Dear Missionary Lady,
Greetings in the name of our Savior and Deliverer. Aren’t you glad that God is so capable of rescuing us? Below is the next lesson in the series about how to pray during trials. I trust it will bless your heart as it did mine.
Category One - Deliverance
Praying for
deliverance is the most logical place to start, and it is what comes most
naturally. This is more than just a natural aversion to trials and a desire to
enjoy more pleasant times. Prayers for deliverance are rooted in the knowledge
of our great God. We know that God loves His people. We know that God is
merciful and compassionate. We know that God is all-powerful. We know that God
is infinitely wise. These characteristics, among others, give weight not only
to God’s ability to bring deliverance but also to His heart to do so.
Prayers for deliverance are encouraged by a Bible that is filled with examples of divine deliverance. Deliverance is what God does for His people – time after time, example after example, crisis after crisis. “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope” (Romans 15:4). The Old Testament histories mean something. They are in the Bible by design, intended to teach us and to give us hope.
How many of those stories tell of dependent, even desperate, prayer and then of dramatic deliverance? Abraham’s daring prayer resulted in the deliverance of Lot and his family from Sodom. God heard the prayers of Israel and delivered them from Egypt. Joshua’s prayer resulted in deliverance from the five attacking kings. The book of Judges is filled with a cycle of prayers and deliverance. Hannah’s prayer for deliverance from barrenness and persecution resulted in the birth of Samuel. David prayed and was delivered repeatedly from Saul’s threats. Elisha prayed, and the Shunamite’s son was restored to life. Kings Asa and Jehoshaphat prayed desperately when imposing armies threatened, and God delivered. God heard both Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s prayers related to their building projects. Daniel and his friends prayed when they faced death, and God delivered them. The people fasted (implying prayer) in the days of Esther and were delivered from genocide. Jonah prayed and was delivered from the belly of the great fish.
Prayers for deliverance are recorded abundantly in the psalms. There are far too many examples to list, but Psalm 40:1-2 expresses it well: “I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” Psalm 107 shares varied difficult situations as it repeats the refrain: “Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses.”
The New Testament encourages prayer, even for deliverance. Some of these passages are quite powerful. “Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them” (Mark 11:24). “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you” (Luke 11:9). “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you” (John 15:7). “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him” (I John 5:14). “Ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2). “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” (Ephesians 3:20).
What patterns for prayer can we find specifically in the context of suffering? “Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense … to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven” (II Thessalonians 1:6-7). Paul opens this letter, speaking of the afflictions upon this church and of God’s righteous judgment. Paul declares that God’s just action is to afflict the wicked and to give rest to the afflicted. It is appropriate, based on God’s justice, to ask, “Just Father, grant me relief from my affliction.”
Paul shares his own testimony. “Persecutions, afflictions, which came unto me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured: but out of them all the Lord delivered me” (II Timothy 3:11). Paul’s record was that the suffering was plentiful, but that each time God delivered him. So we can pray, “Faithful Father, will You deliver me once again? I know You are able.”
“But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you” (I Peter 5:10). Peter states this as a reality, as a habitual action of God. The suffering does last for a little while, but in time God Himself, the God of grace and the one who has called us, will rescue us. He will step in and do all the divine work that we need. Our prayer can be, “Gracious Father, will You consider the time of suffering to be sufficient. Will You come to my rescue?”
Clearly, we can pray for deliverance, and often God will give it. The decision, the timing, and the method are all up to Him, however. Any careful and observant student of the Bible knows that each verse comes in a context, and that often truth is clarified by examining an entire verse or passage. Even the verses above refer to things like belief, the will of God, abiding in Him, heavenly answers, and timing. Paul saw multitudes of deliverances, but ultimately he died for his faith. God often delivers during our earthly lives, but not always.
It is critical for us to realize that there are more important things to pray for than deliverance. There are (by my organization) eleven more categories. God intends other results from our suffering in addition to deliverance. If all we ever do is face the difficulties of life and get past them, then we are missing a great deal that God intends for us, and we are missing the most important things. What kind of Christian experience would it be to move through a series of difficulties and deliverances if we remained the same after each one? If there was never any consequence or impact beyond merely exiting another trial? That would be little different from a video game in which we successfully conquer new levels.
One of the major realizations we must make is that sometimes God “doesn’t answer” prayers from category one because He is answering something far more important from categories two through twelve. If we had a broken finger and were suffering a heart attack at the same time, we would want the doctor to deal with the heart attack first. Yes, eventually we want the finger to be addressed, but we realize it is not the priority. Sometimes answering a prayer from category six or nine or twelve will require that God delay the answer to this category or even answer it in the negative.
We might at times insist that deliverance is the most important thing and that we need it now, but if we really look deeply and ponder seriously, it doesn’t take much spiritual sensitivity or maturity to realize that there very well might be more important things that God is doing. Certainly we can and should pray for deliverance, but if we were mindful of the weightier considerations, we would probably modify those prayers to something like, “Please work out all that You are intending so that You can bring this trial to its desired end,” or “Please work this trial toward its end as You use it to accomplish Your objectives.”
May God help you this week in the areas where you are seeking deliverance. May He grant that deliverance in keeping with His timing and purposes, and may He grant you grace as you wait on Him.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
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