Transformed Lives:
seeking Him in prayer
Be present, O merciful God, and protect us through the hours of this night, so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this life may rest in your eternal changelessness.
— The Book of Common Prayer, Compline, p. 133.
Years ago, I read this prayer my friend had typed out and hung on her wall. I found comfort in these words asking God to be present and protect us through the dark night. I remember feeling weary, too, and I loved this idea of finding rest in God’s “eternal changelessness.” I wrote the prayer in my journal, and for a time, I had this prayer near my bed, too.
While visiting this same friend, one evening three of us spent some powerful time in prayer together. We had dinner in the oven, but as we prayed, we lost track of time. I remember how the Holy Spirit moved in our hearts and God did some healing within us. Tears streamed down my face. When we finished our time of prayer, I felt a burden lifted and a new freedom. I felt strengthened for what lie ahead of me. (We didn’t care that our food was thoroughly cooked.)
I treasure this memory and thank God for friends willing to pray with me. We deepen our connection with God through time in prayer.
So many things in life can feel overwhelming. It’s easy to feel discouraged or helpless, and watching the news can add to your stress levels.
These days we’re bombarded with plenty of things that can throw us off balance. Life can be really hard. Health challenges, financial setbacks, and global unrest can all wear us down.
What’s on your heart today?
Are you carrying heavy burdens? Do you need His healing emotionally?
Thankfully, you don’t have to carry these burdens alone. God invites you to bring your concerns to Him any time, day or night.
His Word gives us truth to anchor our hearts. I remember during a time when we had some ongoing safety concerns in the neighborhood where I used to live, and I wrote these verses from Job 11:16-19a (NIV) on the mirror of my closet door:
You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. Life will be brighter than noonday, and darkness will become like morning. You will be secure, because there is hope; you will look about you and take your rest in safety. You will lie down, with no one to make you afraid…
I found comfort in His Word, and God delivered me from that difficult time. His Word became part of me.
Somehow I think the enemy of our souls hopes we will be constantly distracted and unable to quiet our hearts to spend time in prayer and in His Word. Although algorithms are intentionally developed to capture our time and attention, our spiritual lives will suffer if we allow this constant onslaught of stories, images and information to rob us of intimacy with our Creator.
When I lived overseas in my twenties, I treasured times of prayer with close friends. I still feel so thankful that we can come to our Heavenly Father with any concern, and as we worship Him and share our hearts with Him, our burdens somehow feel lighter.
Photo credit Sue Kuenzi, Drift Creek, Oregon
When my friend Sue White was still alive, I would call her sometimes when I woke up early in the morning. Since she was in Florida, she was three hours ahead of me, and she would gladly take time to pray with me. I loved her reliance on the LORD, and her strong faith. We would share our hearts, and if I had something I was concerned about, I knew I could be honest with her. Rather than trying to offer her own wisdom, she often listened in her caring way, and then she’d say, “Can I pray for you right now?”
I always felt better after we prayed together. Prayer reminds us we aren’t alone. Sue and I first met when we were working in the same city in Asia.
We have such a powerful privilege as Christians. God invites us to bring our concerns to Him in prayer.
Recently I’ve reflected on people whose walk with God has encouraged my heart. I appreciate biographies and I also am thankful for the chance to listen to teaching of some of the believers who have gone before us.
One of my favorite books is called They Found the Secret: 20 Transformed Lives That Reveal a Touch of Eternity by V. Raymond Edman. In this book, the author gives us examples from actual lives of Christians who found the “indwelling life of Christ” as the source of their spiritual strength.
Dr. Edman’s desire was to help more of us to experience a “life-transforming relationship with Christ.”
As Walter Elwell wrote in the foreword to this book, “It is not enough just to know about Christ, or to know about what He did for us, or even to experience His work in us. What is needed is to experience Him in us…”
I loved reading of how these twenty believers experienced a crisis that led to a deeper life in Christ, a life changed by this encounter with the Savior.
From J. Hudson Taylor, who shared his experience of not feeling at rest within, burdened by a multitude of responsibilities and concerns to becoming a joyous man who learned to rest in Jesus, to others whose lives were changed by deeper encounters with the Lord, this book offers beautiful encouragement.
In an earlier article, I wrote about J. Hudson Taylor’s testimony:
The Exchanged Life
One very meaningful testimony and concept that has changed my life for the better is found in a simple letter that J Hudson Taylor wrote to his sister, describing how God had worked in his heart in a powerful way, relieving him of the burdens he had previously carried. God has used this testimony to bring freedom and peace to me and to many others over …
This concept of The Exchanged Life helped me a lot during an especially tough time in my life. I was driving to a friend’s house one day years ago when a woman driving a Honda T-boned my van. She was speeding, so she hit me pretty hard. Witnesses saw that she was going too fast. However, just before the statue of limitations ran out almost a year later, I received notice that she was suing me for a very large sum of money. While I knew she had caused the accident, I felt very shaken by this lawsuit. From the time I learned of the lawsuit to the resolution, it was almost three years. So I had this threat hanging over me for a long time. At first I couldn’t sleep very well. I really didn’t want to lose everything I had worked so hard for. Because I have multiple sclerosis, I knew I couldn’t recover from a major setback like this.
But God taught me a lot through this stressful time. I read the account of Hudson Taylor’s encounter with God. Rather than carrying the burdens himself, God showed him that since Christ lived in him, and his life was found in Christ, Hudson could trust God to carry the burdens. Rather than feeling strained and worried, he rested in the freedom of allowing Christ, who lived in Him to carry the load.
I came to a peaceful place of recognizing that my life belonged to Christ. So, everything I owned was really His, and He lived in me. He knew what I needed and I could trust Him to take care of everything. Ultimately that lawsuit was settled in a fair way, with the woman receiving a much smaller amount for lost wages from my insurance company. My friend had prayed Psalm 91 over me as I waited for this lawsuit to be resolved, and indeed no harm came to me.
We live in an era where unless we live very intentionally, we will hear a multitude of voices, and we may end up feeling overwhelmed and anxious.
I am so thankful that we have God’s Word, and the Holy Spirit makes His Word come alive to us as we spend time in prayer.
I love this reminder by the late Major W. Ian Thomas:
Again, "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17), and here the word to pray does not mean to beg or to plead as if God were unwilling to give--but simply to expose by faith every situation as it arises, to the all-sufficiency of the One who indwells you by His life.
— W. Ian Thomas
My friend, Lois, heard Major Ian Thomas teach at Capernwray where she attended Bible college years ago. I love this reminder that we simply need to “expose by faith every situation as it arises” to our all-sufficient Savior who lives in us. Much like J. Hudson Taylor’s encounter with Jesus where he understood that Christ in us has the power to handle everything, this reality expressed by Ian Thomas invites us to entrust our concerns to our capable, loving Savior.
In Revelation 12:10-11 (NASB 1995), it says:
Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, “Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God day and night. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even when faced with death.
So the accuser of the brethren was overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony. What testimony do you have of God’s faithfulness in your own life? I’d love to hear from you.