DCLM Daily Manna 2023: DCLM Daily Manna 15 April 2023: Desperate Prayers
Key Verse: “Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish’s belly.” – (Jonah 2:1)
TEXT: Jonah 2:1-10
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish’s belly,
2 And said, I cried out of my distress to the Lord, and He heard me; out of the belly of Sheol cried I, and You heard my voice.
3 For You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the floods surrounded me; all Your waves and Your billows passed over me.
4 Then I said, I have been cast out of Your presence and Your sight; yet I will look again toward Your holy temple.
5 The waters compassed me about, even to [the extinction of] life; the abyss surrounded me, the seaweed was wrapped about my head.
6 I went down to the bottoms and the very roots of the mountains; the earth with its bars closed behind me forever. Yet You have brought up my life from the pit and corruption, O Lord my God.
7 When my soul fainted upon me [crushing me], I earnestly andseriously remembered the Lord; and my prayer came to You, into Your holy temple.
8 Those who pay regard to false, useless, and worthless idols forsake their own [Source of] mercy and loving-kindness.
9 But as for me, I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that which I have vowed. Salvation anddeliverance belong to the Lord!
10 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
Read yesterday’s Daily Manna here
Ivan Denisovich, a prisoner, endured all the horrors of a Soviet prison camp. One day, he was praying with his eyes closed when a fellow prisoner noticed him and said with ridicule, “Prayers won’t help you get out of here any faster”. Opening his eyes, Ivan answered, “I do not pray to get out of prison but to do the will of God”.
Jonah, a reluctant prophet gave clear and revealing insights into what transpired between him and the Almighty God while he sojourned in the belly of the fish. After refusing God’s assignment to preach to the Ninevites, he was cast into the sea by the crew of the ship he boarded to Tarshish, where he was eventually swallowed by a fish. While in the bottom of the sea, he said, “I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice” (Jonah 2:2). Apparently ending the standoff, Jonah, now under pains, surrendered, and desperately asked to do God’s will. Miraculously, he was vomited by the fish to commence his journey to Nineveh.
Prophet Jonah’s experience in the belly of the whale has many lessons for believers. No matter how serious your condition is, you can still pray and receive deliverance from God. There is no place too hidden, or any situation too hopeless for God to reach you.
Some people contemplate alcoholism, drug addiction or suicide when things go wrong and trouble looms. The experiences of Jonah, Job, Jacob and other pilgrims in Bible day should encourage us to trust in God – the Source of true help. Life is full of challenging situations and circumstances that make people despair, but like Jonah, we should resolve to look towards God and pray. Definitely, He will show up.
THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Prayer remains the only option when all else fails.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Acts 15-17
Thank you for studying today’s Daily Manna – Desperate Prayers – by Pastor W.F Kumuyi
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Daily Manna 15 April 2023
