Praying Upside Down

 

Just last week I wrote about the increasing weariness I’ve been feeling, mentally, physically, spiritually. And I know I’m not the only one experiencing this at this present moment.

We are all going through our particular ‘hard’ and no one has the right to question your ‘hard’ and downplay it as we all go through things differently. So, your hard may not be my hard.

But whatever the case, everyone is dealing with stuff.

As I sat sipping my coffee in the quiet of the morning, I flicked through a list of verses, looking for the right one to send to someone to be an encouragement as they walk through their particular ‘hard’.

The Lord brought this comforting verse to my attention.

Isaiah 40:29 KJV - He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

And in that moment, I realised this was the verse I needed for today. Not just for the recipient of my text, but for me!

I needed the reminder that God gives strength. Oh, how I long to attain to verse 31. Running without weariness. Walking without fainting.

So, as I often do, I did a quick search on my blog for some encouragement from an old post.

And then God dropped his bombshell!

“God’s ways of answering his people’s prayers is not by removing the pressure, but by increasing their strength to bear it” D. L. Moody

Over the past few weeks, all too often, I’ve complained to God and others about my weariness. My workload. My mental load. My lack of time alone to sit in God’s presence without distraction.

I’ve prayed for a removal of pressure.

But God seems distant. Stubbornly refusing to grant my request.

But the realisation hit me this morning. Have I been praying upside down? Have I been praying the wrong way? Could it be true that I am asking for the wrong thing?

I have been asking him to take away the pressure. Take away the load. And all the while, he has been wanting me to come to him with a very different request.

I feel him calling me to ask for strength. Not for removal of the pressure, but for more strength to bear it!

This verse in Isaiah tells us that when we have no might, he increases our strength. But I think he expects us to ask for it. God longs for us to verbalise what we feel inside and come to him in prayer, laying out our burdens so that he can carry them.

His way of answering our prayers is often altogether different than what we expect.

We ask for patience, he gives us trials.

We ask for healing, he gives us pain.

We ask for financial increase, he gives us lack.

And it’s not because he doesn’t love us. It’s because HE DOES!

God knows exactly what we need in order for us to grow. He knows just what to send into our lives in order to make us more like him. He knows that storms make us stronger. The winds that blow cause us to put down deeper roots and develop a greater trust in him.

And so, as I ask for removal of pressure, he instead encourages me to ask for strength to bear it.

We don’t always understand the mysterious ways God works, but we do know that he is a good Father and he wants what is best for his children. Even if it means walking through fire so that we might see him in there beside us.

As I read this quote today, I was stopped in my tracks abruptly.

I have been praying upside down.

I have been convicted that I need to change my prayer. I need to pray for strength.

God has seen fit to place me where I am, in the situations I am in, with the tiredness that I feel in this present moment. And who am I to question him?

And so, can I encourage you today, as I am encouraging myself right now, to pray for strength.

Pray for the strength to be able to bear whatever it is you are going through today. God is more than able to meet that need. He is more than able to give you wings to mount up as eagles. He is more than able to give you feet that run without weariness.

Stop asking God to remove the pain.

Instead, ask him to give you more strength!

He can do it!

Ephesians 3:20 KJV - Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us

 

God gives wings,
God gives wings as eagles;
God gives wings to fly and strength to rise above.
God gives wings,
God gives wings as eagles,
when my feet begin to stumble,
and my dreams begin to crumble,
I mount up on eagles’ wings.