POTENT PRAYING

The fastest way to the throne of grace is to pray in such a way as to throw your whole heart and soul into it. You should be straining every muscle—just like Jacob did when he wrestled with the angel. This type of praying is usually generated when we find that our relationships have come against us with hatred. Prayer is the surest and safest method in response to words of hatred.

King David had this experience in praying this way when lying tongues were making accusations against his reputation. He chose not to defend himself but rather take his issue to “The Supreme Court” and plead his case before his KING. “Be not silent, O God of my praise! For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They have also surrounded me with words of hatred, and fought against me without cause. In return for my love they are my accusers, but I give myself to prayer. Thus they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.” (Psalm 109:1-5)
The Psalmist didn’t pray with hatred or in a cold-hearted manner, but honestly and fervently. This is the kind of prayer that makes the gates of heaven fly open (see James 5:16). If you pray from your flesh and not from the earnest agony that resides in the deepest recesses of your soul it will be utterly ineffectual. Take for instance a shadow. It has no power because there is no substance to it. If you pray in the flesh it’s like a shadow, it lacks the substance which would give it potency.
The common mistake with most of us in our prayer life is the inclination to yield to distractions. Our thoughts go roaming around to-and-fro, and we make very little progress towards our desired end of having our prayers make a difference. Like butter against heat our mind will not hold together, but melts away going here-and-there. This is a tool of evil that Satan uses against us. This mindlessness meandering prayer is an evil that injures us and then, to make matters worse, it insults our heavenly Father. No one likes to be speaking to someone while that person is playing around on their cell phone.
The implied intention in Psalm 109 is of persistence and determination. David didn’t cry out to God just once and then become silent. No! David continued his holy outcry until it moved heaven. Dear Christ-follower, prayer is not intended to be part-time work. It is a full-time business. It is to be your routine and vocation. Just as, doctors give themselves to the human anatomy, and engineers to their calculations, so you must devote yourself to prayer. You must immerse yourself in prayer for it is your wheelhouse and do so without ceasing. Dear Lord, teach me to pray in a way that I may be more and more established in my pleas to you.

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