I’m a strong advocate of passion in prayer. I believe that the wings that carry prayers to the nostrils of the father are like the flames of incense on the altar. Fire causes our requests to rise. But fervency alone is not sufficient to enjoy the depths of all the Father has provided….

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Now, there’s an old adage that insists that practice makes perfect. Now, I probably, quite honestly, think that perfection may be a little bit out of my league, but practice certainly does make proficient and it also opens the door for a freedom that nothing else can. You know, I’m a strong advocate of passion in prayer. I believe that the wings that carry prayers to the nostrils of our father are like flames of incense on the altar. Fire causes our request to rise.

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But fervency alone, you know, is not sufficient to really enjoy the depths of all the fathers provided for us. You know, it’s not it’s not all just about how energetic we can be. And I do believe in energetic prayer, as you probably gathered, but there’s more to it than that. You know, a pianist or a violinist has to kind of go through the painful scales and bypass some very choppy renditions of chopsticks before they saw onto the sonatas and the symphonies that kind of just transport their soul.

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And those hard hours of practice break the back of the resistance and the ignorance and free them to really relish and unlock the music of their heart. And and it just it fascinates me that people understand that in the natural many people kind of study and practice for years and decades to master certain skills. And yet when it comes to the things of the spirit, they think it should be different. You know, that, you know, they should just be able to kind of sit down and and God will drop something on them.

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But, you know, really, that’s not the way it works, any skill, whether it be natural or whether it be spiritual, it’s something that is honed, something that’s practiced, something that’s built, something that’s developed. Strength in prayer comes through doing your reps. You know, access has been freely given. It’s not like we have to earn something, but we actually have to sit down and play long enough to get past the equivalent of playing kindergarten chopsticks in the spirit, you know, at times it’s very tempting to spiritualised over spiritual eyes, spiritual activities, and then falsely convince ourselves that there’s some mystery as to their attainment.

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Sometimes it can be an excuse for not engaging more actively and deeply in spiritual things. But there’s no mystery. You know, the discovery of prayer is in the doing do prayer and you’ll discover the secrets of praying. Well, don’t do prayer. And, you know, many of the that that in a song that God has placed within you will probably remain unplayed. So how do we practice, you know, if we need to practice this and need to develop and strengthen the skill of prayer, how do we do so?

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Well, the same way that one would practice my skills. I’ve just written down a few here and there. I’m sure there are more, but certainly learn from others. I mean, for myself, I have spent many hours reading and listening to others who have spoken about about prayer and also just listening to others pray. I think that that’s probably one of the ways in which I learnt to pray more than any others. You know, I even went so far in my Bible school when I was actually studying.

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I was in charge of it was cassette tapes in those at that time. It was a few years ago. I was in charge of recording the sessions that the teaching sessions. But I would throw a cassette tape in during the pre school prayer meetings so I could then listen back to my leaders and teachers and peers and find out how they prayed. And, you know, this untamed, unedited language of the hard pouring out in prayer left lasting impressions on myself and my own spiritual expression.

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And it’s been said that, you know, prayer is more caught than taught, and I would certainly agree with that. And, you know, in that, though, again, we could kind of think, well, I’ve got no one to catch it from. But I can promise you there is one person that you can catch it from. And he is praying all the time, every day, and he’s praying in the Heavenly Tabernacle.

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He is the high priest interceding on behalf of all the Saints. Jesus is there waiting for your presence and for your company. Lean hard into him. You know, no place is more alive with the spirit of prayer than the secret place where you close the door on the world and lean your heart into God. A second second key to developing skill, as we know, is repetition. You know, repetition is the mother of skill. All those hours that the keys are honing your business acumen, you know, didn’t they didn’t happen by accident.

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Whatever your expertise in the natural may be, the same disciplines apply in the spiritual. Now, for me, a set time and a set place has been really a master key to mastery in the things of prayer. And I’m not really lifting myself up as someone who’s mastered this, but I’m certainly an avid student, you know, no excuses, no shirking, just working your spiritual muscles until the lifting becomes easier. You know, I find it so amusing how people so readily apply themselves in natural things, making sacrifices wherever and have whatever is necessary to accomplish their goals.

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But when it comes to spiritual disciplines, they sit around waiting for some lightning bolt to move them into action. Don’t wait for a lightning bolt. Set your alarm, shut your door and pray. Set, shot, pray, repeat, sit shut, pray, repeat and keep doing it. And then of course, my third key and this may be a little bit different. Certainly the first part of this never give up. Yeah, but the second part is keep it spicy.

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Keep it spicy. Man or woman of God in a big killer of powerful, satisfying prayer is boredom. We stumble through the same vein circles so many times that our soul completely loses interest in our enthusiasm wanes. That’s why you’ve got to engage yourself emotionally in your praying. Now, I’m not going to push this on anyone, but this is a simple key that will keep prayer well and truly spicy. And it’s just simply turn up the volume, you know, get your diaphragm involved, find some way you can lift your voice in ways that are completely socially unacceptable and let yourself rip.

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And aggressive prayer of this kind is sometimes necessary just to blow the pipes clean and get the gusher running again. Again, just let that in life and in a raw come out, you know, and if you don’t believe me, go give it a try. Shout out your requests, woop and holler your praises. Make yourself nervous with how excited you get and how excited you sound. You know, if nothing else, you’ll at least make yourself laugh no matter how noisy and childlike you’re acting.

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And believe it or not, being noisy and childlike is a great place to pray from. Well, thanks for listening. Hopefully it’s been an encouragement to you today. If you want to connect any further, you can do so through my website at Davidleemartin.com. Have a great day.