"How God Meets Your Deepest Needs" in American Sign LanguageSample

Pray First, Pray More
By Rick Warren

“After this the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites declared war on Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was terrified by this news and begged the Lord for guidance." (2 Chronicles 20:1,3 NLT)

Sometimes it seems the odds are against you. Brian Hice from Provo, Utah, had a day like that. First, his apartment was flooded by a broken pipe in the apartment above his. When he rented a water vacuum, he discovered he had a flat tire. He changed it and went inside again to phone a friend for help. But standing in the water and grabbing the phone gave him such a startling electrical shock that he accidentally ripped the phone off the wall. By the time he was ready to leave, water damage had swelled his door shut, and he had to yell for a neighbor to come and kick the door down. While all this was going on, somebody stole Brian's car. That evening, he attended a military ceremony at his university. He injured himself severely when he somehow sat on his bayonet, which had been tossed on the front seat of his car. Doctors could stitch up his wound, but no one could resuscitate Brian's four canaries, crushed by fallen plaster from the wet apartment ceiling. When he returned from the university, he slipped on the wet carpet and injured his tailbone. Brian said he wondered if “God wanted me dead but just kept missing.”

Have you ever had a day like that? What do you do when you're facing insurmountable, overwhelming problems?

Before you do anything else, you go directly to God. You say, “God, I am overwhelmed!” and you ask, “God, what do you think about this situation?” Your perspective is limited, while God's perspective is eternal, so he can see the beginning and the end. He can see past, present, and future all at once. You need to get a bigger picture of the problem that seems so overwhelming to you right now.

Too often, we see prayer as a last resort rather than as our first thought. Prayer is usually something you do way down the line after you've tried everything else. People will say, “I guess all we can do now is pray!” like it's their last option.

Prayer should be your first choice, not your last resort. If you want God to help you overcome the odds in any area of your life, you must turn to Him first.

2 Chronicles 20:1,3 says, “After this the armies of the Moabites, Ammonites, and some of the Meunites declared war on Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat was terrified by this news and begged the Lord for guidance" (NLT). The "this" refers to a great national revival, a spiritual awakening. There was great prosperity and blessing in the land, and soon after, there was war.

With every high, there is a low. After every victory, there is a letdown. And with every blessing, there comes testing. You may not be in a battle right now, but you will be in one tomorrow, the next day, or the day after that. You should expect blessing in your life, but you also need to expect battles in your life. You're going to have difficult times.

But you should never let an impossible situation intimidate you. Let it motivate you to pray more and turn to God first.

Talk It Over

What are the seemingly impossible situations you are facing today?

Where do you usually go when you have a problem? Who do you want to talk to first?