I once heard a story about the founder of The Salvation Army, William Booth. Two women who were working very hard in a particular mission field were not seeing anyone come to Christ. They tried everything they knew of to reach people, but their labors were seemingly fruitless. At a point of exhaustion, they reached out to Mr. Booth—famous for leading thousands to Christ—for wisdom. The great soul winner sent them these simple words: “Try tears.”
Booth was revealing to these missionary ladies one of the great secrets to success in mission. There’s a place for hard work, using our talents, being innovative, exercising practical wisdom, and so on. It is possible, however, to do all that and still come up against an unsurpassable wall.
Desperate prayer
When Booth said, “Try tears,” I am pretty sure he meant groaning and weeping—desperate crying out. There’s something about desperate prayer that releases power into our efforts. It blasts open doors that are closed tightly. It causes things to be orchestrated that are beyond what we could ever plan. Desperate prayer is essential for ministry success. Jeremiah calls the people to this kind of praying—
O wall of the daughter of Zion, let tears stream down like a torrent day and night! Give yourself no rest, your eyes no respite! “Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the night watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord!” Lamentations 2:18-19
Not all prayer is like that, right? Sometimes we just thank the Father for everything He has lavished upon us. Sometimes we wait quietly and still our souls to remember who He is. Sometimes we talk to the Lord about our personal struggles or about random details of life. But when we come up against opposition in our life or mission, it drives us to desperate prayer.
There’s something about desperate prayer that releases power into our efforts. It blasts open doors that are closed tightly. It causes things to be orchestrated that are beyond what we could ever plan. Desperate prayer is essential for ministry success.
The Book of Hebrews says, “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears …” (Hebrews 5:7). I don’t have time to tell you about the desperate prayers of Moses, David, Elijah, Hezekiah, Jeremiah, Paul, James, Martin Luther, John Hyde, Hudson Taylor, David Brainerd, Charles Spurgeon, and thousands upon thousands of others. If the details of the private lives of great men and women of God were recorded—we always find this quality of desperate prayer.
Defining desperate
What does desperate prayer mean exactly? One definition of desperate is this: “feeling, showing, or involving a hopeless sense that a situation is so bad as to be impossible to deal with.” How would this apply to the way we pray?
Is it an explosive show of emotion? Is it possible to pray desperately without tears? Do tears equate with desperate praying? The plain fact is that some people are wired (by God) to be highly emotional people. They cry watching commercials. They cry at weddings. They cry when someone insults them or compliments them. Others rarely cry, if ever. Again, it’s how they were designed by the Lord. This temperament is needed for certain vocations like being a surgeon or a pilot. So desperate prayer is deeper than mere emotion and tears.
A mindset of desperate prayer is when we realize that all of our rigorous efforts and clever ideas are not enough to break through the wall. It’s when we realize the seriousness of the condition people around us are in. It’s when we refuse to accept that the people we love are spiritually lost. It’s when we are determined to get through to people. It’s when we find ourselves praying incessantly that God would pour out His glory. It is an expression of utter dependence upon the Lord. It is the earnest cry, “Lord, do what only You can do!”
My desperate seasons
Since I came to Jesus in the late ’80s, I have experienced many seasons of desperate praying. I suppose there’s always a little desperation in my praying, even on normal days. But, for me, a normal day is quiet. I spend several hours writing prayers and thoughts. I read Scripture. I might pray with others. And throughout the day I weave in what I like to call tiny prayers. On a normal day I don’t experience intense emotion, my heart is not burning, I’m not overly concerned with lost people, I’m not even very heavenly-minded.
There are other times, however, usually triggered by coming to the end of my strength, when my heart is poured out like water in the presence of the Lord. Perhaps in times like this we taste a little of what Christ experienced in the garden as His soul was in anguish, or, what Paul experienced when he said he travailed, like a woman giving birth, until Christ was formed in the people.
When my heart is being moved like this I cannot sit at my desk and write prayers. It’s not time to just read the Bible. I need to get out to some solitary place. It may be a field or the woods. Sometimes the best option is my car. I’ll just head west onto the sparse country roads and wail before God. If I’m home alone (rare) I will either pace back and forth earnestly praying, or, I’ll get on my knees and pray with all my might—as if my life depended on it.
Why?
I’m not sure I can explain why desperate prayer works. I’m not sure anyone can. All I know is that times of desperate praying have always been followed by crazy breakthroughs and open doors. There are times when God comes so powerfully upon my desperate praying that I walk away knowing, with deep conviction, that He’s going to do something that will blow my mind. And He does!
Now, you may be reading this and thinking, “That’s just not me. I’m not emotional. I’m not intense like that.” But desperate prayer is not dependent on our temperament. It comes as a result of how we think. It comes through contemplation. It is actually more a matter of theology. There’s a proverb that says, “As a man thinks, so is he.” The way we think about God in relation to humanity will determine how we live and how we pray.
Condition of people
Stay with me on this. Consider what God says about the dear souls around us who are not in Christ. They are blinded by Satan. They are enslaved. They are without God and without hope in the world. They are dead in sin. The wrath of God is upon them. They do not have eternal life. They do not enjoy peace with God. They live in bondage of the fear of death. The Scriptures liken the condition to prison, to being in chains. When we begin to comprehend this it’s hard not to start praying more desperately. But let me take it further.
