The 5 Ways I Pray During My Darkest Moments

Here are five ways that I have prayed before when facing my darkest moments in life.

Praying back the Word

When I pray in my darkest moments in life, and I’ve had several, I look to the Word of God and pray back His promises. Once such powerful promise that I find great comfort in is Isaiah 43:2 which says, “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.” I realize this is written to Israel, but if this was true of the nation Israel, why wouldn’t it be even truer for the children of God? Pray back His Word when you enter your darkest hours…or if you’re in one now. That’s what I do, and usually I end up in the Book of Psalms.

When you’ve really Blown It

I can’t count all of the times when I’ve really blown it big time. I have removed my foot from my mouth only to put the other in! I learned the hard way that wounds can heal from sticks and stones, but not so easily with words. We can’t take back what’s already been said. All we can do is to confess our sin to whoever we’ve hurt, and then confess this to God and pray Psalm 51, the greatest prayer of repentance in the Bible.

Isolated for your Faith

I remember years ago getting into trouble by trying to witness to all my co-workers. I wouldn’t take up their time by talking with them during working hours but only at break or lunch time which was not against company policy. Someone complained to management, and so I got called into the plant manager’s office and was told, “Don’t do that anymore!” I remember feeling isolated for a time because all my co-workers eventually heard about it. I couldn’t understand why those who were Christian didn’t try to comfort or encourage me. All I heard was gossip about being “Jack the Baptist” (me). It was then that I turned to God’s Word and remembered that it says, “If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (1st Pet 4:14). I prayed to God to give Him thanks for allowing me the privilege of suffering for Jesus’ sake and receiving such a blessing (Matt 5:10-12).

On My Face

Speaking only for myself, I believe the best posture for me to be in when praying is on my face. Many who had an encounter with God in the Old Testament or with Jesus in the New Testament, fell flat to the ground, and lay on their face, some like a dead man. When I pray privately, I pray on my face, lying flat on the floor. I do this especially when I am in the darkest moments of my life. In doing so, I am voluntarily humbling myself. Think about it; you are coming before the Omnipotent God, the Creator of the Universe! He is God! In ancient times, you didn’t come before the king unless he raised his scepter, and if you didn’t down bow, you could lose your head. How infinitely more does God deserve this kind of submission when we come before Him? That’s what I do. That’s how I pray.

In the Shadows

The psalmist puts it very well for me in the way that I pray during the dark days of my life. He wrote, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil” (Psalm 23:4). King David is showing that a shadow of death is not the same as death itself. Shadows might warn you of impending danger, but shadows can’t actually hurt you. I have to remember that. Not even death can separate me from God (Rom 8:38), and no darkness shall prevail against me, because eventually, He will bring me back into the light of His love.