How Can you Really Pray When Things Feel Impossible?

When Jim Cymbala started pastoring the Brooklyn Tabernacle years ago, things were tough. The meetings were so depressing that even he, as the pastor, didn’t want to go to church. But when he cried out to God for help, the Lord made it clear: Prayer should be the foundation of the church. The Tuesday prayer meeting became the most important meeting of the week. In his new devotional, Jesus Every Day, he encourages us to do the same with our days. It’s a joy to welcome Jim Cymbala to the farm table today as he reminds us that God hears and answers the prayers of our hearts.

Guest Post by Jim Cymbala

Hannah was praying in her heart.

1 Samuel 1:13, NIV

Hannah badly wanted a child, but she couldn’t have one. It’s a tender story of wanting that we’ve all felt in our own ways…

Every year she went with her husband, Elkanah, and his other wife, Peninnah, to the Tabernacle at Shiloh. The Tabernacle was the Old Testament place of worship before the Temple was built in Jerusalem. But year after year, Peninnah mocked Hannah for being barren. 

What did Hannah do with all her aching want and hope?

One day, while the family was eating at the Tabernacle, Hannah got up and went to pray. She prayed in her heart—her lips moved, but there was no sound. 

The high priest, Eli, saw her and thought she was drunk. “Why do you come into the Tabernacle when you’re drunk?” he said to her. 

“No,” Hannah said. “I’ve been pouring out my heart to God” (1 Samuel 1:1-16). 

Hannah’s prayer of faith came from deep inside, and God answered her.

In doing so, God changed the history of the Old Testament.

Hannah’s son, Samuel, came on the scene during the dark days of the judges, and he brought about a turning back to God in Israel. Some call him the founder of the school of the prophets. 

Samuel Rutherford, a Scottish pastor and theologian, said, “Words are but accidents of prayer.”6

“Real prayer, the prayer that God honors, comes from our innermost hearts, and many times it can’t find utterance in words. It comes with tears or sometimes with Holy Spirit–inspired groans too deep to be spoken.”

Real prayer, the prayer that God honors, comes from our innermost hearts, and many times it can’t find utterance in words. It comes with tears or sometimes with Holy Spirit–inspired groans too deep to be spoken (see Romans 8:26). 

Rather than hearing us say surface prayers, God, through the Spirit, wants to lead us into time with Him when the greatest longings of our hearts can be expressed in prayer. 

I’ve had deep wants and aches and needs in my life, especially as a young pastor, that have caused me to pray with hot tears flowing down my face. When my dad, as an alcoholic, was away from God for twenty-two years, I prayed for him many times. But how many times can you say, “Lord, save my dad who’s an alcoholic. Bring him to you”?

It went deeper than that. Oh, how beautiful it is when the Holy Spirit touches our human spirits deep within and our need for God that is beyond words goes up to the Lord.

Those prayers are powerful and effective.

They certainly were for my dad, who came back to the Lord and was set free from alcoholism after more than two decades. 

James 5:17 says that “Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years!” The phrase prayed earnestly could be read as “prayed in his praying.”

We can pray just with our minds, but how much better is a prayer that comes from the deepest part of us and touches the deepest part of God’s heart?

That’s when we see amazing things happen. 

A lot of people think that praying, especially when done in public, has to be elegant in its wording.

But that’s not the kind of prayer God is after.

He delights in a Hannah-like prayer that comes from deep within and looks to Him alone for the answer.

There’s no better way to pray today for the deepest aches in our heart than to live the words of Psalm 62:8 :

“Pour out your heart to him, for God is our refuge.” 

“Lord, thank you that you’re a God I can come to with the deepest needs of my heart.
Help me to pour out my heart to you and know that you will hear and answer.“

Jim Cymbala has been the pastor of the Brooklyn Tabernacle for more than fifty years. His ministry is characterized by his emphasis on prayer in the church and dependence on the Holy Spirit for His leading and power. The bestselling author of Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire and Fan the Flame, he lives in New York City with his wife, Carol, who directs the Grammy Award–winning Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.

Every morning we prepare our bodies for the day—we shower, shave, dress for our appointments. But it’s much more important to prepare the inner person by spending time with God in the Word and in prayer so that we can receive spiritual strength for the day.

Then, whatever comes our way, we will be ready to meet the challenge. That is why Jim Cymbala wrote his new devotional, Jesus Every Day.

As we spend time with the Lord, his Spirit ministers to our spirits and prepares us for the day ahead. Discover hope, encouragement, and fulfilling purpose daily with Jesus Every Day. Learn more at right here — and be soul-encouraged!

{Our humble thanks to Tyndale for their partnership in today’s devotional.}