Switch Questions
I want to share something with you that God showed me as I walked through one of the most difficult seasons of my life. I cried out to God and nothing changed. I fasted, and the situations seemed to only get worse. I held up the promises and yet the enemy’s agenda went forward. Every area of my life was impacted. There was nothing safe, nothing unharmed, nothing that was not permanently traumatized. Each month something terrible happened, to the point that I began to panic when a month was wrapping up. What horrible thing would happen next? My husband and I often just cried together, not having enough energy for words.
I was broken.
In the midst of the heartache, I felt the Lord impress a message on me. It was simple, but profound. And I hope that the simplicity of the words will help you in whatever difficult situation you may be walking through. Here is what I heard from God:
It is time to switch questions. No longer ask “God, why did this happen?”. Instead ask, “God, how do I pray?”
It was a turning point. I will be honest; the switch did not come quickly. Sometimes, I still resort to the first question. But slowly I am learning to seek the guidance of the Lord on how to pray into the situation. Through this, He began taking me to Scriptures to specifically pray over each of the many difficulties we were facing. I compiled a list of over eighty promises. I wrote them on notecards. On extremely difficult days, I would just hold the cards up because I did not even have the emotional energy to pray aloud. But I wanted to show that I still believed the promises were true although my situations continued to spiral out of control.
And I want you to know that the prayers are still not answered. I am waiting. But I have learned to pray like I never knew before. And I wait in trust. Because unknowingly, when I asked God why the situations had happened, I was allowing myself to be open to doubting the goodness of God. Is this not as old as the Garden of Eden? The enemy wanted Eve to doubt God’s goodness, thus making decisions without Him. The enemy wanted me in my pain to resort to my own methods, avoiding prayer. Now, I trust that He allowed the enemy’s attack for a purpose. God does not want bad things to happen but allows them so goodness is achieved in the end.
One of the good things that have come out of the painful situations is that the difficulties taught me to pray. And I know the Lord’s prayer strategy is more powerful than the enemy’s orchestrated assault. And whatever the enemy comes against me with, I know the Lord can show me how to pray. Eventually, I will see the plans of the enemy defeated. God will have victory.