Eric Ludy - Wrestling Prayer: A Passionate Communion with God

HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS

EUGENE, OREGON

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Verses marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. (www.Lockman.org)

Verses marked RSV are taken from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1946, 1952, 1971 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Eric and Leslie Ludy: Published in association with Loyal Arts Literary Agency, LoyalArts.com.

Cover by Abris, Veneta, Oregon

Cover photo Stockbyte Photography / Veer

WRESTLING PRAYER

Copyright 2009 by Winston and Brooks, Inc.

Published by Harvest House Publishers

Eugene, Oregon 97402

www.harvesthousepublishers.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ludy, Eric.

Wrestling prayer / Eric and Leslie Ludy.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-7369-2165-7 (pbk.)

ISBN 978-07369-3441-1 (eBook)

1. PrayerChristianity. 2. Spiritual lifeChristianity. I. Ludy, Leslie. II. Title.

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Contents

Introduction:
tossing the girlish sensibilities L ESLIE

1. A Generation of Legendary Heroes:
discovering the epic adventure E RIC

2. The Plague of the Giants:
begging the faith of a five-year-old E RIC

3. The Corrupted Throne:
silencing the rebel voice within E RIC

4. The Renegade Anointing:
the secret strength of a giant killer E RIC

5. The Season of Caves:
joining up with the hunted and despised E RIC

6. The Rush on Jebus:
the proving of loyalty and heart E RIC

7. The Company of Heroes:
the sacred list of the valiant E RIC

8. The 800 Dead:
the strength of love E RIC

9. The Pasdammim Parcel:
yielding not an inch of the kings land E RIC

10. The Snowy Pit:
giving up the high ground to ensure an even greater victory E RIC

11. While the Enemy Sleeps:
following the Lamb whithersoever He goeth E RIC

12. The Cave of Adullam:
the secret place of the king E RIC

13. The Victory Dance:
becoming undignified for our Lord E RIC

I m a girly girl. I oooh and ahhh over a bouquet of beautiful flowers, I squeal and run at the nearby buzz of a bumblebee, and I love being held close in the arms of my man.

Simply put, theres nothing innately inside me that wants to wrangle with a bear, ride a mechanical bull, or crawl in the mud. I prefer things neat, tidy, and smelling sweet.

While Eric loves the idea of wrestling, it is not something Im naturally inclined to gravitate toward. Its always mystified me why guys like to roll around on the ground interlocked, sharing sweat, and miserably contorted. The whole notion of wrestling is very unfeminine. Its a smelly, sweaty, bloody business, and if it werent for the Spirit of God, I might never have come near it.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with being girly. Nothing, that is, unless it stands in the way of God bringing about the fullness of His gospel life within us.

A study of Scripture reveals that our God is a wrestler. Hes a fighter. Hes a manly, valiant, mighty warrior. And the business of His kingdom is often smelly, sweaty, and bloody. His mighty men have been splattered with the blood of battle, His prophets have died grisly deaths, His messengers have been beheaded, sawn in two, and impaled in the most horrific fashion.

There is nothing girly about Jesus picking up a whip and strolling into the temple to purge it of crooked merchants. And the idea of Jesus sweating great drops of blood, being scourged with a cat-o-nine-tails, and being unceremoniously nailed to a bloody cross makes me squeamish.

God made me a girl. And He did that on purpose. But He asks me to become the kind of girl who is actually useful to His kingdom purposes. I need to become the sort of girl who is unafraid to poke my head into the battle of the ages and cry out, Who is this uncircumcised Philistine who is blaspheming the armies of the living God?

God wants me to wrestle. God wants to stick grit in my girliness. He wants me to be prepared to tangle, to interlock my soul in this eternal combatnot with other girls, not with sweaty boys, but with Him, and with the otherworldly powers of darkness. He wants me to wrestle in prayer, to grab ahold of His great and precious promises and fight to see them unfurled in living reality on this Earth.

What you are about to read is a book more easily grasped by the mudslinging, spit-wad shooting, crawdad collecting sort of audience that has an inherent well of testosterone to draw from. But this isnt a book just for men, any more than the Bible is.

Christianity has confused catching mice with the real work of the kingdom, which is more like hunting lions. Weve lost the sacred work of prayer. And we no longer know how to wield the power of God in this world. Lions, bears, and blaspheming giants are having their way in the church today, and it is high time that we start doing something about this travesty.

No, I have not lost my girlishness. However, I can say I have become a huge fan of wrestlingat least Gods version of it. I still get a bit squeamish around smells, sweat, and blood, but God is toughening me in all the right ways. This girl is learning how to deal out a mean uppercut to the enemys smirking jawand, I must admit, its quite satisfying to see him whimper in pain.

I personally know no other man who can speak on the issues this book presents better than my husband, Eric. This book is merely a peek into his lifethis stuff is his daily diet. Hes a man acquainted with both the prayer closet and the public arena of proclamation. Eric is a wrestler. He understands the power of prayer and he wields it mightily. The truths in this book arent merely ideas he thinks about; they are principles he lives each day. So Eric is going to lead us in this grand and epic conversation. Then, at the end of each chapter, Ill add my two cents of practical application and real-life analogy.

This isnt just another book about the disappointments and disillusionments of unanswered prayer. And even though there are many practical truths woven in these pages, this is not primarily a prayer how-to book. Rather, its a soul-stirring message about the explosive possibilities of true wrestling prayer. This message may seem larger-than-life at first. But I believe that if you take this book to heart, your spiritual life will never be the same. In fact, history will never be the same!