Yesterday we prayed.
I guess I could stop there because what i experienced defies description. Over and above the strength of your own prayer life, there is nothing like being part of a group that prays together and knows its onions. There is an exponential increase in the power released. I have always felt and often said that one major challenge before the church is the inadequate level of praying and the shortage of men and women of prayer. Thus it allows the devil to have a field day and he meets precious little resistance as he wreaks havoc. At the same time, Father God is seeking wombs to birth His purposes in the earth.
My meeting ended late, so i was twenty odd meetings late to prayer. I slipped in quietly, and as is not customary, sat praying silently and listening to what was transpiring. Oh it was good. They were praying; barely twenty minutes had passed since they started and they were already deep in prayer for the most part. God the Holy Spirit, conductor par excellence was guiding it all. I gradually joined in; we had some tongues and interpretation that set the tone and the direction for the time of prayer. One of the sweet, sweet things about prayer is when God takes the trouble to say ‘ listen, this is what i want to do, now ask me for it and call it into existence’. Awesome. Bible in hand, we went for it, prophetic exhortation came forth, declarations, prophetic statements, supplication, the works!
The presence of God, freedom, ease, flow.. Happy, I was happy, more than happy to listen, to see these ones pray. The change, the transformation, the road travelled, the progress made in so short a time bear the marks of the Holy Spirit, the Master, the One who is able to do all things. He will take the willing and fashion them. He will take those who dared not open their mouths in the past and turn them into intercessors. He will take those still fresh in the faith and turn them into giants. Why? They are willing, they are available, they are obedient to Him.
It’s for this and other reasons that we cannot despise anyone. For all can place themselves in the hands of the Master. Some of course will say yes and others not, but everyone has a choice. Those who do say yes will find that it will be more than worth their while. It’s for this and other reasons that one should not try to excuse mediocrity since God is no respecter of persons? This noble call to prayer requires no special degree, no extraordinary qualification, merely the heart of a servant, submission, humility and good faith. And because He is no respecter of persons, new believers learn to pray deeply and will go on for three hours where long term Christians are hard put to last more than thirty minutes.
Praying according to the heart of God means choosing to go beyond personal needs, choosing to see and make mine the desires of God for my generation, it means committing to pray to birth those desires. Those who will so do become partners with God and are themselves fulfilled in their own lives. Yet my watchword is this : ‘If God never does anything more for me, He has already done more than enough’. Thus my commitment to Him is in no way predicated on the meeting of any particular personal need. Quite the contrary, given what He has already done, His credit with me is inexhaustible. He can keep drawing off it for life, He can ask me anything, I will do anything for Him. I owe Him, for ever; and that, is the way it should be.
Friends, let us pray!