Bible Talk with Sister Deb: Crying Out to God: How Passionate Prayer Transforms Lives

Prayer—it's the heartbeat of Christian life, but are we truly engaging with it as Scripture intends? Sister Debra Osborne delivers a soul-stirring message about the transformative power of fervent prayer that will challenge your approach to communication with God.

Drawing from James 5:16, Sister Deb unpacks what it means to pray with fervency—not just reciting memorized phrases but pouring out your entire being before the throne of grace. She reveals how the most powerful prayers often transcend words entirely, with the Holy Spirit translating our tears, groans, and emotional outpourings into perfect petitions before the Father.

Through vivid biblical examples, we witness prayer that changed history: the early church's intercession that freed Peter from prison chains, Hannah's tearful supplications that birthed the prophet Samuel, and Jesus Himself praying so intensely His sweat became like drops of blood. Sister Deb shares the remarkable account of James the Apostle, whose knees became calloused like a camel's from countless hours spent in prayer.

Beyond spiritual inspiration, this episode offers practical guidance for developing your own fervent prayer life. Learn why finding a quiet place matters, how forgiveness prepares the heart for effective prayer, and why praying for others might be the most powerful form of intercession. As Billy Graham wisely noted, "Heaven is filled with answers to prayers that nobody even asked for."

The world around us faces unprecedented challenges—illness, homelessness, spiritual lostness—that demand we "touch heaven" with passionate prayers. When God's children pray fervently, heaven moves and circumstances change. Join Sister Deb in answering the call to deeper communion with God that transforms not just our own lives, but the world around us.

Ready to revolutionize your prayer life? Listen now, then share your own prayer journey with us at osbornedebraK@gmail.com or catch Bible Talk every Sunday at 4pm on WTUK 105.1 FM.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Bible Talk with Sister Deb
• 1:50 The Meaning of Fervent Prayer
• 4:18 Prayer That Moved Mountains in Scripture
• 9:03 Hannah's Story: The Power of Pouring Out
• 17:00 How to Pray Fervently in Your Life
• 22:22 Closing Prayer and Contact Information

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:13

Jesus. Stand on Jesus, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah.

Speaker 2: 0:29

Hallelujah. Hey, you're listening to Bible Talk with Sister Debra Osborne. Bible Talk will be airing on WTUK 105.1 FM every Sunday at 4 pm. If you missed the show, you can listen to it on the 421 Podcast streaming on Apple or Spotify. You go to the website at hor421showbuzzsproutcom, and I'd like to give thanks to all the listeners and supporters and always keep us in prayers as we spread the gospel of our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. If you'd like to contact Sister Deb, you can email her at osbraindebrakay at gmailcom. That's O-S-B-O-R-N-E-D-E-B-R-A-K at gmailcom, and if you'd like to support the show, you can support it through PayPal slash H-O-R-421, or you go to the website at hor421showbuzzsproutcom. Now I give you your host, sister Deb. Now I give you, your host.

Speaker 3: 1:24

Sister Deb. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, so glad to be back in the studio today spreading the gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ. Good morning, good afternoon. However, everybody's celebrating it. It's a beautiful day outside that the Lord has made, and I want to talk to everybody today about prayer.

Speaker 3: 1:50

And I want to talk about not just prayer, but I want to talk about fervent prayer. I hope I'm saying that word right. So in the fifth chapter of James it tells us verse 16 actually tells us that the effectual fervent prayers of a righteous man availeth much. And you know, friends, if we think about that, if we think about those words, fervent prayer, fervent prayer and when I say those I am talking about a deep, focused and passion-filled prayer to God. I'm not talking about just, you know, god is great, god is good. I'm not talking about now I lay me down to sleep and all these little prayers that we learned growing up. Those are all well and good, but what I'm talking about is a passion-filled cry out to god for something that we are really in our hearts, that we want to pray for. You know we should want to pray for, for and everybody. But you know, one of the most powerful tools that a Christian person has is prayer, and it's the most direct way that we speak to God, that we thank him for things, especially thanking him for things. You know that we ask him for things or just to sit down and connect with Him.

