Keeping Prayer Vital, Fresh and Enjoyable. Part 3 Desperate

3. Desperate Having been arrested by the authorities in a Mid East country for witnessing and passing out some scriptures, I learned early on in my missionary life about desperate prayer. Being threatened with expulsion from the country, I cried out in desperation in the men’s bathroom (“toilet” to non-Americans!) for God to give me wisdom in getting out of this situation. And as clear as anything God gave me the words to use and I was able to stay and fulfill my commitment in the country. The Bible shows us that David had instances of desperate prayer, as well as Hannah when praying for a son. Joy Dawson asks the question, “Why Desperate Prayer?” and answers it: • Because the world’s unreached multitudes are in desperate need. • Because hell is desperately real. Hell is desperate people, eternally trapped, with no hope of relief. • Our desperate cries to God on their behalf powerfully influence the lost to make the right choices. Heaven is then more populated and Hell less. • Desperate people pray with intensity and are not self-conscious. As we pray for the issues on our campuses, in our cities and nations, ask God to give a burden so that as we pray we are not just uttering words but our heart’s cry, and we feel the pain and see the lostness and hopelessless of those without Christ. And it rises up in a desperate cry for God to act. Rhonda Hughey writes, “The key of holy desperation for the presence and ministry of Jesus is required in order for us to move out of our complacent, satisfied existence. Desperation is the underlying fuel that ignites our hearts for unity, prayer, worship, and repentance. If we aren’t longing for Jesus, our ministry activities will be routine and hollow. There is certainly no shortage of ideas, plans, methods, books, teachings, programs, and activities in the church; what we are suffering from is a drought of desperation for God!”