Prayer is Powerful – Especially When You’re Freaking Out

Did you ever notice how much more powerful your prayer life is when you’re desperate? Thankfully, I’ve never had to experience being under enemy fire during a war, but I understand where that old saying comes from: “There are no atheists in foxholes.”

By the way, I’m not sure the fear of getting killed in battle turns atheists into religious believers. Many people have pointed out, “‘No atheists in foxholes’ is not an argument against atheism, it’s an argument against war.” Good point. I suppose a better way to phrase it might be: “There are no luke-warm believers in foxholes.” 

I figure if a person has no belief in God, being terrified won’t make him suddenly convert. However, if a person does believe in God, but hasn’t given much thought to religious faith in quite a while, then being in fear for his life just might put “sincere and fervent prayer” at the top of his to-do list.

I’m pretty sure this is true, and I’ve never really been in fear for my life. Well, there was one time when I was driving on Interstate-91, and a car coming in the other direction suddenly swerved across the grassy median divider into oncoming traffic, and for a few moments it was heading right at me. I slammed on my brakes, which allowed the out-of-control car to cut in front of me. That car finally came to a stop against the guardrail without hitting anyone. The whole thing happened so fast, the adrenaline surge didn’t make my hands start shaking until about five seconds after I was in the clear. 

At that point, I did offer up some heartfelt prayers of thanksgiving. But during the couple of seconds when I thought my life was about to end, I frankly did not have time to take inventory of my level of spirituality.

Anyway, I was reminded recently that prayer gets much more powerful and intense when you are desperate. What I experienced wasn't anything life threatening, but it was stressful. It would take all day to explain the details, so let me summarize by saying it was very important for me to locate a particular legal document from some proceedings that occurred about four years ago. 

I looked everywhere in our home, but unsuccessfully. I realized the last place the document could be (not counting accidentally thrown away when we moved last year) was in the storage unit we’re renting on the other side of town. So, on a sweltering summer evening, I went inside an even more sweltering storage room, and I started digging through dozens of large plastic bins (and countless dozens of spiders). That’s when I started praying … a lot.

“Jesus, please, I’m begging you, help me find that document!” I pleaded. With each bin that turned up empty, my anxiety level increased and my prayers became more intense. I was praying out loud with childlike abandon, and after a while I felt God’s presence in that hot storage unit. It seemed He was urging me to relax, and although I wasn’t relaxing all that much, I was becoming more accepting of the distinct possibility that I had accidentally thrown out the document, and I would just have to deal with a delay and extra legal expenses.

And then, after some more loud and passionate prayers, and with only a few more bins left to examine, there it was! The document I so desperately sought! I was almost giddy, and I offered up joyful prayers of thanksgiving. (My joy was tempered a bit when I noticed I had about 14 big bins to repack and re-stack before I could leave, and it wasn’t getting any cooler in that sweat box.)

As I was driving home, I realized that I hadn’t prayed that fervently in months, probably since the time I went on retreat last winter. I really wish I could pray that intensely when things are going fine and I'm not under stress.

Wouldn’t it be great to have such a powerful prayer life that your prayers are passionate and the Lord’s presence is real, even when there’s nothing to worry about?

I think I’ll write a book about it, called, “The Spider-filled Storage Unit Prayer Handbook.