God’s desire
God does not want any to perish. I believe the Bible is clear that the Lord wants all to repent and come to the knowledge of the truth. The invitation to come to Christ is for all—whosoever (John 3:16).
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people … This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time. 1 Timothy 2:1-6
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
Paradox
There is a lot of confusion amongst Christians about this, however. Some theologians say that God predetermines some people to be saved, and, well, not others. Scripture does seem to teach this, but it also teaches that God wants all to be saved and He “calls all men everywhere to repent.” It’s one of many paradoxes about God that must be handled with care. I don’t want to insult my doctrinally dogmatic brothers and sisters, but I don’t think any of us can fully comprehend the paradox.
I believe God knows the beginning to the end. God is outside of time and can, therefore, sovereignly put all things—good decisions, bad decisions—together. I also believe that no one would be saved unless the Lord initiated and came with saving grace. I don’t believe that a certain segment of the population—50%, 70%, 90%?—has been created by the Lord for the purpose of sending them to hell. I partially disagree with theologians who insist that those who are not chosen cannot do anything about it. I believe that anyone, anywhere, in any generation who calls out to the Lord will be saved. I believe that grace goes out to all, in one form or another. And those who receive God’s gracious invitation will dwell with Him forever. Those who reject God’s Grace will perish. I don’t believe anyone on judgment day will be able to say, “I never had an opportunity to be saved.”
The way we think about these things will determine how we pray. If we don’t believe deep down that our prayers and labors can make a real difference, then we will be tepid. If we believe that whether we spend ourselves in prayer and mission or live lazy apathetic Christian lives will have absolutely no bearing on people’s lives—then there’s no place for desperation.
Too much to bear?
Are you still with me? Maybe you’ve asked this question: Does my effort to rescue the perishing actually determine a person’s eternal destiny? In other words, can my prayers and labors result in someone being spared from hell? And could my neglect result in someone not being saved and being separated from God forever? I’ve thought about these questions for a few decades and have concluded that our prayers and labors do result in people being saved—because it is God in us making His appeal through us! God Himself works through us to awaken sinners.
That answer is partially satisfying, but the nagging question is, what if I neglect prayer and mission? Would that result in someone being lost who could have been found if I had been faithful? It’s a valid question. I don’t believe, however, that what we neglect to do as Christians would result in someone being lost forever. I don’t believe anyone’s eternal destiny is dependent on what I fail to do.
If you are still with me … so, if my neglect of prayer and sacrificial mission will not result in anyone being lost forever, can I not lighten up? Why work so hard? Why pray earnestly? Why be desperate? If God will eventually save those who are going to be saved, then why carry anguish? Some theologians say we should pray and work hard simply to please God. I agree with them, but if my efforts are not going to have any actual effect on people it’s going to be very hard to be serious about it.
The sooner the better!
While I don’t think anyone will be lost because of our lack of effort, I do believe that our prayers and labors hasten the day of salvation for people—which also hastens the increase of glory to God. If we give ourselves to pray for a person, it may be that they are awakened at 22 years old instead of on their deathbed. Maybe our desperate prayers result in someone experiencing God as a teen instead of in the final years of life. You say, “But who cares when they get saved? As long as they are saved in the end, that’s all that matters.”
But is that really true? Yes, in the grand scheme of eternity, I agree, whether they are saved at 14 or 94 doesn’t matter. What we are missing is the realization of the terribleness of the present state people we know and love are in. Satan, who is more evil than all the movie evil villains put together, controls people. He blinds them. He enslaves them. He keeps them imprisoned. Listen. If someone is going to come to Christ—the sooner the better! Right? The sooner the better it is for a person to experience grace—the sooner they can find their purpose, the sooner they can enjoy peace with God, the sooner they can be free from sin and guilt, the sooner they can come into intimacy with their Creator, the sooner they can possess the life that is truly Life. If we realized the darkness of being without Christ and the joy of being in Christ—we would naturally find ourselves praying urgently and desperately for people.
Disclaimer
This is a lot to chew on, I know. Perhaps it’s a little much for one mission letter. Hopefully, it will get you thinking. These things are mysteries, and I don’t claim to understand them fully. The thoughts above are just the result of my theological musings over the years. I could be wrong in certain regards. I could even change my views. The longer I study these matters the more I believe that God is indeed sovereign and the more I believe humans have responsibility (response-ability) to repent and believe. The deeper I go, the more I realize how incomprehensible it all is. Hitting the limits of my ability to understand drives me to pray—“Lord, Your ways are not my ways, who can fathom Your depths? All I know is that people I love are not ready for eternity. Rend the heavens, and awaken them to the glory of Jesus Christ! Save them!”
Desperate praying can’t be hyped up. Don’t try to whip it up in your own strength. Start with theology. Think long and hard on these great eternal truths. Use your sanctified imagination to consider the time when all the dead, great and small, will stand before God (Rev 20). When it all starts sinking in, you will find desperation bursting out of you like a volcano erupting.
— Scott A