November 16th, 2025
Praying Like It Matters
Prayer Aches
Bobby Humes
Today's Scripture: Habakkuk 1:1-4 ESV
Psalm 139:1-4 ESV
O Lord, you have searched me and known me! You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
Habakkuk 1:1-4 ESV
1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
Habakkuk's Complaint
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
Habakkuk 1:5-7 ESV
The Lord's Answer
5 “Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are dreaded and fearsome;
their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
Habakkuk 1:10-11 ESV
10 At kings they scoff,
and at rulers they laugh.
They laugh at every fortress,
for they pile up earth and take it.
11 Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
guilty men, whose own might is their god!”
Habakkuk 1:12-13 ESV
Habakkuk's Second Complaint
12 Are you not from everlasting,
O Lord my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die.
O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment,
and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
why do you idly look at traitors
and remain silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?
Habakkuk 1:17 ESV
17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net
and mercilessly killing nations forever?
Habakkuk 1:2 MSG
God, how long do I have to cry out for help before you listen? How many times do I have to yell, “Help! Murder! Police!” before you come to the rescue?
Colossians 4:3 ESV
Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
Romans 12:19 ESV
Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
Matthew 5:38-39 ESV
“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
Mark 9:25 ESV
I believe; help my unbelief.
Hebrews 11:1 MSG
The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living.
1) CLARITY
Habakkuk 1:4 ESV
4 So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.
1 John 5:14-15 ESV
And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him.
2) COMMITMENT
Psalm 37:5-7 ESV
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices!
Proverbs 28:9 MSG
God has no use for the prayers of the people who won’t listen to him.
3) CONSISTENCY
Mark 11:24 ESV
Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.
James 4:3-4 ESV
You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
Matthew 11:28-30 ESV
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
AFTER THE LIVESTREAM
Pray -
Jesus, I know that I have been separate from you my entire life. I have tried to pretend otherwise, but I realize today that my decisions, choices...my sin has separated me from God. I believe you are the Son of God and my only way forward. Please save me as I surrender the rest of my life into your hands. Thank you that you hear me!
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Start Reading!
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