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‘Break my heart for what breaks Yours.’ We used to sing all those years ago. (Hosanna, Hillsong 2006). It was powerful then and still powerful today. And I feel God prompting us to take heed as I hear Him saying it over and over to me in my spirit.
I remember when we sang that song, and I would stay silent when that particular line was sung. Not because I didn’t want to know God‘s heart. But because I recognized the gravity of that declaration and what it might entail. A broken heart is no fun, and none of us are a fan of pain or anguish. But if we live long enough we all experience it to some extent or another.
I’m now coming to realize that the avoidance and fear of pain is actually a ploy of the enemy. When we try to avoid emotional pain by shutting down and staying silent, not only does it hurt us in the long term; via physical sickness and poor mental and emotional health.
But it also shuts down one of the most powerful weapons we have. Prayer. Today, I’m not talking about our daily prayers, or when we take our needs, fears or concerns to Him. I’m talking about the fervent prayers the Bible talks about. James 5:16 says ‘The fervent prayers of a righteous man avail much.’ The Passion Translation puts it this way: ‘Tremendous power is released through the passionate, heartfelt prayer of a godly believer.’ Fervent – Passionate, intense, hot, boiling burning. Those prayers can look ugly, snotty, agonizing, and painful. These are the prayers that avail much and give us the power to prevail!
I’m writing this to you as much as to me. To be honest I blew that opportunity last week. With all that is happening in my country at the moment, I was overwhelmed and distraught several times. But instead of using my pain to lean into God, my ‘old self’ checked in and I told myself to pull it together and suck it up. What a lie!
The lie whispered quietly in my ear, ripped me off at that moment, of bringing my fervent (messy, anguished) prayers to God that could have shifted things in the Heavens leading to change here on the earth! Remember our war is not against flesh and blood. (Each other.) But it’s against principalities and powers and rulers of the air. In other words, the war is in the spirit.
We have the most powerful weapon in our hands! Prayer! And when it is combined with a passionate burning and even painful anguished heart it is supercharged! Just look at Hannah in 1st Samuel. A woman who persistently prayed for years for a child. To the point that her anguish could hardly be spoken in words. The priest thought she was drunk. They were not pretty or dignified prayers. But when she leaned into God with her pain, willing to do anything for Him to have a child. Her prayer was answered. Not because God is mean and just wants us to get to the point of pain and desperation. But because He is growing our character to carry the answer to the prayer that we are praying.
Have you ever considered the reason why God sometimes doesn’t answer our prayers straight away? Perhaps it is because He is preparing and growing us into the person we need to be so that we are able to sustain and carry the answer when it arrives? Hannah gained a son. The world gained a Prophet. Often when the answer arrives, it is far greater than what we had initially been praying for!
So I want to encourage us all today. Don’t be afraid of the pain or the brokenness. Nor the messy, snotty prayers. Aligned together with His promises and His heart, we have THE MOST powerful weapon there is! If only we would use it!
What do you think?