Reading: Jeremiah 20:7-16
Have you ever hit a prayer wall? I have on many occasions. I now use it as an opportunity to grow closer to the Lord and I hope to encourage you to do so as well. At the time that one hits a prayer wall they feel as far away from the Lord as the east is from the west. At times in our lives troubles will start to come from every direction. It will begin to seem like every move we make brings on more and more problems. We begin to weep within our hearts and slowly the weeping begins to flow outwardly. We want to cry out to the Lord, but feel like a wall is there in the way stopping our prayers from penetrating the surface of God's mercifulness. The downward spiral begins and we slowly move into depression.It is when the downward spiral starts that the Lord leads me to thinking of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is well known as being a weeping prophet because the more and more he followed God and proclaimed God's Words the people wouldn't listen. It was like he himself was constantly running into a wall - not one between Him and God, but one between him and God's people. In Jeremiah 20:7-16, he complains to the Lord about the state of his ministry. You can feel how deep Jeremiah's pain is as he tells the Lord that he has become a household joke and that the messages from the Lord have put him there. He feels like at every turn he faces ridicule and they are looking for him to slip up so they can persecute him. It has drawn Jeremiah in such a state of depression that he not only is crying out to the Lord for vengeance upon the people, but he also curses the day he was born. Yet, right in the middle of Jeremiah's complaint is where I find my strength. Because he expresses that he just can't stop, "But if I say, 'I will not mention Him or speak any more in His name,' His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot." (Jeremiah 20:9 - NLT) The strength comes from knowing that even though we are in the middle of troubles we still have the Word of God burning within us that draws us more and more to Him. It's the Word of God that draws us to call upon His name and speak His name even through times of trouble.
Do you currently feel like you are hitting a prayer wall? Then don't stop!! Continue to pray to the Lord; take your complaints to the throne of God; search out His Scriptures and just don't stop. Let His Word burn in your heart so much that you cannot hold it in any longer and eventually the barrier that is keeping you from personally connecting to the Lord will be torn down. For if you seek Him He will be found and His mercies will abound.
Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to seek you even when I don't feel like my prayers are going anywhere. Give me the desire to overcome the troubles of this world with Your Word. May it burn in my heart like it did in Jeremiah's heart. In Jesus Name, Amen.
