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4 Things to Pray in an Emergency

    Emergency Prayers

    My wife was coming home Saturday night and found our street barricaded by the police. As she approached the barricade, they told her to turn off her lights and turn around. When she explained that her house was just on the other side of the barricade, she was told that she would still could not go through and would have to find another way.

    It turned out that six lots down from us a man had locked himself in a home and was threatening to shoot the police. While my wife was able to find a way home, for several hours we could hear the standoff. At eleven o-clock the gunfire started. We had already been praying, but now our prayers intensified.

    This was my emergency, but several of you had your own last week as Hurricane Sandy tore through the northeast. Maybe your emergency is a family member who is in the hospital. Whatever it is for you, emergencies happen in life. As mature believers, how are we to pray during them?

    4 Things to Pray in an Emergency

    1. HELP!

    Let’s not overspiritualize this. Our first response is asking for help and safety. Let’s be honest with the Lord. God wants us to be real with Him. If we skip this step, it will be hard to find God in the process. It’s like the blind man calling out to Jesus. When Jesus turned to him, He asked him what he wanted (Mark 10:51). God wants us to verbalize what we really want.

    2. What is God Doing?

    Once you verbalize your request, you can more easily find God and hear His heart of the matter. God is not caught off guard with your situation. He has a way to work it out for the good. Ask Him questions.

    • Where are you?
    • What are you doing?
    • How do you want me to pray?
    • How can I partner with You?

    When Lazarus was very sick, word was sent to Jesus to come. Mary and Martha knew that if Jesus was there Lazarus would not die. However, when Jesus heard the news, he delayed. Mary and Martha wanted a healing; Jesus wanted a resurrection (John 11:1-44). Ask God what He wants to do so that you can pray according to His will.

    3. Pray in the Spirit

    Hearing the voice of God can be difficult in the emergency. When we feel danger, it is hard to be open to God’s plans being different than ours. Thankfully God has giving us a gift in praying in the Spirit. This bypasses our mind and prays in agreement of the Spirit even when we don’t know what the will of God is (Romans 8:26-27). If you want to see more, check our article on how to pray in the spirit.

    4. Worship

    Too often within emergencies, we forget God’s goodness and protection over us. The disciples display exactly this as they were crossing the sea during the storm. They were afraid, and Jesus was sleeping. When they woke Him, they criticized Him for not caring. Jesus links their fear to lack of faith (Mark 4:35-41). Worship lifts us out of our fear and renews our faith in God and His goodness towards us. When we know God loves us even in our situation, fear releases its strangle hold over us. For example, think of Paul and Silas (Acts 16:25).

    Resolution to Our Emergency

    In our emergency there was a good resolution. The man was caught, arrested, and no one was injured. The lingering effect that we still need to pray for is the fear that has stayed with many in our neighborhood. God was good and protected all of us, but the situation has caused some to fear what if this were to happen again. I would appreciate your prayers for our community.

    Additional Resources

    What is your emergency? Join the Prayer Coach Facebook page and share your requests with others who believe in the power of prayer.

    Also, check out these other two articles by Guideposts and BeliefNet, as I think they will also give you comfort and potential help in whatever need you may have. They are 4 Emergency Prayers and 5 Scriptures to Have in an Emergency, respectively.

    20 thoughts on “4 Things to Pray in an Emergency”

    1. My precious Doberman Kendi ran off December 22 and was struck twice by cars and miraculously survived praise God. We look for her. Found her bloody paw prints last night. Were always a day late. Don’t know if she’s dead. Or if someone is harboring her. Please pray we find her. My fiance died of Suicide five years ago. I know the devil is behind this. Its almost unbearable. Pray for Kendi the Doberman to come to me somehow. Thank you

      1. Dear Kris,
        I sorry to hear of your experiences. I pray that you will quickly find your doberman. I also pray that God will reveal Himself in new ways to you to show He is with you, protecting you, and comforting you. He is doing these things already; may they become more obvious to you.
        Blessings,
        Kevin

    2. Please pray for me for I have committed a sin in the eyes of the lord. I continue to pray for forgiveness and pray for the best possible outcome as God directs my path towards righteousness.

      1. Dear Gregory,
        I pray that you experience the deep and personal forgiveness that Jesus has available to you. Godly conviction leads to life and hope that God will redeem the situation. May your redemption come quickly and may you be overcome with God’s love and belief in you.

        Blessings,
        Kevin

    3. Please pray for me. I have a fincancial emergency. I need R30000 like yesterday. Please ask the Lord to grant me peace and patience while I wait. I am in a predicament.

    4. Please pray for a financial blessing for me. I am behind on all my bills, i barely have a bite to eat and i have no money for Christmas, i had to miss my heart dr app. I never get to go out shopping i hardly have anything i know God is my only hope please pray with me

    5. Thank you so much for those beautiful words, great strategy bro it moved me to tears, thank you Jesus praise GOD bless you brothers and sisters.i love you all.

    6. Help and pray you too for me in my the fight against false doctrine who not confess Jesus blood in salvation,but use own victims,thanks and bless,Keijo sweden

    7. Please, please pray for me – I am SO frightened. I have many health issues (too numerous to go into here) and probably wouldn’t still be here if it wasn’t for the power/love of God. But right now I appear to be suffering a prolapse of the womb and the pain is simply unbearable. I pray that God will ‘hold me’, keep me safe, and please, please lessen the pain until medical help/intervention can be sought. Thank you xx

      1. Dear Sharon,

        Absolutely praying this for you. May God make you aware of His surrounding presence. May He fill you with His goodness driving away the pain. And, may health become your new normal.

        Blessings,
        Kevin

    8. Pingback: You are Not Alone - prayer coach

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