Speaker 3: 3:24

You know, deep, fervent prayer changes things, and I want to assure you, people, that fervent prayer doesn't mean that our words have to be fancy. You know, romans 8 and 26 tells us that the Holy Spirit will help us if we don't know what to pray, that the Spirit itself will make intercession for us with groanings. That which cannot be uttered is how the Bible puts it. You know, I read somewhere talking about the Holy Spirit translates our wails and moans and tears into prayers. You know, there is absolutely nothing wrong with wailing and crying out to the Lord, and he turns those into prayers. You know, and the thing about it is, brothers and sisters, it's not about the words that we use. It's not all about the words, it's about our feelings, it's about our passion for that we use. It's not all about the words, it's about our feelings, it's about our passion for what we're praying about. You know, deep, fervent prayer allows us to go past the surface and delve into the depths of the Spirit and meet God at the throne. Meet God at His throne and cry out to the Lord. It requires us to open up our hearts to the work that he will do within us. You know, the fruits of fervent prayer can be life changing if we let it.

Speaker 3: 4:55

You know, and when I say fervent prayer, I'm talking about the kind of prayer that Jesus meant when he spoke of faith that can move mountains in Matthew 21. He said if we have faith that that can move mountains in Matthew 21. He said if we have faith that we can move mountains, and if we go before him in fervent prayer with that faith, he said, we can move mountains. Can you imagine what we can do? Now? I know people.

Speaker 3: 5:19

There is a big difference between praying because we ought to and praying fervently because we care about a particular situation. You know, in Luke 24, 22, verse 44, it talks about how Jesus prayed fervently to the point that his sweat became his blood. Can you imagine there's probably not one of us that ever get down and pray that fervently to the Lord. I mean, am I guilty? Yes, imagine there's probably not one of us that ever get down and pray that fervently to the Lord. I mean, am I guilty? Yes, I'm talking about me just as much as I'm talking about everybody else.

Speaker 3: 5:56

But see, when we pray fervently, it's a heartfelt prayer. It's a type of prayer that it makes tremendous power available to us. You know, effectual, effectual, fervent prayer. I hope I don't get this all messed up, get tongue tied on it, but it is hard work to do. You know, effectual, effectual, fervent prayer. I hope I don't get this all messed up, get tongue-tied on it, but it is hard work to do. You know, I read somewhere that it's hard. It's not something that's easy done. We have to pour ourselves into the prayers that we're praying to the Lord.

Speaker 3: 6:20

And I read somewhere that the Apostle James prayed so fervent and so much that where he had got on his knees to the Lord, his knees were calloused like a camel's knees. If you've seen Bible movies on TV and they'll show camels in the background or sitting or something, and you'll notice these camels, their knees are all shriveled and calloused over and that's from sitting on their knees like they do. And it's said that the Apostle James prayed so much on his knees that his knees calloused like a camel's. I mean, wow, that's a lot of prayer, man. That's fervent prayer right there.

Speaker 3: 7:00

And you know, from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible tells us and says so much about prayer. And, my friends, I'm telling you today, there is no time in history that we've ever needed prayer than right now, no time that we've ever needed fervent prayer than we do right now, at this point in time. You know, and the Bible tells us so many things about praying. You know, psalm 34 and 15 says tells us that the eyes of the Lord is open to the righteous and his ears are open to their cry. All he wants us to do is cry out to him. People, you know, and it's by fervent prayer that people get saved. It's people, our loved ones, get saved, our neighbors, our friends, people get healed. You know, fervent prayer is what we need to do, and I'm not saying just one prayer a week or one prayer a day. I'm talking about going to the Lord in prayer and getting down on our knees and crying out to the Lord. That's how we access God's power.

Speaker 3: 8:03

You know, a powerful prayer life is a common component in the lives of those that God used greatly. I mean, look at Abraham. He was a man of prayer and he was seen constantly, constantly communicating with God and even interceding for people. Moses and the prophets they were people of prayer and when Christ was preparing and teaching his disciples, he constantly emphasized their need to pray. I mean, he taught them the Lord's Prayer at least twice in Matthew 6 and Luke 11. He talks about the Lord's Prayer and in the book of Acts people. They prayed fervently in the upper room and the Holy Spirit fell on them at Pentecost. You know, this wasn't just a come-by-here-Lord prayer, that was fervent prayer. Fervent prayer that prayed that down. You know, prayer can move the hand of God. In every situation, situations where we think that there's no hope, fervent prayer can move the hand of God. You know it's a vital key that connects us with our Heavenly Father is prayer, and forever. Prayer is crying out to God out of the depths. It's the pouring out of our soul before God meeting Him at His throne.

