5 PRAY TO LIFT YOUR FAINTING SOUL INTO GOD’S
PRESENCE.

When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the LORD; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple.

     —Jonah 2:7

What weakens the soul? Problems, pressure, perplexity, persecution and plagues all position your soul on the precipice of fainting.

Prayer transforms problems into possibilities. When problems erode away the soul’s strength, focus in prayer on God’s possibilities. We are tempted to fix our eyes on the problems instead of the person of Christ who unravels every twisted, tortured thought within our souls. “With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible” (Mark 10:27).

Prayer pushes pressure aside. Pressure or stress can only crush you if let it accumulate. Push pressure into the past. Refuse to carry yesterday’s stress and worries into the present. Don’t allow tomorrow’s worries to intrude into today’s agenda. “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed” (2 Cor. 4:7–8).

Prayer clarifies perplexity. The enemy authors confusion. Pray that God’s clarity will cleanse the windows of your mind giving you unclouded vision for your next step. “We are perplexed but not in despair” (2 Cor. 4:8).

Prayer transforms persecution into blessing. “We are persecuted, but not forsaken” (2 Cor. 4:9). Jesus declares in Matthew 5 that we are blessed when others persecute us. Prayer projects on the screen of our hearts the picture of Jesus on the cross so that we can suffer with Him and thereby rejoice with Him. “That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Phil. 3:10).

Prayer positions my plagued soul next to the Healer of every soul. When I am sick unto despair or sick in body, what I need more than a healing is the Healer. The Lover of my soul takes whatever sin makes me faint and nails that sin to the cross. “By His stripes we are healed” (Isa. 53:5). In prayer I come to the Healer. In His presence, I find that my soul is restored and my body is made whole. Pray this:

Bless the LORD, O my soul,

And forget not all His benefits:

Who forgives all your iniquities,

Who heals all your diseases,

Who redeems your life from destruction,

Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,

Who satisfies your mouth with good things,

So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. Amen.

     (from Psalm 103:2–5)