Desperate People Praying Desperate Prayers: Crying to God in Difficult Times

Many prayers that we pray come from a desperate heart. They may not be eloquent prayers, and we do not attempt to make them so. We are just crying from the depths of our hearts. I call these desperate prayers. God hears the desperate prayer, and He will answer our heart's cry. We find these prayers throughout the Bible. Often they are prayed by individuals that are well known to Bible students. Then, in some cases, we are not given their names. But God hears the cries of all! He will hear ours, also. In part one of Desperate People Praying Desperate Prayers, we look at the book of Jonah and see the principle of faith at work and how God rewards those who diligently seek Him. The book is comprised of stories of desperate people in desperate situations. There is a prayer meeting in each one of the four chapters of Jonah. In chapter one there are two prayer meetings. First, the heathen were praying to their heathen gods, and then they prayed to the God of Jonah. In chapter two, Jonah was praying-fighting for his life. In chapter three, a city was praying. In chapter four, Jonah was praying again.The first four prayers were prayed amid life-threatening circumstances. Life will afford us many opportunities to pray this type of prayer. It is during these times that we really learn the benefits of prayer, and we clearly see the mighty hand of God at work in our behalf.Some readers think that the book of Jonah is just the story of a big fish. But the truths in this small book go far beyond what some see as a humorous story. It was not a laughing matter to anyone who took part in the different events that ultimately reveal to us the great mercy of God. Jonah's book should send us to our knees with some serious soul searching and a renewed faith that God can still save to the uttermost those that come unto Him.In part two of Desperate People Praying Desperate Prayers (from Psalm 107), there are four groups of people who encountered situations that brought them to their knees. God worked a miracle in each case.In part three of this book are the stories of some well-known biblical characters who were brought to the throne of God's mercy and grace by problems they could not solve themselves. This part includes the prayer of Jesus when He prayed in great agony with the Cross of Calvary being on the agenda for the very next day. Again, God revealed His power and His mercies to those who sought Him for help.The purpose in giving all of these illustrations is to let us know that we, too, can come to God with our troubles. He can and will do miraculous things in our lives!The purpose of studying prayer must be more than just us receiving more knowledge about prayer, but a study of prayer must inspire us to actually pray more, or it really hasn't helped us much. We must have teaching and revelation that brings us to our knees. Tragedies do that. But we also need a revelation that puts a burden on our hearts during either good or bad times. May Desperate People Praying Desperate Prayers be a benefit to each of our prayer lives and make us want to pray more.