BIBLE
READING
PETITIONS
Weeping in Prayer
Read John 16:19–33
Verses 20–21 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, That
ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye
shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A
woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is
come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she
remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into
the world."
Have you ever heard the statement, "Ignorance is
bliss," meaning, the less you know about some situations,
the happier you are? Before you commit yourself to faithfulness
in prayer, you may not notice a lot of prayer needs around you.
Every once in a while, something will really cause concern, but
for the most part, you may think things are going pretty well.
BUT, once we really make ourselves available to God in prayer,
He will begin to show us things that He wants us to pray for.
You may find yourself aware of spiritual needs that you had
never noticed before. The Holy Spirit isn’t showing you these
things for you to worry about or to complain about to others.
The Holy Spirit wants you to pray about them in your prayer
closet.
At times, there may even be a heaviness pressing you down in
your spirit for no apparent reason. If you have confessed all
sin in your life, then you may be carrying a burden for prayer
in an unknown area. The best thing you can do is to start by
praising the Lord. Pray over various situations you know about,
and if you don’t receive help there, then just say,
"Jesus, you know all about it. Please take care of
it." Keep lifting it to Him periodically as the heaviness
remains. These are part of the inner sorrows we bear with
Christ. It is a privilege to pray, and we know that joy will
come as we are faithful.
