer. She would give us a topic, for example “health.” If the item on your card was related to heath, then you were to raise your hand. (Keep in mind there were a probably over a thousand people at this event). If you have ever battled the given topic and God gave you victory in that area, then you were to stand up. Everyone standing up was to choose someone with their hand raised and pray with everything they have over that person.
To hear corporate prayer expressed in this way and see it play out was a powerful moment that I will never forget.
Priscilla moved from health to faith to kids, and eventually marriage. Since my request was about Jacob, I raised my hand. Rocky gave me a funny look, because she didn’t know why I had raised my hand. Jacob and I were in a great place with our marriage, but at that exact moment a woman behind me began praying out loud for us. I was committed, so I kept my hand raised.
She began to pray that God would allow my husband and I to come back together like Christ did for his bride. I will never forget what she said next, “Whatever is going on in her husband’s heart, I pray that you, God, would have him repent, confess, and heal their marriage.”
At this point, Rocky and I had begun to giggle to ourselves. Poor woman thought we were barely making it in our marriage, and all I really wanted was for my sweet husband to find a job. The event concludes, and we are all instructed to pick a card on our way out the door to pray over all week. I’d like to think the person who picked my card was a prayer warrior as his job offer came within the week.
Fast forward to April of the same year. Jacob and I had decided to do a Bible Study on Marriage called, Real Marriage.
The study is thorough, challenging, and glorifying to God, but one of my favorite things the book does is make sure that everything is laid out on the table.
Chapter Five of the study is called “Taking Out the Trash,” and it basically emphasizes the importance of confession in marriage. When it came time to answer the questions, Jacob made the decision to obediently confess something that happened back earlier that year that was deeply painful to hear.
The stranger’s prayer turned out to be EXACTLY what I needed that night.
Let me pause here and say that what he disclosed was 100% a result of two broken sinners in need of Jesus. It was not one spouse’s fault more than the other, and the story behind that discussion will be told on another day. For now, I will simply say it broke our “perfect” marriage (or what we thought was a “perfect” marriage).
To this day, it is still one of the lowest of lows for each of us. That moment of confession was so difficult. Jacob felt relief and freedom from being honest and obedient in repentance. I felt hurt and betrayed, primarily due to the blow to my pride that I so deeply struggle with.
You may be asking, so where is the blessing in all of this? The blessing was that that moment led us to work on our marriage and our respective relationship with God like never before. We learned that God will destroy anything that is not given over completely to him. Since that season, we have grown deeper both in our spiritual journeys and with each other more than ever before.
That moment was what prompted me to officially apply for graduate school for Marriage and Family Therapy, and that moment led to God placing the calling for marriage ministry on both of our hearts.
Both Jacob and I would say that the challenging season that followed has been the most pivotal moment in our walks with Christ thus far.
All of those blessings came from one BOLD, FERVENT, and FEARLESS prayer.
I owe so much to Priscilla Shirer and the stranger who sat behind me, but I also know that God prompted me to be fearless in raising my hand for marriage.
What is the biggest prayer request that you can think of right now? Write it down, approach him with a humble heart, and pray with confidence that the Lord will provide. Comment below so that I too can join you in your BOLD prayer.
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