He is compared to rivers of living water. The Holy Spirit flows from the cross of Christ, and therefore our prayers must be “cross-centered”, knowing it is the will of God for us to place our faith in the cross. So we could ask the Lord,
“Please show me more of the cross, help me to see it in Your Word and believe it in my heart, so that the Holy Spirit would enable me to live it in my life.”
And we could pray, “Lord, please reveal Jesus to me, show me all that He accomplished for me through His death and resurrection, and help me to receive and apply all of the benefits of the cross.”
And “Lord Jesus, please purify my heart, cleanse me by faith in the blood that you shed on Calvary. Heal my wounds of despair with Your wounds and by your stripes.”
These are cross-centered prayers, faith-filled prayers, fully in line with the will of God for us and will be answered with Holy-Spirit power to set us free.
The Bible calls cross-centered prayer the “new song.” It is the song of redemption that the Holy Spirit teaches every true believer in varying degrees. This song is a deep and profound sense of gratitude for our deliverance from sin, hell, guilt, and the wrath of God.
It is always a response of exuberant joy to God’s saving work. “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God” (Ps. 40:2–3, emphasis mine).
We learn the new song to the degree that we are deeply enamored by the cross. This full-hearted singing cannot be suppressed in one who is amazed at God’s saving work—anyone who knows this joy will pray it regularly from a sense of personal unworthiness as well as a heart full of gratitude for Jesus.
But we really must seek the Lord earnestly for Him to increase our faith, give us a view of the cross and provide Holy Spirit power. You might recall the story of the Canaanite woman who pled with Jesus over and over for Him to heal her daughter; she simply wouldn’t take “no” for an answer (Mark 7:24-30). Jesus was drawing faith out of her with each “no” He gave, causing her to persist in her prayer, bringing her to understand the need to continue in prayer.
This can seem like we are wrestling with God in prayer: we are claiming His promises, refusing to let Him go until He blesses us with the answer that is in accordance with His will. It can be hard work, to keep coming to Him and latching on by faith, asking for more faith.
There is an illustration of this very thing in the book of Genesis. It involves Jacob as he was about to meet up with his brother Esau, who had years before wanted to take Jacob’s life. Let’s look at it together:
And Jacob was left alone. And a man wrestled with him until the breaking of the day. (25) When the man saw that he did not prevail against Jacob, he touched his hip socket, and Jacob's hip was put out of joint as he wrestled with him. (26) Then he said, “Let me go, for the day has broken.” But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” (27) And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.” (28) Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” Genesis 32:24-28 ESV
Question 6. According to Genesis 32:26, for what was Jacob wrestling?
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Carnell writes, "Jacob was wrestling with an angel of God. What I get from this story is be persistent. Don't give up on your prayers when you want something from God. He may say no at at first or a few times, He is just bringing more faith out of you. When you are praying in the Spirit according to His word don't give He will bless you in His timing in His way."
Tori writes, "Jacob was wrestling for his blessing. I can adamantly seek God, and ask ask ask and not give up but persist. I can fight for what I want."
Jacob refused to let God go until the Lord gave Him a blessing. And this is the boldness and the tenacity we are called to in prayer. Please listen to this 4 min video which encourages us to continue in petitioning prayer.
Let’s make this practical:
You were doing better with less periods of sadness but you had a upsetting conversation with a friend and you have returned to feeling sad and frustrated. You feel like nothing seems to be working. You are tempted to just forget the whole idea of ever being joy filled in Christ, believing that somehow that it will never be you.
In the past, you would have just gone back to your old ways of focusing on your feelings and being discouraged. You would make excuses for why it didn’t work out such as: “I’m not ready yet. I am a special case; I need something more. God wants me to be hopeless”…or something similar.
But now, you know better. The Holy Spirit reminds you that Jesus “did not do many miracles there (in His hometown) because of their lack of faith.” (Mark 13:58), and He calls you into a special time of prayer with the Lord. You come to the foot of the cross in prayer, and you see that Jesus died to set you free from darkness and joylessness. You say, “Jesus, I know that in You I am free, but my depression isn’t lifting off of me. Please help me. Please increase my faith. I want to bring You glory in how live, but I need Your help.” As you pray, your heart is encouraged, and your hope is renewed. As you go on about your day, you feel the Spirit telling you that you needed to ring your friend and ask for her forgiveness in the same way that Christ forgave you at the cross. You experience peace returning to your heart.
Question 7. Have you ever struggled in doubting that the power of the cross is sufficient to help you overcome despair? If so, what did you do or will you do differently in the future? Please share your thoughts:
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We are to cling to Him asking for an increase of faith. We are to keep wrestling in cross-centered prayer until we receive a blessing. We wrestle in prayer with the One Who has pierced hands and feet, the One Who bears in His body the marks of His love for us. We wrestle with the One Who has engraved us on the palms of His hands (Isaiah 49:16), and Who wears our names on His heart (Exodus 28:15-28) as He intercedes on our behalf (Hebrews 7:25). In other words, we are connecting our prayer life with Christ’s cross-work, and this is where we find Holy Spirit power!
Jacob actually received two blessings: the first is that Jesus touched his hip and put it out of joint. Why is that a blessing? Because now that he had to walk with a staff (or cane), it reminded him that he must never live in his own strength but rather be dependent on the Lord for everything. He limped, He leaned on that staff.
You see, Jacob had all his self-righteousness and self-reliance wrestled out of him. He had his strength taken away. Now he walked with a limp, leaning on a wooden staff, just as we believers must lose our self-dependence and at all times lean on the cross of Christ lest we stumble and fall.
The second blessing Jacob received was the blessing of victory. God changed his name from Jacob, meaning “supplanter” or “deceiver” to “Israel”, meaning “overcomer.” “You have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed” (Genesis 32:28 ESV).
Notice in these two blessings we learn about dependency and victory. The two go hand in hand, always.
The transformation Jacob received, becoming dependent on the Lord and victorious, can be ours as well. As we wrestle in cross-centered, faith-filled prayer, God can work miracles and, through His Holy Spirit, set us free from depression, and we worship.
Please watch the following video and answer the question below:
Question 8. According to the song, why was the blood of Jesus spilled? What does this mean to you personally?
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Before we finish today I would like to pray for you and with you:
Father in heaven, I thank You for calling us into intimacy in prayer with You, through the sacrifice of Your Son for us. The intimacy that Jesus prayed for when He said "I in them and you in me." I pray for and ask that You would grant each person here grace for praying persistent, cross-centered prayers for themselves and others with open hearts joyfully dependent on You, with the blessing of victory. As we pray the Word of God at the foot of the cross which is wet with the spilled blood of Jesus, may love and joy flow out of our hearts by the Holy Spirit. May the unfathomable love of Jesus caress and assure us that You are forever for us, along with a joy that is unspeakable and full of glory. Thank you that You delight in hearing our hearts full of prayer. In Jesus' name, Amen.