#211: BE PRAYERFUL-LAMENT (The Best of Be)

Be Still Be Free

Time for the next #podcast episode in our throwback series on prayer! Yes, there’s a time to be strong and courageous and move on. But FIRST, it is absolutely biblical to stop and give space for your pain, frustration, anger, fear, sadness...especially with what's happening in the word right now! There’s a time to speak out in faith and proclaim truth regardless of how you feel, but that comes after you’ve emptied yourself of the desperation first. It has be released and let go TO GOD so that He can fill those empty places with faith, peace, love, hope and yes…even joy. In this week's episode, we explore the importance of biblical lament, and learn how biblical lament never loses sight of God.
BE IN THE WORD (this week’s verses):

Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long? Turn, O LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. (Psalm 6:1-4)

I’m exhausted. I cannot even speak, my voice fading as sighs. Every day ends in the same place—lying in bed, covered in tears, my pillow wet with sorrow. My eyes burn, devoured with grief; they grow weak as I constantly watch for my enemies. (Psalm 6:6-7)

Why are You so far away? Why can’t You be found during troubling times? Mean and haughty people hunt down the poor. May they get caught up in their own wicked schemes. (Psalm 10:1-2)

BE EDUCATED (additional resources):

1. A Sacred Sorrow: Reaching Out to God in the Lost Language of Lament by Michael Card. The book Monica references in the podcast.
2. Pouring Out Your Heart in Lament to God. Great application on how to personally write a prayer of lament.
3. Liturgical Lament in Times of Crisis. The biblical structure of prayers of lament.
4. Lament: The Dark Side of the Journey.Quotes by Michael Card referenced in the podcast.
5. Biblical Laments: Prayer Out of Pain. Great biblical application for praying from grief.

BE DOERS, NOT JUST HEARERS:

Write a prayer of lament. Using the prayers of Job and Habbakuk as a guide, use the words “though”and “yet” to begin to phrase your lament. Do this when you are facing difficulty.

1. Find a quiet place with God.
2. Ask the Holy Spirit to guide you.
3. Be in God’s presence.
4. Write down the “though” circumstances in your life.
5. Offer these things to God.
6. Worship God by completing the phrase: “Though these things have happened, yet _________.”

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