1 From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the LORD his God. 2 He said: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. 3 You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. 4 I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple.’ 5 The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. 6 To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, O LORD my God. 7 When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD, and my prayer rose to you, to your holy temple. 8 Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. 9 But I, with a song of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will make good. Salvation comes from the LORD.”
1 I cry aloud to the LORD; I lift up my voice to the LORD for mercy. 2 I pour out my complaint before him; before him I tell my trouble. 3 When my spirit grows faint within me, it is you who know my way. In the path where I walk men have hidden a snare for me. 4 Look to my right and see; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. 5 I cry to you, O LORD; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.” 6 Listen to my cry, for I am in desperate need; rescue me from those who pursue me, for they are too strong for me. 7 Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.
4 The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. 5 The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. 6 In my distress I called to the LORD; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.
11 But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. “O LORD,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 12 Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. 13 Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” 14 Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.
10 “But now here are men from Ammon, Moab and Mount Seir, whose territory you would not allow Israel to invade when they came from Egypt; so they turned away from them and did not destroy them. 11 See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. 12 O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.” 13 All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the LORD. 14 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jahaziel son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite and descendant of Asaph, as he stood in the assembly. 15 He said: “Listen, King Jehoshaphat and all who live in Judah and Jerusalem! This is what the LORD says to you: 'Do not be afraid or discouraged because of this vast army. For the battle is not yours, but God’s.”
39 Jesus went out as usual to the Mount of Olives, and his disciples followed him. 40 On reaching the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.” 41 He withdrew about a stone's throw beyond them, knelt down and prayed, 42 “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” 43 An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. 44 And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. 45 When he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow. 46 “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.”
“Has the Lord ever answered your prayers, and it felt like an UPHEAVAL of the situation, leaving butterflies in your stomach because you just experienced God Almighty at work? The enemy wants us to believe that our God is weak and unable or unwilling to do anything. If we could only fathom the depth of His love for us, how He is able to do more than we could ever DREAM and that that power works and resides in us. Take heart and be encouraged!” Anonymous
“Our cries to the Lord — are what give us communion with the Lord. It’s the dire distress that drives us into the deep devotion. It’s when all fails, His love never fails — and this is why we are a people who can always give thanks.” Ann Voskamp
“When we are deluded and deceived by Satan, when we feel worthless and helpless, may God open our eyes and help us to see Christ and His Righteousness. May we know that He died for us and remember that we are precious in God’s sight. May we turn from our sinful ways and follow Him. And may we know in our hearts, and experience in every area of our lives, the great power of prayer. May God revive and encourage our hearts and souls, every one of them.” Roger Killian
“Show the world that thy God is worth ten thousand worlds to thee.....Be strong and very courageous, and the Lord thy God shall certainly, as surely as He built the heavens and the earth, glorify Himself in thy weakness, and magnify His might in the midst of thy distress. The grandeur of the arch of heaven would be spoiled if the sky were supported by a single visible column, and your faith would lose its glory if it rested on anything discernible by the carnal eye.” Charles H. Spurgeon
18 “‘Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 19 See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.’ Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV) We are to live into this Truth. Just because I do not see something happening out of my poor visibility due to my human earth-bound eye, does not mean it is not happening. Just because I cannot see God’s work does not mean He is not working – God is always at work. I am to sign all my prayers with anticipatory thanksgiving – thanking Him in advance and closing with ‘I am very truly yours, always’ is a constant reminder to me of Whom I belong to. It is God alone. It is He Who sends the great “showers of blessings”.” BHY
“Prayers are not wishes; prayers are conversations. God does not grant but God gives, God is not summoned, but God speaks. There is no one right way to speak to God, no guarantee of answers or outcomes, but the words themselves will take on life as they leave your lips, they will find their way to Jesus, they will be heard. Walking out onto the water, where the firm ground gives way, we can find Jesus. And meeting Jesus, Who rises with His scars to proclaim new life, is never what you once imagined.” Hilary Yancey
“Three things helped me as we went through, and continue to go through, crisis: prayer, the Word of God, and the encouragement of fellow believers.” Greg Laurie
“Suffering should elicit prayer. Sufficiency should elicit praise.” The Bible Knowledge Commentary
“God is not challenged by your sin or difficult circumstances. Prayer is the avenue He uses to restore your soul and to prepare you to live the life He has given you. Therefore, pray, knowing that when you draw near to Him, He will draw near to you.” Michael Youssef
“Inauspiciously, a prayer meeting in Antioch in Acts 13:1-3 became one of the most important moments in the history of the world. With their prayers and fasting, the church leaders said, God, we want your provision, not our small plans. We want your abundance, not our small-mindedness. We want more than we know how to ask, more than we can think, more than we could expect, more than we can dream. We want you, God. We’re not satisfied with abilities and experience and what we can plan on our own and do apart from you. We want you and your leading. We don’t want to lean on our own understanding.” David Mathis
“Life has many dungeon cells, and stone walls, to hinder our joy and fruitfulness. Some of them are meant to fall down in five years. Others in five seconds. Whether it is the patient endurance to press on with joy, or the breakthrough in the twinkling of an eye, God has appointed prayer as the key.” John Piper
“Will not the distresses of life and the pangs of death, will not the internal corruptions and the external snares, will not the trials from above and the temptations from beneath all seem but light afflictions when we can hide ourselves beneath the bulwark of ‘he has said’?” Charles H. Spurgeon