40 Days of Prayer and Fasting – Day 6 When I Am Weak

I have sensed such an overwhelming sadness today. I personally am not sad about anything for myself, yet I cried. As I prayed about it, I realized that the Lord was letting me feel the weight or gravity of the trials that many people I love are facing.

There are people who are suffering from great loss and grief. There are many people who are praying for loved ones who are hanging in life and death situations- with Covid and with other health issues. Families are experience spiritual attacks of depression in their children. Other families are battling with children in rebellion and anger. Husbands are leaving wives. Spouses are not loving well.

These are intense life battles- emotional battles, physical battles, mental battles and spiritual battles. Many people who ask me for prayer don’t quite know where to start or how to pray. Others do and want another person battling with them by their sides. Even seasoned prayer warriors, when faced with a crisis like the ones many are facing today can feel completely undone.

Friends, we are not alone. God will never leave us nor forsake us.

When I am weak- I cast all my cares on him. He cares for me. When people ask for prayer, I can’t carry the emotional burden for them, but I can take that burden to the one who carried their burdens to the cross. Jesus not only took our sin, he took our beating. He bore our shame, our loss, our loneliness, our rejection, our death, or sickness.

This Messianic prophecy from Isaiah 53 says it all.

1Who has believed our message

and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

2He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

5But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

6We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

7He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

8By oppression ^a and judgment he was taken away.

Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people he was punished. ^b

9He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the Lord makes ^c his life an offering for sin,

he will see his offspring and prolong his days,

and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand.

11After he has suffered,

he will see the light of life ^d and be satisfied ^e ;

by his knowledge ^f my righteous servant will justify many,

and he will bear their iniquities.

12Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, ^g

and he will divide the spoils with the strong, ^h

because he poured out his life unto death,

and was numbered with the transgressors.

For he bore the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.

When we are weak- when we are rejected- when we are desperate- when we are sick- we must throw ourselves on the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must continue to cast our cares upon him. Why would we hold onto something that Jesus paid for with his very life- his very blood?

What an amazing sacrifice! What amazing love the Lord has for us!

When I am weak I need to rest in his love. I need to cast my mind to calvary. Listen to this song and spend time worshipping him!

Let’s Pray! This is just a guide. Please spend time on each point as God leads you.

1. Father, I praise your name! I praise your name Oh Lord my God! Jesus, you have trampled death and taken the keys to death and hell. You have all victory, honor and praise! You have cleansed me of sin. You have loved me without holding back your life. I will praise you! Your love is so wonderful. It sustains me. Your name is holy! Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!
2. Your kingdom come, Lord God! Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, tear down the devil’s strongholds in my life and establish your own kingdom. Tear down the enemy’s strongholds in my family in the name of Jesus and establish your kingdom. May I walk in your will. I give you my steps. I give you my day. I ask that you I will bring you the glory and honor in my life. Bring your kingdom to my family. Establish it in my marriage, my kids, my grandchildren. (name the people) Your kingdom come in my church, my neighborhood, my county, my state and my nation. Bring your will, Lord. Bring your righteousness. Break forth in glorious revival, Oh Lord. Bring repentance from sin. Bring a cleansing.
3. Forgive me for my sin. Show me if there is any offensive way in me and lead in your way everlasting. (Wait on the Lord. Ask him what you need to repent from. Is there anyone you need to make things right with?) Confess your sin to the Lord. He is faithful and just to forgive you and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness.
4. Forgive as Jesus forgave you. Lord, I give you everyone who I am holding grudges against, in Jesus name. I ask that you will pour out your mercy into my heart. I release those from my judgement. Show me where I am irritable and impatient. Show me where I need to release others from unrealistic expectations. I need to forgive those who have withheld love. I forgive those who are unable to give me what I need. (Spend time naming names and praying to forgive in the name of Jesus, out of obedience.)
5. Provide for my needs- supply my bread, Lord. Take care of all of the things that I worry about. List the things you need the Lord to do in your life.
6. Lead me not into temptation. Lord, I give you the areas of my life I am tempted. These are my weaknesses. Where I am weak, please be strong. List areas you are struggling with. Pray until you get a release.
7. Deliver me from the evil one. “Lord Jesus, in Luke 10 you say that you give us authority to trample on snakes and scorpions (Satan) and to overcome all the power of the enemy- nothing will harm us. I thank you for this power. I command the enemy Satan to leave me in Jesus’ name. I pray, Lord, that you will protect me by the power of the blood of Jesus. I plead the blood of Jesus over my family, over my property. I pray for victory. Uproot the devil’s plans for me. Establish me on your path, Oh Lord. I tear down the fortresses that have been established by the enemy in and around my life and my family, because of willful sin, in Jesus’ name. Lord, destroy his kingdoms and set up your kingdom, in Jesus’ name. Cover me with your love. Your name is a strong tower. I run into it and am safe.”
8. Pray for those who are suffering around the world for the name of Jesus. Pray for the persecuted. Pray for their protection. Pray for their health. Pray for their families. Pray for their children. There are martyrs in other nations. Pray for the protection of their children.
9. Pray to repent for the sins of our nation. Abortion, adultery, greed, pride, self-centeredness, apostasy, violence, hatred, rebellion, perversion, racism, injustice, homosexuality, child abuse. (Any others the Lord leads you to pray for.)
10. Pray to end abortion. Pray for the Lord to overthrow the strongholds of the enemy that hold these evil laws in place.
11. Pray for our leaders- the government leaders, that they will be led in wisdom and that God will raise up righteous leaders and dispose of those who are against him. Pray for the salvation of our leaders. Pray for conviction.
12. Pray for safety and protection of our nation and the Body of Christ. Pray that in the coming judgements of God, he will be merciful to those who love him.
13. Pray for God to soften hearts that are hard in the church. Pray against unbelief and sin in the church. Pray for the Lord to build up the leaders of the church that they would experience the Holy Spirit’s leading in power. Pray that they would repent of sin and be cleansed from darkness. Pray that they will repent from compromise. Pray that our pastors and leaders would be protected from the enemy’s temptations. Pray that the men will stand strong against lust and perversions that attack them in every direction with technology in the world.
14. Pray that God raises up the remnant to serve him in power. Pray for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit that demonstrates the gospel’s power through healing, deliverance, and many miracles. God backs up the word of the gospel with power.
15. Pray for faith. Spend time asking the Lord to give you faith. Faith is a gift of the Spirit and also a fruit of the Spirit. God is good and will give you more faith. Spend time worshipping the Lord and asking him to pour into you and to fill you up. Listen to him. He wants to encourage you!

Cover Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash