Pray in the Middle of It!

Life is full of twists and turns, and sometimes it’s also very unfair. We all go through things at times, where we are uncertain as to the cause of our troubles, or where they will end. Thanks be to God, He is God in the middle of every test. How do you pray to God in the middle of the situation? Let’s continue studying the book of Job and learn once again that prayer reaches every single situation. No matter what, keep pressing!

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#biblestudy 

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#pentecostal 

#apostolic 

#press 

#pressmovement

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Transcript

Press means to apply force. When God said press, prayer reaches every single situation. He gave us permission to apply force to every situation that we will go through.

And in this podcast, we are going to learn to apply force to what's applying pressure to us. Welcome to the Press Movement Podcast. So glad that you are able to join us today.

We are returning to the book of Job chapter 10 is where we'll find the portion of the prayer that we're going to look at. But to do that, we really have to understand that just as he was last week, Job is in a conversation again. If you didn't listen last week, go back and listen.

Job is going through it. He has lost everything. You name it, he's lost it.

His family, his wealth, his health, everything but his wife. And I don't even know if that wasn't a punishment too. So, but we have to look at these conversations because I can only imagine being so heavy, having so much going on.

Then your friends show up and they show up with such discouragement clothed as encouragement. They think that they're helping. But we have another friend here of Job who has showed up.

And as I told you last week, they have been quiet for seven days sitting in just mourning with Job. But now they've decided to start talking. And this friend's name is Bildad the Shuhite.

And he listens to Job in chapter seven, which is where we left off last week. And Job really just wants to die. He just wants all of this over.

But Bildad after listening to Job talk to God and to them says, how long will thou speak these things? And how long shall the words of thy mouth be like strong wind? Doth God pervert judgment? Or doth the Almighty pervert justice? So far, no problem with Bildad. He's saying to Job, how long are you going to keep talking like this? Doesn't God always do the right thing? But then he keeps talking. If thy children have sinned against him, and he hath cast them away for their transgression, if thou wouldest seek unto God b times, and make thy supplication to the Almighty, if that worked pure and upright, surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.

Basically, Bildad's encouragement is that if you do the right thing, you'll get the right results. And that is sometimes true. But a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold and pitchers of silver.

You have to know when to say what you're saying. Because though that's sometimes true, what makes the difference is knowing if God is saying that's true. And in this instance, it's not about Job's purity or his uprightness, that he is experiencing all this trauma and trouble.

So what Bildad is suggesting is not only incorrect, it's not helpful. But Bildad seems to think he can align how good Job is with the blessings of God. We still make that mistake today, where we think that we can earn God's blessings by being really, really, really good.

He does bless us. And there are promises in being righteous and walking with him. But we don't earn it.

When you say you can earn it, or when you imply you can earn it, you imply that there's a reciprocation. If I do this, then I will be worthy of that from God. That is the fallacy in what Bildad is saying.

If I do right does not mean I'm worthy of X, Y, Z from God, outside of what he's already promised me. But he doesn't make promises that life is going to be easy, doesn't make promises that we won't cry or be disappointed. What he does make promises concerning are things like Romans 8.28, and we know that all things work together for the good of them that love God and are the called according to his purpose.

That if we do right, he'll get the right out of it, even when it doesn't feel right. But Bildad seemed to align what he could physically see God doing or not doing with Job's righteousness. And his encouragement was largely just that.

If you do right, God will do right by you. He says in Job 8.20, Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evildoers, till he fill thy mouth with laughing and thy lips with rejoicing. Other words, you get it together, God's going to turn it around.

I don't know how this is encouraging when you're looking at somebody with boils who's lost their family and everything they have except for their wife who is not helpful. But as I stated, sometimes people come in your low moments and they come with the wrong words. Job answers him in verse 9. He says, I know it is so of a truth.

How should a man be just with God? He basically is saying back to Bildad, I get what you're saying, but tell me, how do I earn this? How do I bargain with God? If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand. He is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who hath hardened himself against him and hath prospered.

In other words, Job says, even if I try to argue with him, I can't answer him. Not even one in a thousand times. Even if I'm wise and mighty, how can I frame myself to stand up to God, to be strong in front of him, to harden myself against him and still stand? Job never loses sight of the fact God is bigger.

And he continues talking in chapter 10. He says, my soul is weary of my life. I will leave my complaint upon myself.

I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. I will say unto God, do not condemn me. Show me wherefore thou contendest with me.

He's saying, God, if I'm doing anything, show me. That is where Job's heart is. Job's heart never gets to the place where he's just ready to curse God and die as his wife suggested at the beginning.

He is willing to accept this could all be my fault, but I still need God to show me how to get past it. In chapter 10 and chapter 9, Job begins alternating his conversation between that with his friends and talking to God. I've seen this, I've lived this, where this is not a prayer time on your knees.

