Day 10: Crisis Prayer (Putting it Together) 

“Our God, will you not judge them?
 For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us.
 We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”
2 Chronicles 20:12 
 
Today we are going to combine some of the prayer practices from the past week, and practice a prayer to use when we encounter a crisis. Feel free to use this prayer whenever you encounter a crisis, but memorize a little bit of Scripture before proceeding into this prayer tool. 
 
When we go to God in prayer because we encountered a crisis, we want to be able to latch onto a promise about Him, or a promise that He has made in the Scripture to us. The Scriptures help us understand God and His ways. One of the reasons God gave us Scripture is so that we can know Him more intimately. God also reveals how He thinks in the Scripture. When we memorize the Word of God, the Scripture helps to train our hearts and our minds to be more like Him. 
 
Prayerwork, Part 1: Chose one of the verses below to memorize. Repeat it out loud ten times, and then try covering up some of the words as you repeat it out loud. Then try closing your eyes and repeating it. Repeat these steps until you have it memorized. I think it is a good idea to memorize the “address” where the verse can be found, but you don’t have to memorize the chapter and verse if it will help you memorize the verse more quickly. Below are some of the Scriptures that are about God that you may find comforting. You can use one of the ones I recommend or one that you love and already have memorized. 
 
“…how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:13
 
“So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” Isaiah 41:10
 
“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.” 2 Timothy 1:7
 
“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7
 
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18 
 
If you have already memorized a verse that is a comfort to your soul, write it in the blank below: 
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 
 
Prayerwork, Part 2: Hopefully, you are increasing your thoughts toward God more and more each day. Use the praise prayer, we learned yesterday every time your alarm goes off today, and then take some time to learn how to prayer the “Crisis Prayer.” 
 
The Crisis Prayer follows this pattern: Confession, Asking, Trust, and Thanks. 
 
A new concept is introduced in this prayer called “asking.” You’ll read about asking other books on prayer and it may be called a prayer of petition. Petition is just a fancy way of saying asking.  We’ve already practiced asking in some of the prayers over the past seven days, and usually we don’t need a lot of practice to be able to ask. If you have ever prayed before you started doing these prayer practices, you probably did an asking type of prayer. 
 
First, when you encounter something that brings stress to you or is too big for you to handle or you do not have the wisdom or knowledge to make the right decision, begin by confessing your inadequacies to God: 
 
+God, I do not have the wisdom or the right words to say to make this situation better. And I don’t know what to do. 
 
Second, ask God to intervene and give you more Holy Spirit inspired wisdom and the right words to say: 
 
+God, please give me more of the Holy Spirit right now. Help me to respond in a way that will bring peace. 
 
Third, trust in a promise of God that you have memorized. For example, use Luke 11:13: 
 
“…how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” Luke 11:13 
 
Fourth, move into the situation trusting that God is with you and helping you. Remember, you please God when you trust that He is going to show up and help you. This is called faith. 
 
Finally, after the situation is over or finished, or you’ve made it through a stage of crisis, go back and thank God using a prayer of thanks. We practiced thanks prayers on day 8. Your thanks prayer might sound something like this: 
 
+God, I praise You because you are gracious. God, I praise You because You are compassionate. I love how You showed up and helped me through this time of need. Thank you! I praise You because You are so good to me! Amen. 
 
Prayerwork, Part 3: Set your alarm about ten minutes earlier tomorrow. You’ll need to put forth a little bit of effort for the prayerwork tomorrow morning. 
 
And without faith it is impossible to please God,
because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists 
and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
Hebrews 11:6