It’s important for us to spend time with God regularly, to talk to Him and pray about whatever’s on our hearts. We don’t have to have an urgent need to bring to Him. God desires an ongoing relationship with us, and He wants to share in the everyday as well as the extraordinary. But sometimes we’ll find ourselves in a situation that needs an urgent conversation with Him. It might be some sort of emergency, or we might be feeling so panicked by something we’re faced with that we need an immediate talk with Him. Even if our prayer life hasn’t been brilliant, He’s there for us, day and night. We can’t always face things in our own power, and those emergency prayers are simply desperate cries for God’s help. Maybe some of us have struggled to believe that God’s a loving, kind Father, or even to believe that He exists at all. But when we’ve run out of options and realise that we can’t fix everything ourselves, a crisis can become an opportunity to experience God’s grace and power, and to see our faith grow fast. The psalmist wrote, ‘I call to you in times of trouble, because you will answer me’ (Psalm 86:7 NCV). If you’re in a crisis today, pray these words: ‘Father, I can’t see a way out of this. Let me feel Your Spirit and Your encouraging presence. Help me to see that with You, all things are possible to those who believe. Things look hopeless to me, but You see them from a heavenly perspective. Today I thank you that You’re my God, and the One who “always helps in times of trouble.”’

What now?

Talk to God. Tell Him about your day, however mundane it’s been. If you’re in a crisis, pray the prayer above. Or if you know someone who’s facing major problems, why not offer to pray it with them?