July 24, 2023
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When you've been sick in bed for six weeks, you are pretty desperate for things to do. That's probably why my wife spent so long just watching a frustrated lady bug one day during an illness. My wife had been sick long enough to be almost at that point of desperation.
The kids and I were at a conference where I was speaking. I had booked it two years in advance and my wife insisted that we still should do it. It just so happened, unbeknownst to all of us, that all of my wife's closest friends were out of town that same weekend - nobody knew that was going to happen. So, she was struggling a little bit with her situation.
And then along came the lady bug. Yeh, the lady bug was trying to climb up our bedroom window, and she came to this little metal strip. And my wife was watching this little drama play itself out. The lady bug tried to come at it from every direction. She couldn't get over that little tiny obstacle - even the most heroic efforts no matter how she approached it didn't work. And my wife kept thinking, "Why can't you get over this little thing?" And then she told me how she began to see herself through God's eyes in a lady bug perspective. And then she told me about the wonderful moments that followed.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "The Most Powerful Prayer You'll Ever Pray."
Our word for today from the Word of God - Mark 5, and we'll get to it in just a moment. I told you about my wife watching that lady bug, and she was struggling with her attitude on that lonely, bedridden weekend. And she saw herself in that frustrated lady bug. It was as if God was saying to her what she was saying to that insect, "Why can't you get over this little thing?" At least that's how my wife told it to me. And at that moment, she said, she just gave up the fight to the Lord. And minutes later, a beautiful bouquet of yellow roses arrived at the door. It was like God delivered them.
Okay, now our word for today from the Word of God - Mark 5, begins at verse 24, "And Jesus had a large crowd following Him, and a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for 12 years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had. Yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in a crowd and touched His cloak. Because she thought, 'If I could just touch His clothes I'll be healed.' And immediately her bleeding stopped." Well she was healed that day. She'd tried everything she knew. She'd given up on the doctors. She gave up on buying a cure. She was desperate. All she could do was lunge for Jesus.
Do you know it's that desperation that gives birth to a miracle, which leads us to the most powerful prayer you can ever pray: Three little words, "I give up." I talked to a girl whose depression had led to a suicide attempt, and now she was finally enjoying a whole new peace she found in Christ. I said, "What turned the tide?" She said, "Well I finally just said, 'Lord, I give up.'" It could be those three words are all that's keeping you from a supernatural answer.
The Lord says, "You've tried everything my child. None of your schemes, none of your dreams, have done it. You've got your fingerprints all over everything from trying to make it happen. Now you're tired and frustrated and you're out of options. Are you ready for Me to take over?" Yeah you've been praying about it, but maybe not the prayer of desperation - not the prayer of total surrender. Desperation: that's the heart condition with which God can do the most.
So get out of the way of what God wants to do through you and for you. Sample His greatest power. You know where it comes from? Yeah, right after "I give up." That could turn out to very well be the most powerful prayer you will ever pray.