Speaker 3: 9:28

You know, you know, in Acts 12, 5, through verses 17, really good story the Apostle Peter was in prison, he was awaiting execution. You know, the apostle peter was in prison, he was awaiting execution. You know, harriet had put him in prison and, uh, there wasn't anyone with the power to save him, not, not anything on earth anyway, but the church. You know, the church was praying without ceasing and and the help came out of heaven and these people gave themselves over to fervent prayer. And you know what? God sent his angel who woke Peter from a sleep and he led him out through the first and second couple of wards of this prison and he came to the iron gate and it just opened and Peter was free. Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, people, and he was bound down with two chains, two soldiers and two chains. I mean, you know, herod knew who Peter was. Peter was a prayer and Herod knew this and he bound him down as much as he could. And what happened? The Lord sent his angel, woke Peter up, peter walked out of the prison, the gates were open.

Speaker 3: 10:39

That is what fervent prayer does. You see, friends, fervent prayer. It has divided seas. Now listen to this. Rolled up rivers, made rocks into fountains, quenched flames of fire, muzzled lions, stopped vipers, you know, burst open iron gates, conquered the strongest of devils. Prayer brought one man from the bottom of the sea and carried another into a chariot of fire. To heaven.

Speaker 3: 11:13

Fervent prayer, and on a personal note, people. On a personal note prayer is what got me where I am today in the Lord, got me off of the roads to hell and got me with the Lord. So we see what forever in prayer has done around all of us in the Bible and we see it every day when we pray. What God can do, you know, and we, when we go to God in prayer, we're putting our whole self, all of our attention, all of our minds, all of our will, all of our emotions on what we're praying about. That's what we're supposed to be doing. You know, there are many different levels of our prayer life and God knows where each and every one of us is in our prayer life and he'll honor even the most pitifulest prayers that a person can offer if that's all they know to do.

Speaker 3: 12:12

I was talking to my mom one day on the porch and we were talking about praying and she said I don't know. I don't know how to pray. And I told her. I said you know what. You just talk to the Lord the way, the same way that you are talking to me. That's how you talk to the Lord, you know.

Speaker 3: 12:31

And the best way to progress to a different level of our prayer is to ask God to teach us to pray powerful and effective prayers. You know, to pray fervently is to pray with intensity. You know what I'm saying. Intensity, we have to get intense. We have to get down on our knees and cry out to the Lord. I'm not saying just a little bitty prayer which he listens to, all prayers.

Speaker 3: 12:57

But people, any kind of prayer, can work. Somebody can be immensely thankful, you know, deeply in need or even going through spiritual warfare, which we all do, praying for our families, our lost loved ones and our brothers and sisters in Christ. Even praying for our families, our lost loved ones and our brothers and sisters in Christ, even praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ should be done fervently, because part of the Christian life, my friends, is praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ. And we, as Christians, we should be passionate about the blessings and trials and temptations of our brothers and sisters just as much as we are our own. And fervent prayer is not just about praying loudly, even though that could be a part of it but, friends, the greater impact that we have on the kingdom of God is on our knees, laboring fervently for other people, for the church, for those around us, for our families and our friends.

Speaker 3: 13:58

The Apostle Paul. If you think about him, he was a giant in the kingdom because he was a giant in prayer. We need to examine our prayer lives, people, and follow Paul's fervent, faithful example. You know what I'm saying Maintaining a strong prayer life. It's hard, sometimes it can be a struggle, sometimes it can even bring us to tears. But you know, we need a greater intensity in our prayers. We need to call out to the Lord more. I know my prayers are weak, I can imagine, compared to to Paul and Anna and you know, and some of the other people in the boat. My prayers are weak compared to some of those. But see, the thing about it is is we can't just use our prayers to get things from God. You know God never. He intends on that. We need to use he intended on us to use more of our old self and pray fervently and pray for others and for the kingdom of God, not just for us, for others around us and for the kingdom of God to get further into the kingdom. For the kingdom of God and the word of God to be spread daily to everybody, we need to pray fervently for our friends and our neighbors. Fervent prayer moves things. It makes things happen.

