Their Wrong, My Problem: Praying Through Other People's Chaos

Their Wrong, My Chaos: Praying Through Other People's Chaos takes us deep into Jonah 1, where one man’s disobedience creates a storm that threatens everyone around him. Jonah ran from God, but the sailors—innocent men caught in his rebellion—found themselves in the middle of his chaos. Life often works the same way: other people’s wrong choices can bring storms into our own lives, leaving us to wrestle with fear, confusion, and loss.

But there’s a truth tucked into Jonah’s story—storms reveal the power of intercession. While Jonah ran, the sailors cried out to God, and their prayers did not go unheard. This episode explores how to recognize when you’re in someone else’s storm, how to respond without being pulled under, and how prayer becomes the anchor in chaos that isn’t your fault.

If you’ve ever faced fallout from another person’s mistakes—family struggles, workplace drama, broken trust—this episode reminds you that God still hears, still moves, and still answers. Through intercession, you can invite His peace into the storm, shift outcomes, and find rest while the waves rage.

#TheirWrongMyChaos #PressToPray #PrayerPodcast #Jonah1 #Intercession #PowerOfPrayer #FaithPodcast #PressMovementPodcast

Transcript

Has God ever made you to know that you are going to be what He called you to be? Even if you think you're going to fight about it, even if you think you're going to push back and not follow this path in this way—He has a course for you. That is Jonah.
 
 Press means supply force. When God said press—prayer reaches every single situation—He gave us permission to apply force to every situation that we will go through. And in this podcast, we are going to learn to apply force to what's applying pressure to us.
 
 As we get to the book of Jonah, welcome to the Press Movement Podcast. Jonah is probably one of my favorite books to study because I always find something more in it. Even though it's only four chapters, there is so much to unpack here because Jonah is like some people that I've met.
 
 There are some who are afraid that God is not going to do what He said. They have trouble just believing, just trusting. That's not Jonah's case. Jonah is more afraid that God is going to do what He said, and that is why in the book of Jonah we find this man running from God.
 
 So Jonah chapter 1 opens letting you know that Jonah is the son of a man named Amittai. Now Jonah's name means dove, which is interesting to me because a dove can symbolize the Holy Ghost in the book of John. It can be a sign of peace, but it is also a sign of restoration or new beginnings as we see in Genesis with Noah. And his dad's name is Amittai, which means truth. Really, Jonah is born to be restoration, and he's of truth. His whole life was to be about the restoration of truth—as a prophet, as the one the Lord called, he is to be part of this process of restoration of truth.
 
 And yet that's exactly what he's running from, because God tells him to go to Nineveh and cry against it, because it's so wicked that God is hearing about it, God is seeing it, and He wants Jonah to go tell them, repent. But Jonah runs from the presence of the Lord. Literally, when the Lord says this to him, instead of going to Nineveh, he goes down to Joppa and hops on a ship to Tarshish, trying to go in the opposite direction.
 
 And when he does this, it's not because he's afraid. You find out later it's because he believes God will let these people repent, and he doesn't like them. He doesn't want them to be restored. Jonah does not sound like the nicest, most loving person, because his fear is not that God won’t forgive—it’s that God will.
 
 So anyway, when he hops on the ship and heads to Tarshish, the Lord sends a great wind into the sea and there's a mighty tempest, so strong the ship feels like it could break. The other people on the ship—the mariners—they're afraid, and the Bible says in Jonah 1:5 that every man cried unto his god. Now that word “god” is a generic word, Elohim. It's not the name of the Lord Jehovah. They're calling out to gods with a little “g.” So they're all doing what they know to do—praying to their gods and throwing stuff overboard to lighten the ship.
 
 But Jonah had gone down inside the ship, and he was asleep. The cause of all this turmoil is actually knocked out, not helping, chilling as God is about to judge this whole ship. The shipmaster comes to him because obviously that would stand out, right? If everybody else is panicking, throwing stuff overboard, crying out to their god, and you’re asleep? So the shipmaster comes to him and says, “What meanest thou, O sleeper? Arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not.”
 
