The Two-Word Prayer That Changed My Life (2022)
by: Julianne August
“Jesus help.”
These are not just any two words; rather a simple two-word prayer offered up to heaven over twenty years ago that changed my life. I remember the moment vividly, the smell of newly laid carpet not far from my nose as I fell down on my knees in utter desperation and cried out like a child, to the God I met as a child.
“Jesus help.”
Two words and He answered.
What a gift it is to know that our prayers are heard whether they are short and to the point, long and flowery, filled with doubts and questions, spoken silently or out loud, read from a book, messy or imperfect because as I have come to learn, the Spirit intercedes for us when we don’t know what to pray. (Romans 8:26)
As I began to follow Jesus and gathered with women in a local church, I was fascinated by this thing they called prayer. I had my own preconceived definition of the word at the time and listened through the filter of what I thought it was. To my surprise, I became both fearful and fascinated by what I heard.
Fascinated by the honesty of women who talked to Jesus in front of each other and by the beauty of their words often repeated from the Bible. I became especially fascinated by the way women seemed to just talk to God like they were having a conversation with a friend at a coffee shop. It was like nothing I had ever heard before.
But then I became fearful. Afraid that I couldn’t talk like them - goodness, I was just learning Bible verses, how could I pray them? Their prayerful conversation seemed effortless and just rolled off their tongues – what would I say? How would I sound? What would these new friends think of me?
I became so afraid that one day when our leader asked us to turn to the person on our right and pray with them I froze, panicked and ran to the bathroom where I let anger bubble up inside of me. As I paced the bathroom floor, I thought to myself, how dare someone put me in that position!
Feeling disappointed in myself, I was determined not to let fear get the best of me, so the next week I returned with a one sentence prayer scribbled on a tiny piece of paper and hidden in my pocket to read just in case it happened again.
It did, and there began a beautiful journey of a praying life: mine.
As I have grown in my knowledge of who God is, my prayer life has grown too and I can accept myself in light of who God says I am.
Fear has been replaced by a deep trust in the character, nature and promises of a loving God that have changed the way I ask in prayer. A praying life is an abiding life lived in partnership with and dependence on the living God. It is both deeply personal yet something to be shared and celebrated with others.
No matter where you are on your journey with Jesus or the journey of cultivating your own prayer life, I want to invite you to join us in praying for the women of Canada. Gather Women is thrilled to bring Canadian Christian women together coast to coast through the power of prayer! We deeply desire to see women live their faith and put their faith in action to transform our nation. Prayer is just one of the ways we put our faith to action!
As we seek to join women across Canada in prayer I am struck by the enormity of it all.
So my simple two-word prayer remains. Jesus help.
Help us to seek you and your Kingdom first in prayer.
Help us to replace fear with faith and ask boldly in prayer.
Help us to humble ourselves in prayer.
Help us to pray with hearts of praise and thanksgiving.
Help us to pray with childlike faith and persistence.
Help us to pray the promises and truths of Scripture.
Help us to have the heart of a warrior in prayer.
Help us to pray for one another and the needs of our nation faithfully.
Together, we have the privilege of seeking our God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine and infinitely more than our greatest request.
Will you join us?