Speaker 3: 15:20

A couple of fervent prayers. First, samuel it was Hannah's story. Hannah's story is told in the Bible. She was a very faithful servant of the Lord. She had a heart to be a faithful servant and she was. She also had a heart to be a mother. It was because of her fervent prayer and God's favor, of course, that Samuel was born. He would go on to become one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament. It is said that his discernment was so accurate in hearing the Lord it was without compare. And 1 Samuel 3 and 19 tells us that Samuel never let any of God's words fall to the ground. See people. 1 Samuel 1, 13 through 15 tells us that Hannah prayed so fervently and she wept and poured out her soul before the Lord that only at one point in time her lips were moving, only her lips were moving. No words could be heard from her, and there was supposedly a high priest who was sitting by a post at the temple and he heard her, or he saw her, and he thought she'd come to temple drunk.

Speaker 3: 16:30

That is the fervent prayer, people, that we need to pour out to the Lord, and we don't need to be afraid to pour out our heart to the Lord, because he's the one who made us, he's the one who created us. He listens to us. He already knows what we want. We just have to ask him. You know, and when we pray, we should do it with all of our hearts and all of our minds and pour ourselves out to God and let his spirit pour back into us. You know that people and God wants us to pray to him, you know he. He said well, there's two or three gathered in his name. He was one in the midst, and that's just. You know, prayer meetings, too, is powerful. Prayer meetings, too, is powerful.

Speaker 3: 17:16

When we come before God in fervent prayer, people, we have to have an open heart to the mighty works that he will do when we ask him to, when we believe, when we believe in what we're praying for, the fruits of fervent prayer can be life-changing. God wants us to pray to him, people. He wants us to pray. When he taught, you know he wants us to pray. When he taught His disciples to pray, he didn't say if you pray, he said when you pray, and when we pray fervently, people's lives can be changed. I mean, look at some of the ones in the Bible recorded in the Word of God. You know, in Acts 8, the Holy Spirit was given. You know, in Acts 9, the dead was raised. All throughout the Word of God. About every other chapter I guess it seems like somebody was healed because of fervent prayer. You know he doesn't now.

Speaker 3: 18:03

God doesn't tell us to be drama queens or drama kings. He simply wants us to focus on God and pour our prayers out to him. You know our heartfelt prayers and fill them with compassion. You know God wants to hear us, people. He wants to hear us asking for things. He wants us to talk to him. You know, the Reverend Billy Graham said one time. He said heaven is filled with answers to prayers that nobody even asked for. God's ready to answer our fervent prayers. All we have to do, people, is ask for it. You know the same God that gave Hannah a child, the same God that closed the mouths of lions for Daniel, the same God that transferred David from a shepherd to a king. He's right here right now, waiting on us to come before him in fervent prayer and ask. All we have to do is ask. Psalms 35 and 15 says the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry. Psalms 34, 17 says the righteous cry and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of their trouble.

Speaker 3: 19:14

Friends, we have to pray reverently when we come before the Lord in prayer. We have to spend time alone with God and pray to God. It was important to Jesus to spend time alone, so why can't it be important to us and we can't pray effectively if we're in a busy spot where there's all kinds of noise? We need to take time, people, and go somewhere, take the time out, get down on our knees or sit down somewhere and put our minds on God and pray Foreverly. Pray for others, pray for your family, pray for your church and your friends. You know, get yourself along with God and you know when Jesus wanted to get along with his Father and pray, he went to the mountains or a garden. You know. Find a quiet place from all the distractions and seek forgiveness. First, forgive those who've wronged you.

Speaker 3: 20:00

When you get down to pray for the Lord and then speak to God out of your heart, let your presence be known to God at his throne. He's already there. He's just waiting for your heart to come into tune with his and pour out your heart to the one who loves you the most. Pour out your heart in fervent prayer. You know he'll listen. Trust me he will listen. You know, when Jesus sought to reach the world, he raised up the apostles to be committed to prayer and people.