 He woke Jonah up to pray. Mind you, Jonah is running from God. Jonah is willing to sleep through the judgment of God, and it's taking somebody on the outside, who's being touched by his turmoil, to wake him up and say, “Pray!” And you don’t even see where Jonah prays in this chapter.
 
 So they decide, “Look, we're going to cast lots and find out whose fault this is, because obviously God is angry with us.” So they cast lots—almost like spinning a wheel of fate—and it comes down to Jonah. They say, “Okay Jonah, this is your fault. Tell us—how did you cause this evil to come upon us? What is your occupation? What is your job? Where are you from? What country? Who are your people?”
 
 He answers: “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.” It’s interesting he says he fears God, because the word used here means to morally revere, to be afraid. But Jonah doesn’t seem that afraid. He’s running from God, sleeping through judgment, and yet he still says, “I fear Him.”
 
 It is interesting that you can know of God, know what God can do, and still choose to be disobedient. God allows that choice. You can know that He is God, still decide not to follow Him, and still believe He deserves respect. But that is probably the quickest way to judgment: to know who He is, and still choose the complete opposite. Jonah isn’t surprised God is reacting.
 
 So Jonah tells them who he is, that he fears Jehovah, the God who made the sea and land. The men become even more afraid and ask, “Why have you done this?” For they knew he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord because he told them. They ask, “What shall we do to calm the sea?” Jonah says, “Take me up and cast me into the sea, so the sea will be calm for you, for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you.”
 
 This is wild to me. Jonah is running from God, asleep during judgment that’s impacting everybody else, and now he puts the pressure on them to kill him! Instead of saying, “I repent, Lord” or “I’ll obey,” he says, “Throw me overboard.” Jonah doesn’t plan to survive. He doesn’t know about the fish. He just wants to escape obedience, even if it means death. That’s how stubborn Jonah is. He’d rather die than obey.
 
 But the men don’t want to kill him. They row hard, trying to fight the storm, but they can’t fight what God sent. This storm followed Jonah into the ship. Evangelist Pam Maddox once preached a message called *Throw Jonah Overboard*, and it was life-changing. She said sometimes we hold onto the “Jonahs” in our lives—family, community, loved ones—because we don’t want to see them fall into the hands of God. But sometimes you have to. Holding onto Jonah means fighting storms that don’t belong to you. And Jonah’s disobedience can cost everyone. Sometimes you have to let go and let God deal with them.
 
 Finally, in verse 14, the mariners cry to the Lord—not to their gods, but to Jehovah: “We beseech thee, O Lord, let us not perish for this man’s life, and lay not upon us innocent blood, for thou, O Lord, hast done as it pleased thee.” What a prayer! “God, don’t let us die for his sin. Don’t judge us for throwing him into Your hands.”
 
 They take Jonah and cast him into the sea, and immediately the sea ceases from its raging. The men fear the Lord exceedingly, and they offer a sacrifice and make vows. Notice this: the false gods they prayed to in verse 5 only get one verse, but Jehovah gets their worship. Even in Jonah’s disobedience, God is glorified. Jonah runs, but God still uses it to introduce Himself to others.
 
 This teaches us: God knows how to get glory even out of our wrongs. That doesn’t make the wrong right, but it does mean God can use it. The quicker we stop interfering with God’s consequences, the quicker Jonah can get to the real conversation with God he’s been running from. And that’s what happens in chapter 2, where Jonah finally prays.
 
 And that’s where we’ll pick up next week as we continue learning that prayer reaches every single situation. Join the movement. Join the community. Like, share, and subscribe to this podcast. Visit us at presstopray.com, or find us on Instagram or Facebook.
 
 Did you know that when you are quiet, your voice is missing to God’s ears? Some of us have wondered, “How long should I pray? Why should I pray if God already knows? What do I do when it feels like God isn’t listening?” But God is listening—for your voice. It’s too quiet in this world for the troubles we have. You have to raise your voice, and God wants to hear from you. *It’s Too Quiet*, a book about prayer, is designed to answer your prayer questions and build your faith. Visit presstopray.com.