Praying Isn’t Easy

Prayer. It’s supposed to be as natural as breathing for the Christian. Or is it?

The makings of an intercessor are birthed from labor pains of love, not only for those we pray for, but for the only One who is able to know what is best for the object of your prayers…and the only One who can really do anything about it.

It’s a labor of love, but it is labor, nonetheless.

Oswald Chamber says, “Prayer is the greater work!”

It is getting ahold of God’s heart for the one you are praying for.

It is sitting at His feet long enough to hear His heart.

It is crying out like crazy in desperation for Him to intercede in the life of another.

It is a surrender of what you want to see happen in the life of someone else in sweet abandonment to the One who knows what needs to happen in their life.

It is coming to the end of your own will for another or for a situation and throwing up the white flag with the words, “Thy will be done.”

It is yearning, longing, anguishing and aching to see God move on behalf of another and willing to fling yourself at His feet until He does.

It is trusting that He answers prayer, even when you don’t see any answers coming.

It is giving all you have in prayer for all God wills to do in the life of another or in a specific circumstance.

None of that sounds easy, does it?

And yet it is expected…

It is WHEN YOU PRAY, not IF YOU PRAY

“But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door,pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” Matthew 6:6

It is when you pray according to God’s will that you know He hears you and will answer the cry of your heart…

“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.” 1 John 5:14-15

Communing with God may come more easily. He dwells within us and communication is natural in that relationship. It’s not only natural, it’s a beautiful honor.

But sincere intercession is work. It’s the thing soldiers are made of…Men and Women who are willing to take the front lines of the battlefield on their knees. It is you and me doing everything we can to seek God’s face that His Kingdom will come on this earth…in the souls of others…in the circumstances we are praying for. His Kingdom come…His will be done.

Because prayer is not easy. It’s a willingness to be poured out on the altar of prayer for the sake of another.

Are you really willing to pray?

One Comment

  1. Amen, Stephie! Amen! Beautiful, indeed. Thank you!

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