How to Persevere When Prayer Takes You to Hard Places

Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Psalm 126:5-6 (NKJV)

Prayer is the answer. We’ve heard this many times and we believe it, too. We know God is faithful. We know He answers. We work hard on our prayer lives and then, out of the blue, it hits us – something really hard. It’s true, sometimes prayer takes us places we’d really rather not be.

We particularly see this in our personal life when we are asking to be set free form the things that hold us back. Sometimes, to work through the setting free, God has to take us into some very unexpected places.

As we get closer to Him through prayer and become more aware of how He is working and speaking to us it’s very possible we might find ourselves dealing with any of the following issues:

• fear or anxiety
• anger or bitterness
• unforgiveness
• jealousy or envy
• pride
• deep regret
• loneliness
• extended sadness or feeling depressed

You prayed hard with faith that He answers, and this doesn’t sound like a list of answered prayers, does it?

Even in the midst of a really satisfying and focused prayer life, even when we are asking God to set us free to be all we were created to be, even in our belief that He is doing that, we can still be led to these dark places.

Here are a few reactions you may have if you unexpectedly find yourself in one of those difficult places.

• You may feel as if your prayers are not working. If God were listening to you, things would be better, right? But we have to remember that things often get worse before they get better and this is part of the path God may take us on in order to find the root of our problems. The very fact that we find ourselves in a difficult place in our personal lives is often the very best indicator that God is listening and that He is working.

• You may find yourself wanting to quit praying altogether. It’s hard when you have spent time developing a good prayer life and have worked on a closer walk with God and then you just find yourself sloshing through negative emotions and buckets full of stuff you never realized were part of your life in the first place.

• You might want to deny that these things have anything to do with you, especially if you deal with perfectionism. Perfect wants you to see those things in other people, but not in yourself. It’s a huge tactic of the enemy and unfortunately it is an area where he is often a winner.

• And yes, you might even find yourself angry with God. It’s true. We do get angry with Him, even when we don’t want others to know that. You may be questioning him and flailing your fist in the air at Him. He knows. He understands. Having strong emotions is no sin, but what we do with them can become sinful if we are not careful.

So what’s a girl to do when she finds herself in these places?

When you find yourself dealing with the unexpected and hard, it is important to remember that even when we don’t understand our situation, God does.

If you are asking why you are in such a low place, consider these things:

• As we pray, God begins to reveal. We are His precious and beautiful daughters, deeply cared for and loved. Because He loves us so much, He wants us to see what we need to cast off and let go of. We have no knowledge of our need to work through these kinds of issues unless He reveals to us that we have a problem in the first place. It can be quite surprising to find ourselves in the midst of any of the issues I mentioned above because we don’t easily see these things in ourselves.
• Prayer reveals the root of the issue. Tony Evans states this so well when he says, “Whatever is, has, or will go on in your life is rooted first in the spiritual realm.” As we pray about our problems and issues, the Holy Spirit will reveal the spiritual issues behind them. When we can finally get through to the spiritual issues, we are able to deal with the root of our problems. When we realize the root of the problem, we have found the place where true change can take place.

With that understanding, here are some practical steps to take when you find yourself inside any of the hard places listed above.

• Narrow your focus. Try hard to fix your eyes on Jesus. When you are looking to Him, you are looking at the One who holds the answers. He can give you the strength to keep going and to keep pushing through the tough spots.

But as for me, I will look to the Lord. I will wait for the God of salvation. My God will hear me. Micah 7:7 (ESV)

• Keep praying faithfully as you push through your difficulty. Sometimes, this is the last thing you will feel like doing. Praying through the hard stuff often involves a LOT of waiting which can make sticking with prayer all the more difficult. However, it can help to remember that God is preparing us, changing us on the inside, and getting us to the root of our problem. He is helping us grow which gets us ready for the answer He wants to give us. He’s a big God who can do great things! We must persevere to get to the better place He has in store for us.

Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. Romans 5:3-4 (NIV)

• Get united in prayer. Find someone you can trust to confide in and ask them to pray for you.

Pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. James 5:16 (ESV)

• Don’t forget who you are. You are a Daughter of the King, precious and loved. He wants the best for you. He sees the big picture that you can’t see. He takes you through hard things to build your character and to refine you.

The King’s daughter is all glorious within. Psalm 48:13a (NASB)

Walking through these places on our journey where we can barely see the road in front of us is really difficult, but there is a better place we are headed toward when we are walking with Jesus. Psalm 126:5-6 tells us that we may go out weeping, but we will return rejoicing, our hands full of the harvest of our hard work and perseverance.

Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. Psalm 126:5-6 (NKJV)

If we persevere, we will come through on the other side. It is then that we will be able to understand and see more clearly. And because of His unceasing love and gentleness, we often find Him completing that picture by allowing us to be able to reach out, take the hand of someone behind us, and help them through it too.

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