Sheila Walsh - Praying Women Study Guide: How to Pray When You Dont Know What to Say

Our Prayer to God: Help Me!

Id promised to be perfect, to never disappoint God, and here I was, on my face on the floor, empty. The only words I silently prayed were these: Help me.

chapter 1, Praying Women

I prayed to the Lord, and He answered me. He freed me from all my fears.

Psalm 34:4

Help me!

Those were the words I cried out in pain when I had come to the end of myself. Id spent so many years trying to be the perfect Christian woman, to never fail God, yet here I was on the floor, in a small room in a psychiatric hospital, feeling as if my life was over. That was over twenty-five years ago. What I would go on to discover is that when we are at the end of who we are, we are just at the beginning of who God is. Starting where you are right now may feel hopeless and impossible, but when you invite God into that space, you will see that its actually an open door into all God has for you.

Are you in a help me place right now? Youre so overwhelmed that the only prayer you can muster up is Lord, please help me! Even then it can feel more like throwing up a white flag of surrender than a genuine cry for help. Lets face it, we are stretched so thin these days that prayer is often the last few words we utter before falling exhausted into bed. We want to spend more time in prayer during the day, but our to-do list gets longer every week, and lets be honest; life is stressful. To be alive today is to be acquainted with stress. There is good stress, like welcoming a new child or moving into a new home or job, but when most of us hear the word stress , its not the joy-filled kind that comes to mind. Its the overwhelming, soul-crushing kind. Let me list just a few and see which ones you most relate to.

There are work-related pressures to deal with.

There are financial concerns to manage.

Relationships always provide opportunities for stress to rear its ugly head.

You may have chronic health concerns.

Family issues may seem overwhelming

You may experience, as so many do, information overloadtoo much social media, too many voices, too many opinions, way too much bad news.

In a recent study, the Mayo Clinic looked at how people react to these stressful events. The results were troubling.

• People turned to anger, blaming friends, family members, and coworkers for their heavy load.
• People turned to food, at times even eating when they werent hungry.
• People turned to self-loathing, letting negative self-talk have its way.
• People turned to substancesalcohol, cigarettes, drugs.

Although most people say that they have some belief in God, far too many people who were surveyed didnt turn to the one thing that could actually help: prayer.

Whenever you have encountered stress in life, what has been your typical response? Spend a moment considering your answer, and then complete the prompt below.

What about You?

Complete this sentence starter:

When I find myself in need of helpbecause my thoughts are spinning, because my heart is heavy, because my circumstances feel chaotic and complexmy reflexive response, that thing I tend to do as if running on autopilot, is...

The Truth of the Matter

Spend a few moments reading the passage below. Then move on to the questions in the next section.

Its one thing to understand in our minds that we have a loving heavenly Father who doesnt simply tolerate our requests for help but longs to come to our aid; its quite another to instinctively turn to Him in our distress and trust Him to lead us to higher ground. And yet thats precisely what He stands ready to do.

In Psalm 34, we see a powerful progression play out. David wrote:

I prayed to the L ORD , and he answered me.

He freed me from all my fears.

Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy;

no shadow of shame will darken their faces.

In my desperation I prayed, and the L ORD listened;

he saved me from all my troubles.

For the angel of the L ORD is a guard;

he surrounds and defends all who fear him.

Taste and see that the L ORD is good.

Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!...

The L ORD hears his people when they call to him for help.

He rescues them from all their troubles.

The L ORD is close to the brokenhearted;

he rescues those whose spirits are crushed. (vv. 48, 1718)

In response to the psalmists prayer for help,

• God answers the pray-er
• He frees the pray-er from all fears
• He saves
• He defends
• He rescues

What wonderful promises lie in this passage! We can turn to God in prayer, knowing that He will hear us, that He will help us, and that He will sustain us day by day.

One of Satans greatest achievements in the lives of believers is convincing us that God doesnt want to help us in our time of need. What a lie from the pit of hell to come against one of the foremost promises of our heavenly Father, that He will never fail us and will never abandon us (Heb. 13:5). God has promised to go ahead of us, to stand with us, to hem us in behind and before, and to never leave our side. God has promised always to generously listen to us when we call.