The courage to travail in prayer

Photo by David Becker on Unsplash

 “Take courage! it is I. Do not be afraid.” Mark 6:50

A few weeks ago, I heard a reflection on the virtue of courage—something our world desperately needs more of. Amid the countless choices we face, the decision to choose courage stands out as both vital and countercultural. But what does choosing courage actually look like? I’ve been holding this question alongside a sermon I recently heard on the power of prayer—specifically, the invitation to travail in prayer. To travail means to labor intensely, to struggle and persist. And so, the question that has stayed with me is: What does it mean to courageously travail in prayer?

To travail in prayer is not about stirring up emotion or dramatic displays to make our prayers seem more effective. It is, instead, embracing a posture of complete vulnerability before Christ—approaching Him as our Savior and ever-present help in times of trouble (Psalm 46), acknowledging that He is our only hope. But it’s also a willingness to remain just as vulnerable in seasons of joy and abundance—praising God as the Giver of all that is good. Perhaps this is the first act of courage in prayer: coming to God just as we are.

Another moment of courage comes in what follows our prayers. For example, in praying The Lord’s Prayer (or The Our Father, in some traditions), when we say, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” how do we embody that prayer once we’ve said “Amen”? Am I courageously laboring, in the power of the Holy Spirit, for God’s Kingdom to break into the world? Or do I slip back into the comfort of the status quo, prioritizing my own interests and hoping to remain unscathed by the chaos and suffering around me?

God invites us into far more than lives of disengaged, fearful mediocrity. He calls us to more than quick, casual prayers when we're in a bind. I believe we are invited to courageously travail in prayer—for our world and for all people, both friends and enemies. And just as importantly, we are invited to live out those prayers: to think, speak, work, serve, study, and rest in ways that reflect the grace and power of God.

I believe God is more than ready to awaken our hearts to His glory. The question is: Will we receive Him? Will we embrace the grace-filled courage to surrender all that we are to all that He is? Because as we do, our prayers will begin to align more fully with the heart of God—and I believe He will move among us in ways that exceed anything we could imagine.

So let us take courage. Let us travail in prayer. And may our lives bear witness to the truth and glory of our Savior.

“... If my people, who are called by my name, 

will humble themselves

and pray

and seek my face 

and turn from their wicked ways,

then I will hear from heaven,

and I will forgive their sin

and will heal their land.” 

2 Chronicles 7:14

~em

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