Learning to pray with power and purpose
By Leslie Ludy
I sat up in bed, kicking off the covers in frustration as another violent coughing fit shook me. It was well past midnight, and I had been tossing and turning for over two hours, unable to sleep because of the extreme congestion in my head and chest. Eric was lying awake as well, staring at the ceiling, unable to get any rest because of all my coughing.
Emotionally, I was completely fed up with being sick. It’s not that I couldn’t handle a cold or flu here and there, but for the past year I had been coming down with one extreme virus after another. Eric and I were full-time traveling speakers, but I often was too sick to join him on stage and he ended up sharing the messages alone.
We had prayed about these sicknesses several times, but God didn’t seem to be responding. And in fact, my health struggle was only one of many challenges we were facing in that season. Inexplicable financial problems, false accusation, and dishonest co-workers were among the battles we were fighting on a daily basis. Although we were constantly sharing a message of hope and victory to others, in our personal lives we were beginning to feel more and more defeated by our circumstances.
When my coughing fit finally subsided, I told Eric, “I need you to pray for me — and I mean really pray — that I would be set free once and for all from this constant sickness.”
Even as I said it, I was surprised at my own words. Hadn’t we already prayed about this? And when God didn’t seem to respond, wasn’t it safe to assume that He didn’t intend to answer? Praying for the same thing over and over felt like presumption — as if we were annoying God, or pushing Him to do something He didn’t want to do. Eric and I were accustomed to praying broad, general prayers about our various challenges, but we had never really been bold, persistent, or specific in our requests to God. Our typical petitions were something along the lines of, “Lord, if You desire to help us in this area, we ask that You would. And if not, help us to have a good attitude through it.” And then we’d leave it at that. If no clear answer came after a couple of times of asking, we’d let the issue go and do our best to power through the challenge with a positive attitude.
But now, it seemed like something more was needed. It was becoming obvious that my constant battle with sickness, as well as our many other challenges, were hindering us from what God had called us to do. And that night, both of us began to feel a clear sense that we should pray differently than we ever had before.
We spent some time talking about the many verses in Scripture that focused on being bold and persistent in prayer:
The parable of the widow who continued to plead her case to the unjust judge until he finally granted her request, and Jesus’ words: “Shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:7–8).
The parable of the friend who came to his neighbor at midnight asking to borrow bread for a guest who had come to his house, and Jesus’ words, “…because of his persistence he will rise and give him as many as he needs. So I say to you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Luke 11:8–10).
The woman from Canaan who followed after Jesus and cried out to Him over and over again to heal her daughter who was demon possessed. Even when He seemed to ignore her, and even when He seemed to answer no, she continued to press her plea. Jesus’ response was, “‘O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire.’ And her daughter was healed from that very hour” (Matt. 15:28).
And Paul’s clear directives to the early church: “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17). And, “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Heb. 4:16).
We began to see clearly that there was more to praying than simply asking God for something in a broad, general way, and then giving up quickly if the answer didn’t immediately come. Instead, God was asking us to pray with persistence, to pray boldly, and to ask specifically. He was asking us to wrestle in prayer for a breakthrough, just as Jacob wrestled with God through the night saying, “I will not let You go unless You bless me” (Gen. 32:26).
So that night, we decided to try it. Eric paced around the room, praying more boldly than he ever had before. I joined him, fervently crying out to God for our specific needs. Instead of just praying for a few minutes, we prayed earnestly and passionately for a good portion of the night, until we both felt a clear sense of spiritual breakthrough.
I didn’t experience an immediate, dramatic healing. But something had shifted in the spiritual realm, and we both knew we had connected with God’s heart. We had gained a clear assurance that He had heard our prayers, and that He was working actively on our behalf.
Instead of praying general, non-specific prayers for a few minutes, we had wrestled boldly in prayer for a few hours. And the difference was staggering. Our entire understanding of prayer changed that night.
Over the next few weeks and months, we continued to study prayer in Scripture and put the principles we learned into practice:
- We became bold and specific in our praying.
- We determined to wrestle as long as needed — until the breakthrough came.
- We resisted the enemy’s attack.
- We declared the promises of God over our lives.
As we adopted a biblical approach to prayer, we began to see noticeable changes in every challenging area of our life, including my struggle with constant sickness. Instead of constantly feeling defeated, we began to walk in real victory and joy. Instead of continued hindrance, we had the ability to truly fulfill God’s calling on our lives. The areas in our lives that had been so challenging became the areas of our greatest strength.
And yet, our life didn’t magically become easy and comfortable. This wasn’t a “health, wealth, and prosperity” experience. On the contrary, as we became bold and purposeful in our prayer life, the enemy’s attacks against us intensified, and our tests of faith became more strenuous. But instead of feeling defeated and powerless, we now had a mighty weapon to wield against the enemy — importunate, wrestling prayer. And it made all the difference in the world.
This article was originally published in Issue 43.
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