This is not a prayer time where you go into the closet. This is a prayer time where as the thoughts are hitting you, you're turning them and rerouting them to God. Yes, I'm talking to you, but hold on.

I need him. You can be saying, this is so hard. Jesus, help me.

And talking to a friend, this is life is going through X, Y, Z. And then you just turn on a dime and say, God, forgive me if I've done anything wrong. I still need you. Every prayer, every word that you direct to God is not necessarily segregated into its own time.

Sometimes we're praying as we are going through a situation. We're praying in the middle of it. We're praying in the middle of these conversations.

We're praying because we need God's help. And yes, I believe in setting aside prayer times. I believe that's something you should make a practice.

The Bible references things like the hour of prayer or the separation that Jesus did to go into the mountain to pray. These are patterns that we should follow, having a time of prayer, having a place of prayer. But prayer is portable.

And that's probably what makes it one of the greatest gifts God has given us. We can get his attention from anywhere, anytime. And he understands that sometimes we need him right in the middle of it.

Whatever it is, we need him right in the middle of it. And that's where Job is. He doesn't have the strength probably to put his friends out.

He doesn't have a private place to go. He doesn't have a place to run from his pain. So in the middle of the conversation, and he says things to God like Job chapter 10, verse 12, that has granted me life in favor and that visitation hath preserved my spirits.

And these things thou hid in thine heart, I know that this is with thee. I know it was you. When you gave me my life, when you hand upon me in a blessed kind of way, it was you.

You preserved my spirit, God. He said, if I sin, in verse 14, then thou markest me and thou will not acquit me from mine iniquity. If I be wicked, woe unto me.

And if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion. Therefore, see thou mine affliction.

He's saying, God, if I did X, Y, Z, I know you've got it correct, but Lord, I'm confused about what's happening here. I don't understand what's happening and I need you to see my affliction. Put your eyes upon me, God, for it increases.

Thou huntest me as a fierce lion. And again, thou showest thyself marvelous up on me. I like this word marvelous because it means to be wonderful, surpassing, extraordinary, separate by distinguishing action.

Like I said, Job never makes the mistake of making God like everybody else. Job understands that he is separate by distinguishing action, even in his pursuit of my life. He's still extraordinary.

He's still surpassing. He's still wonderful. He still makes my jaw drop.

That's what Job is telling the Lord in Job 10.16. I'm confused. I'm not understanding the situation, but what he's not confused about is who he still needs and the fact that the one he needs is greater than what he needs. Job's conclusion about how to end this thing stays the same because he can't think his way out of this.

He still says, I should have been as though I had not been. I should have been carried from the womb to the grave, but he understands God is still marvelous in all his ways. He makes my jaw drop.

So this conversation isn't over though. This portion of the prayer somewhat stops at the end of chapter 10, but I hope you understand we're getting to see Job in his process, his process of accepting the will of the Lord, his process of trying to understand what's happening in his life, being confused by it, but also teaching us what it's like to have some things that anchor you when everything else around you is going crazy. There's anchors that hold, like understanding he still made me.

He's still God. He's correcting what he's doing. He's correcting his decisions.

I don't like it. I don't understand it, but I trust him. These are the things we learn from Job as he looks to God, not only to be the God of the test, but the God who will take him out of the test.

As I stated, the way he wanted out is not the way God planned to take him out of the test, but either way he was willing to trust God, you have to get me out of this. As we move forward in our year, in our lives, we all have seasons where things don't seem to make sense, where you look around and you're confused by what you're experiencing. You're confused by what you're going through and you're thinking, God, how did I get here? And I say this more to those who are living right than wrong, because the things that Job is saying and enduring cannot be applied to our own consequences.

Sometimes we have done things that have reactions and we have to live with the reactions or the results of our decisions. But this wasn't Job's scenario. There are some people who are living right.

They are consecrating. They've given their children to God. They're doing what they know to do.

And yet things don't turn out right in their mind's eye. Things are not going the way they want. And for whatever reason, God has allowed it.

But to them, I say be encouraged. God is marvelous even in this. God is still in control even in this.

And God is still hearing you even in this. And it's important that throughout it, you weave in that test prayer. You weave into the pain prayer.

You weave into the complaints and the grief prayer. Because what you'll find is as we approach the end of Job, prayer still reaches every single situation. And God can hear.

So trust Him in the middle of it and keep pressing. Join the movement. Join the community.

Like, share, and subscribe to this podcast. Visit us at PressToPray.com or find us on Instagram or Facebook. Did you know that when you are quiet, your voice is missing to God's ears? I know some of us have prayed and were wondering, how long should I pray about this? Why should I pray if God already knows? How will I know God is answering? And what do I do when I feel like God's not listening? But God is listening for your voice.

It's too quiet in this world for the troubles we have. You have to raise your voice and God wants to hear from you. It's Too Quiet, a book about prayer, is designed to answer your prayer questions and build your faith.

Visit PressToPray.com.