Living By Faith Blog

Icon

Biblical, battle-tested, real-life help for "living by faith in the Son of God" (Galatians 2:20). — Steve Fuller

How To Pray About Problems

Overwhelmed by a problem

That’s how I felt last Wednesday.

I was facing a problem that was frustrating,  complicated, with no real solution.

I knew I should pray about it — but I didn’t have much faith.

I didn’t feel like prayer would do any good.

Been there?

Hezekiah to the rescue

But that morning I had read Hezekiah’s prayer in 2 Kings 19.

He had received a letter from the king of Assyria — who said that if Israel didn’t surrender he would destroy them.

We’re talking ASSYRIA — whose empire ruled the world, whose army was undefeated, who brutalized those they captured.

So what did Hezekiah do?

He spread this letter out before the Lord, and started to pray.

How would you begin?

So — if you were him — how would you begin your prayer?

Maybe — God, we’ve got a huge problem …

Or — Lord, Assyria’s got this really big army …

Or — God, remember what you did at the Red Sea?

That’s not where Hezekiah started

Here’s the first words out of his mouth —

“O Lord, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim.

You are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth.

You have made heaven and earth.” (2Ki 19:15)

Wow.

Hezekiah starts with a HUGE declaration about God —

  • He is “Lord” — Yahweh — able to do whatever HE chooses to do
  • He is enthroned above the cherubim — King over all the angels
  • He alone is God over all kingdoms of the earth
  • He made heaven and earth — everything that exists

His first 29 words focus on God.  Not a peep about Assyria.

How this helped me

I was thinking it wouldn’t do any good to pray about my problem.

But then I remembered the problem Hezekiah faced — and how he prayed.

So I thought I would give it a try.

I began my prayer with a huge declaration about God —

God — You are God.

There is no God besides You.

You alone are God.

You created the heavens and the earth.

You rule every detail of every thing.

Your wisdom is flawless — your goodness is perfect — your love is abounding.

What happened?

My heart changed.  Really, truly, changed.

I saw and felt and knew that —

  • God was sovereign over this problem.
  • God had purposefully allowed this problem.
  • God was going to bring great good through this problem.
  • God would give all the wisdom I needed about this problem.
  • God would go to work as I prayed about this problem.

Seeing God changed everything.

I felt peace.  Strength.  Hope.  Courage.

And I knew that as I prayed about the problem — God would work.

That’s why Hezekiah — and others in the Bible — begin prayer with huge declarations about God (check out 2Ch 14:11; 2Ch 20:5-9; Neh 1:5; Dan 9:4).

What happened with Hezekiah?

After starting with a huge declaration about God — he asked God to save them from the Assyrian army.

And God answered.  Did He ever.

That night the angel of the Lord killed 185,000 Assyrian soldiers.

And the king of Assyria gave up and went back home.

God took care of Hezekiah’s problem.

He will take care of your problem, too.

Try this

Take some time today to pray — and start with a huge declaration about God.

How does this affect your prayer?  What do you experience?  I’d love to hear — leave a comment below.

If you know someone who would be helped by reading this — email it to them using the “share” button below — or share it on whatever social media you prefer.

If you would like to receive a Saturday email summarizing the week’s posts — subscribe here.  (I will only use your email address for Living By Faith Blog communications — and you can easily unsubscribe at any time.)

And here’s some related posts you might find helpful —

 

(Picture is from everystockphoto by Quevaal.)

Category: Help with Prayer, Problems or Trials

Tagged:

7 Responses

  1. I also recently read about Hezekiah and was also challenged in his approach to his problems. Something that has been a real blessing to me and also to my family has been a book by Ruth Myers called, “31 Days of Praise”. It is a little book with 31 prayers in it that are basically quotes from Scripture focusing on praising God for who He is, who He is to us, and all that He does for us. What a blessing it has been to focus on praising Him. Such an amazing way to start a prayer time! It so sets my heart in the right place of praising Him! And somehow, our problems seem so little in light of how big and wonderful God is! Thanks for sharing!

    • Steve Fuller says:

      I love how you put that, Breanna — “and somehow, our problems seem so little in light of how big and wonderful God is.”

      That is so true, and so encouraging. Thanks for sharing it!

  2. Eric V says:

    Thanks for the faithful blogging! The Lord is using you to impact many lives! Just recently I saw someone give a presentation on the basis of your ‘small amount of fries, unending fries in Christ’ video. Keep preaching the truth!
    Could you at some point give some pointers on talking to nominal Christians?

    • Steve Fuller says:

      You are so welcome, Eric. And I’ll do some thinking about how to talk to nominal Christians — that’s a crucial topic. If the Father gives me some helpful thoughts — I’ll post them 🙂

  3. Czarina says:

    Your blog really inspired me. I’m so troubled right now. It feels like the end of the world. I’m a cadidate for becoming an honor student and now that opportunity is now gone. I know that God has a great plan for us. We just have to be strong and everything will be alright. May God bless us all. Thank you very much.

    • Steve Fuller says:

      Thank you for reading this post, and for sharing your encouraging words.

      I am sorry for the disappointment you have experienced — but am glad that you are trusting the Lord Jesus. Isn’t it encouraging to know that He will never leave your or forsake you!

      In Christ,

      Steve Fuller

  4. dennis says:

    thanks for this post! as i write this, i’m in a middle of a great difficulty, but to that big guy up there be all the glory, i now have a better way to start my conversation with the lord later. and by faith, i know he shall carry me through this! god bless you!

Leave a Reply to Eric V × Cancel reply

Join 3,436 people who receive Living by Faith updates —

More Help for Your Faith

  • RSS Feed
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Feedback

"I just found your blog recently, and I've NEVER found such clarity, understanding and comfort before." (Sarah)

"AWESOME. Going to mangle this sin tonight with the Promises of God." (Alec)

"If I could subscribe to only one blog, yours would be it." (Lyn)

"I think you are really on to something with this blog. I don’t know of anything else like it." (Doug)

"Excellent comment. Really well put and wisdom that is strangely lacking in much evangelical thinking." (John)

"Thank you -- I needed to hear this. So clear and concise yet captivating." (Stacey)

"Such a helpful post. I’ve bookmarked it and reread it two or three mornings just this week." (Doug)