How to Overcome in Prayer
by Kevin Shorter
1. Worship
In the midst of the urgent, worship realigns our hearts to love God and see Him as in control. While there is a potential to become negligent in preparation by naively trusting in God, we should never forget His protection and His ability to change things for our good. Nothing is impossible with God, so in every circumstance, we have hope for things to turn in our favor. No diagnosis is fatal; nothing is hopeless.
2. Read the Bible
When the Israelites crossed over the Jordan, the manna stopped arriving on their doorstep. God still provided for them, but it was more in the midst of the battles. The walls of Jericho did fall down, but they had to spend seven days walking in faith.
Psalms also remind us of the conflict of trusting in God. He is always good, but He doesn’t always show up the way we expected. How do we navigate this in our own lives? Reading the Bible helps give us direction.
3. Speak God’s Goodness
Dread and worry are not supposed to be characteristics of a Christian. Still, sometimes we get overwhelmed. Speaking out the goodness of God reminds us He is still above all our circumstances. We will not be overcome, but with God we are overcomers. We all need to be preachers to ourselves because our spirits need reawakening and our bodies need reminding we don’t walk by sight but by faith and awareness of God’s continual goodness.
4. Pray With Someone
If you choose the right people to pray with, you can really encourage your faith. Jesus didn’t take everyone to go with Him to pray for the dead girl; He only took Peter, James, and John, and the girl rose from the dead. Job found the wrong people and became more discouraged. Find people who push you to more of God and pray with them.
5. Talk With God
Without God’s perspective, we will be led astray. Job finally found his peace after talking with God. Elijah got out of his depression after talking with God. Moses found his confidence after talking with God. As followers of God, we need to hear Him speak to us. Overcoming in prayer is not only about what we say but more importantly about getting connected to God.
6. Brace For Impact
Once you have spent time with God through these previous steps, now you can make the preparations you feel are necessary. You may feel God will protect you while you are in a car, but there is no need to drive around without a seatbelt. We all have mistakenly thought God would do something that didn’t happen. Step out in faith, but allow yourself grace to make mistakes.
Like the Israelites, we have crossed the Jordan, and life is a mix between God’s provisions and our taking possession of the land. Let’s press into God to hear Him tell us we are powerful and can affect change in our world. Test these steps and see if you start overcoming more in your prayers.
