Contending: Lost Battle?

There are certain situations when I feel a deep burden on my heart to pray with greater faith and hope for God to intervene in a miraculous way. I find my prayers rising to a new level—fasting, praying fervently both early morning and late night, crying out to God with a boldness that sometimes surprises me. I would term it as “contending in prayer,” which has a connotation of wrestling, battling, and struggling for victory in a dire situation.

That’s how I found myself praying for my friend Deb who struggled with life-draining cancer. I joined others in prayer for years on Wednesday evenings in our church prayer gatherings and during late Friday night prayer watches with a few friends. Our church staff prayed faithfully, Deb’s small group prayed, we held 24-hour prayer vigils for her, we gathered in her home with elders and the prayer team. I also prayed fervently in my own home. There was no lack of loving and heart-felt prayer for Deb’s healing over many, many months.

Yet, she died. This was a hard one. It felt like defeat. Why would God burden me (and others) to pray so fervently for healing, only to feel like the battle was lost.

I know all of the obvious answers that are absolute biblical truth. God is sovereign. Yes, I know. God’s plans are always good. Check. I couldn’t agree more. Deb has now received her ultimate healing in heaven. Yes, I fully get that. God never makes a mistake. I believe that with all my heart.

But somehow all these truths were not the comfort I hoped they would be. In the moment of learning of Deb’s death, I found myself struggling with the reality of seemingly unanswered prayer. I wondered if I somehow missed the key to unlock God’s healing touch. Did I pray wrong? Was I not hearing the Lord in praying so fervently for healing? Should I have fasted more or prayed later into the night? I had a lot of questions that rattled my confidence in the hope of prayer.

The Mystery of God’s Providence 
It wasn’t until Deb’s amazing funeral service that I understood how God applies all of our intercession, however He leads us to pray, for His glory. Before her death, Deb had planned and orchestrated every detail of her service so that there would be no doubt about her faith in Christ.

Hundreds overflowed the worship center and into the lobby to both mourn and celebrate Deb’s life. It was clear that many were not followers of Christ, and Deb had prepared well for them.

Pastor Bob Bakke’s message on God’s providence summed it up for me. My questions were answered when Dr. Bakke declared that every relationship of Deb’s had been orchestrated for that moment in time. Every neighbor in every area of the Twin Cities where they lived over the years, every hockey parent who ever shared a bleacher with Deb, every person she and her husband Joe met in their workplaces, every childhood friend, every family member—God had orchestrated this moment in their lives for Deb to speak to them through the power of the gospel. I have never heard a more clear declaration of the power of Jesus Christ to save and redeem. And Deb’s very words echoed through the crowd: “What are you waiting for?” There was no question about God’s purposes at that moment.

The response was profound. I witnessed firsthand the power of Jesus’ words in John 12:24: “I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat is planted in the soil and dies, it remains alone. But its death will produce many new kernels—a plentiful harvest of new lives.” God was giving Deb the glorious opportunity to share her heart with multitudes of people who were graced by her life. In that moment, I understood. And I knew that Deb, who was now with her Savior, fully agreed with God’s purposes in her death.

God’s providence framed perfectly the reason why I was so burdened to pray for healing even up to Deb’s last breath. When we contend in prayer and are fully obedient to all the intercession that God has placed on our hearts—there is no lost battle. Every prayer counts—and God applies them all to His perfect will. If He burdens you to pray for the miraculous, pray without fear of the outcome. Pray with abandonment. He is working out miraculous things you may not see or understand at the time.

Simply pray on, friends, with boldness and confidence in the mysterious and glorious providence of God.

From Under the Stage

Crawling on your hands and knees on a concrete floor for the length of a concert stage is admittedly a challenge—at least I think so at my age! But four times in the past year God has called me to pray from this unusual and strategic position as the gospel has been preached to thousands of university students.

I’ve been under the stage with my friends Steph and Nancy, as well as my nephew Brad, at outreach events on various university campuses. We’ve all been with our faces to the floor in pleading prayer while the bands above shook the stage—and while the gospel of Jesus Christ was shaking hearts.

My longing has been for God to stir in revival and spiritual awakening on campuses—and not only on campuses, but in churches, cities, and our nation. So crawling under a stage to pray seems like a small sacrifice when so much is at stake. We desperately need a Christ-awakening, and many people have gone before me with worn-out knees and that same prayer for God to move.

