Arise and Cry Out In The Night!

“Arise, cry out in the night, as the watches of the night begin; pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord.” Lam. 2: 19 (NIV)

This word came to a people who were going through what I call ‘the night of life’. As far as they were concerned, things could not be worse than what they were facing. Theirs were times that would make even strong hearts faint, yet the message begins with a call to ‘Arise…!’ This is because the easiest thing to do when we face the contrary winds of life is to sink down. We can sink down into discouragement, self-pity, anxiety, and fear.  All of these are sins and enemies of our soul, and until we realise this, we will continue to indulge in them. As long as we do, these enemies of our soul will continue to sap all the strength we need to fight in ‘the night of life’.

The thing to do in the face of ‘the night of life’ is to ARISE and cry out to God. To pray. All of life is war and we must fight for our very souls and for our families, neighbourhoods, and nations.

I remember what a brother had up on his wall in our university days – “Life is fragile, handle with prayer”. I was really impressed by the profoundness of this saying. Think about it. How frail, uncertain and fleeting everything is. Life is fragile, handle with prayer. David Wilkerson related what his father had said to him, “Son, God always makes a way for a praying man or woman”. Life is war and prayer is our weapon.

We must arise and fight ‘as the watches of the night begin’. It is most tempting to give in to sleep because we are overwhelmed with sorrows or just lazy. This was the difference between Jesus and his disciples. The bible says ‘And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly… (But) when he rose from prayer and went back to the disciples, he found them asleep, exhausted from sorrow’ (Luke 22:44-45 – NIV). Jesus prayed because of the anguish of his heart but the disciples went to sleep, because they had allowed their sorrows to exhaust them. But those who love sleep never win the battle. Beloved, get up and pray. Face your situation with diligent unrelenting prayer that will not spare your body. True prayer will always cost us something. Pray especially when you don’t feel like praying. Determine to keep praying until something happens.

“… Pour out your heart like water in the presence of the Lord”.

Be specific. Come to God determined to pour out your heart like water. Go into minute detail with God about what you are facing. I have found it helpful to take pen and paper and make a list of specific things I want to bring before the Lord. Then I go ahead and talk to him about each of them as if he didn’t know anything about them.

Things will never change if we do not pray and continue to pray. No matter how terrible and confused things have become, prayer will change things. We must give ourselves to prayer. It is not right to give up on our lives, our homes, and our businesses, or on  our ministries, neighbourhoods, nations and the lost world. We must arise and cry out in this night that is all around us. Let us stand in the gap and drive back the night.

Brethren, let us pray.

Father, awaken my heart. Help me not to faint in the face of battle. Help me to remember that greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world. Teach me to fight life’s battles on my knees, in Jesus’ Name.  Amen.

Arise and Shine

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples read more