Speaker 3: 20:33

My brothers and sisters, today I'm telling you, in order to see a mighty move of God, we have to be in fervent prayer. We have to become people of prayer, Not people of talent, not people of wealth, not influence. We have to be people of prayer. God is seeking those people. You know he wants us to be people of prayer. God is seeking those people. You know he wants us to be willing prayer warriors to come before him in prayer. You know, people, he's opened the door to the throne room and he's invited all of his children to enter his presence with their petitions Hebrews 4 and 16. You know, and when we need to go to prayer for God, we need to go to prayer before the Lord for all of us, our burdens, our needs, but we also need to go for our friends and our families, our church.

Speaker 3: 21:22

Right now, here around us, there's so many people who are facing life-threatening illnesses. You know they're lost in sin. They're wayward people, homeless. We, you know they're, they're threat, they're, they're lost in sin. They're wayward people, homeless. We should be touching heaven for these people. They're struggling with problems and needs and burdens people. We should be touching heaven fervently for these people, you know it. Open up your eyes and your heart and listen right now and talk to the lord. You know, get a hold of the lord for these people, for everybody around us.

Speaker 3: 21:52

The only way to go to get a hold of the lord for these people, for everybody around us, the only way to go to get a hold of the lord is to go to god in reverent prayer. Seek god, you know. Seek god right now, while we can. You know, trust me, people, when god's children pray, things happen. When god's children pray, foreverly, heaven moves, things happen. And we need to do this. Something happens when we pray. So let's all pray. Let's all pray to the Lord fervently and see, see what happens, because it will happen. Cast aside all of our doubts and approach the throne with grace, you know. With grace, you know. Let's move ourselves and devote ourselves to more prayer Through more fervent prayer To the Lord.

Speaker 3: 22:37

You know, and that's what I'm asking you today, I'm telling you today, people, we need to get a hold of the Lord, not just for ourselves, not just for ourselves, but for others. You know, and I'm telling you, people, if you can't think of nothing else to pray fervently for, pray for me and my family. We can all use it, trust me. I'm telling you, jesus Christ gave us the best example of fervent prayer ever With his longest recording prayer in John 17. And people need to read this. You need to read this and, like I said, if you can't think of nothing else to pray for, say a little prayer for me. I would deeply need it.

Speaker 3: 23:22

My friends, I hope and pray today that this has got into your heart and your minds. You know about forever prayer. All we got to do is go before the Lord in forever prayer. You know, I hope this has blessed you as much as it's blessed me to bring it to you. I kind of ran off on myself. I got more, but that's okay, I'll go into it again.

Speaker 3: 23:45

People, let's pray for one another. Let's pray for each other. Let's pray for our church, our family, our friends around us, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let's pray for each other. Let's pray for our church, our family, our friends around us, our brothers and sisters in Christ. Let's pour out ourselves to God in fervent prayer, and I hope this has blessed you as much as it's blessed me to bring it to you. I thank you so much for listening. I hope and pray this reaches people's hearts that need to hear it, the ears that need to hear it, the heart that needs to feel it. My friends, thank you for listening today. God bless everybody and I'm going to end with a prayer.

Speaker 3: 24:15

Our Father, god in heaven, I ask you to bless these people that's hearing my words today, that's hearing your words today. I ask you to let these people understand and feel what they need to do, lord, to get down on their knees or sit somewhere, lord, and go to you in fervent prayer and just pray and give their hearts over to the prayer, lord, and give their minds over to you and pray with passion, passion for things, for their brothers and sisters, for their church, for people around us, for the sinners, for the people, the things that's coming. We need to just pray and ask you to put it on people's hearts, lord, what they need to pray. Lord, we thank you for this day, we thank you for each and every blessing and I ask you to bless each and everybody in the sound of my voice that's listening to this today. Bless them and lead them and guide each and everybody. We thank you, lord, for everything, and we ask you these and all things in Jesus' holy name. Amen and amen. God bless everybody.

Speaker 2: 25:07

Hey you've been listening to Bible Talk with Sister Deb. If you'd like to contact Sister Deb, you can email her at email at osberndebrak at gmailcom, recorded at the 421 studio. For contact information, you can email at H-O-R-421ministries at gmailcom. Phone number is 239-849-1502.

Speaker 1: 25:47

I woke up this morning with my mind Staying on G.