Silas
Beloved of All
Your desperate cry has been heard, and I can feel how close you are to fainting, how breathless and overwhelmed you feel as if you are at the very end of your strength.
God already knows what you need before you put it into words. Jesus said your Father knows what you have need of before you ask Him. Prayer is not giving God information He lacks, and it is not wearing Him down until He finally gives in. The volume or the intensity of the cry is not what moves Him, though when the heart is desperate it is natural to cry out loudly. What matters is the honest pouring out of your heart before Him. You can be brutally honest. You can tell Him you feel faint, afraid, and unable to stand. He invites that kind of honesty, and His Spirit often brings comfort and assurance while you are still praying.
The deepest purpose of prayer is not to get your will done on earth, but to get His will done in your life. True prayer begins with God and His purposes, which He makes known to your heart, and you then express back to Him. In that way prayer opens the door for Him to act freely without violating your will. The wisest prayer you can pray in this fainting place is simply, Lord, have Your way in my life, work out Your perfect will in me, do for me what You know is best. That surrender does not mean God does not care about your pain. It means you are trusting His wisdom above your own understanding.
Many things are accomplished through prayer that would not happen if we did not pray, yet prayer does not change the mind of God, for He does not change. Often prayer changes us. It changes our mind and aligns our heart with His way. Sometimes He also delays an answer, not because He has not heard, but because He has a purpose in the waiting. Hannah prayed for years for a son and God withheld the answer until her desire was brought into line with His purpose, so that when He gave her Samuel she would give him back to the Lord. If you sense a delay, do not take it as silence or rejection. God may be shaping your heart to want what He wants to give.
Fear is often what makes us feel faint, and fear is an enemy of faith. The two cannot rule the heart at the same time. When your eyes are fixed on the threat, on what might happen, fear grows. The cure for fear is to remember the Lord. David said though I walk through the valley of death I will fear no evil for You are with me. He also asked his own soul why are you cast down and disquieted within me, and then reminded himself to hope in God. Greater is He who is with you than anything that is against you. Try not to make decisions out of that fear. Fear often pushes us to wrong movement.
Prayer was never meant to take the place of responsible action. One of the great examples in Scripture prayed to God and then set a watch day and night because of the danger. Prayer precedes wise action, it does not replace it. So pray, and then take prudent steps. If you feel physically faint, get help right where you are. Sit or lie down, breathe, drink water, let someone near you know you need support, and seek medical care if needed. Tell a trusted person, a family member, a pastor or counselor, what is happening so you are not alone. That is not a lack of faith, it is prayer joined with prudence.
If you have not yet come into a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, that relationship is what opens the door to this kind of prayer. Apart from Him the one prayer God desires to hear is, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Through Jesus you can call Him Father and know you are heard.
I am praying for you now that God will give strength to you as you faint, that He will lift up your soul, teach you His ways, and guard your heart from fear. May He remind you that He is with you, that He will not let you be carried away, and that as you wait on Him He will renew your strength. Keep pouring out your heart to Him honestly, keep asking for His will to be done, keep remembering who He is, and keep taking the practical steps to care for yourself while you trust Him to do what only He can do.
God already knows what you need before you put it into words. Jesus said your Father knows what you have need of before you ask Him. Prayer is not giving God information He lacks, and it is not wearing Him down until He finally gives in. The volume or the intensity of the cry is not what moves Him, though when the heart is desperate it is natural to cry out loudly. What matters is the honest pouring out of your heart before Him. You can be brutally honest. You can tell Him you feel faint, afraid, and unable to stand. He invites that kind of honesty, and His Spirit often brings comfort and assurance while you are still praying.
The deepest purpose of prayer is not to get your will done on earth, but to get His will done in your life. True prayer begins with God and His purposes, which He makes known to your heart, and you then express back to Him. In that way prayer opens the door for Him to act freely without violating your will. The wisest prayer you can pray in this fainting place is simply, Lord, have Your way in my life, work out Your perfect will in me, do for me what You know is best. That surrender does not mean God does not care about your pain. It means you are trusting His wisdom above your own understanding.
Many things are accomplished through prayer that would not happen if we did not pray, yet prayer does not change the mind of God, for He does not change. Often prayer changes us. It changes our mind and aligns our heart with His way. Sometimes He also delays an answer, not because He has not heard, but because He has a purpose in the waiting. Hannah prayed for years for a son and God withheld the answer until her desire was brought into line with His purpose, so that when He gave her Samuel she would give him back to the Lord. If you sense a delay, do not take it as silence or rejection. God may be shaping your heart to want what He wants to give.
Fear is often what makes us feel faint, and fear is an enemy of faith. The two cannot rule the heart at the same time. When your eyes are fixed on the threat, on what might happen, fear grows. The cure for fear is to remember the Lord. David said though I walk through the valley of death I will fear no evil for You are with me. He also asked his own soul why are you cast down and disquieted within me, and then reminded himself to hope in God. Greater is He who is with you than anything that is against you. Try not to make decisions out of that fear. Fear often pushes us to wrong movement.
Prayer was never meant to take the place of responsible action. One of the great examples in Scripture prayed to God and then set a watch day and night because of the danger. Prayer precedes wise action, it does not replace it. So pray, and then take prudent steps. If you feel physically faint, get help right where you are. Sit or lie down, breathe, drink water, let someone near you know you need support, and seek medical care if needed. Tell a trusted person, a family member, a pastor or counselor, what is happening so you are not alone. That is not a lack of faith, it is prayer joined with prudence.
If you have not yet come into a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, that relationship is what opens the door to this kind of prayer. Apart from Him the one prayer God desires to hear is, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Through Jesus you can call Him Father and know you are heard.
I am praying for you now that God will give strength to you as you faint, that He will lift up your soul, teach you His ways, and guard your heart from fear. May He remind you that He is with you, that He will not let you be carried away, and that as you wait on Him He will renew your strength. Keep pouring out your heart to Him honestly, keep asking for His will to be done, keep remembering who He is, and keep taking the practical steps to care for yourself while you trust Him to do what only He can do.
