An Overcoming Life

One evening last month two friends prayed a powerful prayer for Kristina and me. That night I had this dream:

I was scheduled to speak to a group of people on the topic of “The Last Days.” When I arrived, the room was packed with people. They were all talking in small groups as I tried to get their attention to begin my talk. I had a message with good insights about the last days and I knew they would benefit from it. However, I was getting frustrated because they were not responding to my appeal to quiet down.

I finally had to shout to get their attention. They now turned to look at me, but I sensed their hearts were still preoccupied. I set aside my notes and said to them, “Please raise your hand if you have something in your life that is weighing heavily on your heart. If there is an issue that is consuming your attention, I want to know so I can pray for you before I begin this message.”

Three quarters of the people in the room raised their hands. They were dealing with issues more important to them than what is going to happen in the last days. Some of the people were concerned with their children who were in crisis. Others had financial issues weighing on their hearts. They had debts piling up and were struggling to stave off bankruptcy. A few of the people were battling major health issues. Some were fighting addictions to alcohol, drugs, or pornography. They had tried to escape the pain in their lives through these vices, and now they were in the grip of enslaving addictions.

All these people needed prayer so they could cope with their issues. Knowing what was going to happen at the end of the world would not help them if they were barely surviving in our current world.

I realized something about the prayers we were going to pray. Some of the people would receive deliverance and our prayers would be answered that night. Others were going to be given grace so they could continue to function fruitfully because their issues would continue for months or years to come. These people would have to learn to live for a season with heavy hearts. As we began to pray, I woke up.

A few nights after this dream, I spoke at a conference to a few hundred people. At the beginning of my message, I asked people to raise their hands if they were distracted by heaviness in their hearts. Many people raised their hands. I asked those sitting next to them to join me and we prayed for God to lift their burdens.

One of the great graces the Lord gives his people is the ability to carry on fruitfully when our hearts are heavy with the pain of unresolved issues. Abraham lived with the issue of Sarah’s childlessness for many years. Isaac lived with the conflict between his sons Esau and Jacob, which eventually divided his family. Jacob lived with a heavy heart because his son Joseph had been sold into slavery by his brothers. Joseph lived in prison and then for years in Egypt, missing his dad and brothers in the promised land. David was attacked by a jealous king.

The ability to move forward and keep focused when your heart is heavy with grief, health issues, or financial trials is a gift from God. We serve a God who sometimes does miracles to deliver us from evil. Other times, we must live with conflicts, heartaches, and issues that will not resolve quickly, no matter what we do or pray.

The apostle Paul prayed that his thorn in the flesh would depart from him. The Lord answered him three different times. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). As we trust God in our weakness, he shows us new dimensions of his power. We are all weak in different areas. If we stay faithful to the Lord Jesus in our trials, he uses them to show us his power.

If we abide in him, God will strengthen us and allow us to bear good fruit. He will use even our deepest pain as a character-building tool, and as a testimony of his grace. The testimony of Christ within us is an overcoming life. Jesus overcame death itself. We too can overcome because of his resurrection power within us.