Stirrings of Awakening

And now, a year later, I can see that God is hearing those cries and He is moving! On the National Day of Prayer (NDOP) last year, Steph and I crawled under the stage at the Mariucci hockey arena at the University of Minnesota campus to pray while Bob Bakke and Nick Hall led a few thousand students and adults in prayer for this great awakening. (I guess we can be thankful for concrete instead of ice!)

Since that time, I can tell you that thousands of university students have given their lives to Jesus Christ. Nick did not know a year ago that he was to be launched on a nationwide tour that allowed him to preach the gospel message to hundreds of thousands of people in more than 50 cities. He saw the stirring of revival as more than 150,000 people stood up and surrendered their lives to Christ!

And since that time, God moved in the hearts of many prayer leaders across this nation to launch OneCry, a unified call to prayer for spiritual awakening in the U.S. Bob Bakke did not know last year that God would lead him to host and produce a radio broadcast on perhaps a thousand radio stations on the National Day of Prayer on May 3 of this year. He will be calling our nation to urgent and fervent prayer exactly a year after our NDOP gathering.

And as an added bonus, my nephew Brad did not know at the time he was praying with me under a couple of stages that God would launch him as a student ministries pastor. His heart for prayer will no doubt have an impact on the students in his church and beyond.

Under Your Own Stage

Crawling under a stage to pray has a component of “hiddenness” in intercession. No one but God knows that you are under there, and no one but the Lord can hear your prayers over the sound of the band, students cheering, and the preaching of God’s truths. But I believe His ears are attuned to those who earnestly seek Him with sincere hearts and not a lot of fanfare. I agree with the Psalmist (116:2): “Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!” If that means crawling under a stage, I’m there! If it means on my face in the quiet of the night, I trust He is bending down and listening to my cries.

What stage has God called you to crawl under to pray—for the sake of His fame and glory? Is He calling you to slip out of bed, go to your knees, and pray for the salvation of a loved one? Does He want to you to pray fervently in the early morning on behalf of your pastors and the leadership of your church?

Praying together in corporate prayer and larger groups is absolutely essential. But don’t forget the powerful times of prayer that come from behind closed doors or under stages. Consider how the Lord might be calling you to seek Him in the hidden places. The Lord is waiting to bend down to listen to you—and move heaven and earth in answer to your prayers.

Listen to the Sounds of a Great Stirring

Do you hear that sound? It is the increasingly urgent cry of people who are desperate for revival! I suspect we will be hearing it more and more in the coming year. You can’t read the news (through the lens of Scripture) without recognizing we are in unprecedented times. The wake-up call is sounding, and the Lord is urging us to return to Him with repentant hearts, eager to see Him move in a powerful, global revival.

I first began writing about revival and spiritual awakening nearly 20 years ago. I knew something more was needed to embolden God’s people to pursue personal holiness and the salvation of those who don’t know Jesus as Savior. The Spirit put it in my heart to long for more, especially the need for true repentance and brokenness among Christians. To be honest, I’ve struggled to be true to that message in various circles. I’ve actually experienced rejection as people have tried to downplay the crisis that we are in as a church and nation.

But the Lord used the criticism of fellow believers to increase my desperation for Him to move in revival. Pain will do that to you. His message to me over and over again has been clear: “God acts on behalf of those who wait for Him.” (Is. 64:4; Ps. 37:7)

So I have waited. And waited. And prayed. And waited and prayed a whole lot more. Many who have been praying for true revival have been waiting and wondering for long time. Will it even come — and if so, when?

But now I’m hearing the whispers of a stirring revival. It is the sound of leaders in the church rising up and saying that we must have revival or we cannot go on. It is the sound of intercessors who are increasingly calling out to the Lord day and night (Is. 62). It is also the sound of skepticism being silenced.

It is the sound of hope. Oh, God — how we need You to send a fresh Christ-awakening!

If you want your heart to be stirred with a vision for revival in our churches and a sweeping global movement of God’s manifest glory, you need the next issue of Prayer Connect magazine. I'm serious. I believe it may just be one of the most important messages I’ve ever worked on in my publishing career. Great leaders and writers who have been praying for years for revival have helped to put this issue together. It’s time.

More to come, friends. Listen closely.

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