Whether you are in an outright war, or a societal crisis or just facing a personal dilemma… Whether you are in Jerusalem or Georgia, let their moment of truth become yours.

Read and meditate on these slowly. Five desperate prayers that moved heaven and earth:

David crying out at his breaking point in Psalm 22 is the most quoted Psalm in the New Testament. A moment so raw, so honest, it seems almost heretical; and yet it was quoted even by the greater Son of David in his soul’s travail:

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish?

My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises.

In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them…

Asa facing a vast army which had come from Africa and was poised in the Israelite hill country between Hebron and Ashkelon, in the Valley of Zephathah near Mareshah and the caves of Guvrin, to ascend to attack Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 14:11 NIV):

“Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this vast army. Lord, you are our God; do not let mere mortals prevail against you.” Then the LORD struck down the Cushites before Asa and Judah…

Jehosephat before a vast attacking army which came from the East, from present day Jordan, and was ascending from Ein Gedi on the Dead Sea shore, up through the Pass of Ziz and the Gorge of Yeruel in the Judean Desert mountains. After calling all Judah to fast and seek God… (2 Chronicles 20:6, 11, 12):

“Lord, the God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you…

“See how they are…coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

“…As they began to sing and praise, the LORD set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab…”

Hezekiah in Jerusalem when the Assyrian army of King Sennacherib had already conquered all the other fortified cities of Judah (Isaiah 37:16-20):

“O LORD Almighty, God of Israel, enthroned between the cherubim, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Give ear, O LORD, and hear; open your eyes, O LORD, and see; listen to all the words Sennacherib has sent to ridicule the living God.

“It is true, Lord, that the Assyrian kings have laid waste all these peoples and their lands. They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods but only wood and stone, fashioned by human hands. Now, Lord our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, Lord, are the only God.”

Yeshua in the Garden of Gethsemane (“the olive-crushing press”) between the Temple Mount and the Mount of Olives, on the night of the Passover sacrifice, before being handed over to the Romans (Mark 14:34-36):

“My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,” he said to them. “Stay here and keep watch.” Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him.

“Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not my will, but yours be done.”