David Lee Martin

Corrie Ten Boom asked:

“Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire?”

Great question!

I often wonder why people relegate prayer to a last resort rather than a first response.

If this promise is true, “And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” (Matthew 21:22 KJV), why in the world would you not make learning to pray your number one priority?

And yes, you learn to pray.

The disciples understood this when they asked Jesus, “Lord, teach us to pray.” (Luke 11:1)

Have you asked Him the same question?

Camel kneed saints

There are principles. Rules of engagement.

Eusebius, a 4th-century historian, recounts a tale from Hegesippus' lost 2nd-century works concerning James, the Lord’s brother and author of the New Testament epistle that bears his name.

He writes, “his knees became hard like those of a camel”.

Here was a man truly dedicated to prayer. A camel-kneed saint of the highest order.

I vouch that we need more camel-kneed believers today.

Two essentials

In his epistle, James couples two essentials in his prayer directive.

First, prayer must be effective – it must be exercised according to truth or it will flounder.

And it must be fervent. Heartfelt and fiery in nature. Not passive and weak (for the record, that doesn’t always mean loud but sometimes it does!).

“The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.”(James 5:16 NKJV)

Bible based petitions coupled with heart felt passion = power!

Instead of approaching the subject of prayer from the perspective of “where does prayer fit in my life” I decided to build from a different premise, “how do I fit my life around prayer”.

I’m glad I did.

Jesus is Lord, not servant.

Start with prayer, and build out from there!

In this frantic world, there’s a place of rest for your soul.

An oasis of security.

Peace.

“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” (Hebrews 4:9 KJV)

It’s not a geography or even a state of being.

It’s not a long-gone yesterday when things were ‘so much simpler’.

Or a dreamed-of tomorrow when your troubles are gone.

It’s today.

“To day if ye will hear his voice…” (Hebrews 4:7 KJV)

When you hear God speak to your heart, the picture changes. Your boat pulls into the harbour, far from the stormy emotional seas.

In Him, your strivings cease.

“For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.” (Hebrews 4:10 KJV)

And it all begins with hearing His voice, today. The place of prayer is the place of hearing.

God once asked me, “Do you want the run of religion or the rest of faith?”

I’ve made my choice.

How about you?

“Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:18 AMP)

There’s never not a good time to pray.

Every occasion is a prayer occasion.

Every season is a prayer season.

And the beauty?

Every occasion has something to give.

Every season has some new wonder to open to our understanding.

If

If, and there is an if…

we follow the directions.

Pray at all times IN THE SPIRIT.

Just saying or playing at praying is not praying according to the directions.

Our prayers must be infused with the holy power and presence of the One who answers them.

Heaven below agrees with Heaven above when we pray in the Spirit.

Heartfelt

Another way to put this is found in the book of James:

“The earnest (heartfelt, continued) prayer of a righteous man makes tremendous power available [dynamic in its working].” (James 5:16 AMP)

Prayer must be of the heart, flowing from the inner man.

That is where the connection is.

Deep to deep, a gushing spring of wonder.

“[Roaring] deep calls to [roaring] deep at the thunder of Your waterspouts; all Your breakers and Your rolling waves have gone over me.” (Psalm 42:7 AMP)

Picture that. True prayer is exhilarating.

Our invitation to behold God working on our behalf is awe-inspiring.

God is magnificent.

He is the over-the-top El Shaddai more-than-enough God who lavishes Himself upon His creation.

Especially His loved ones.

The Travesty of Religion

The travesty of religion is that it obsesses over what you should and ought to do.

You should pray.

You ought to read the Bible.

A roll call of reasons to be miserably dutiful in your pursuit of human perfection. Scrubbing up the old sinful nature so it looks sparkly on Sunday morning and measures up to some man-made rule.

In truth, and hallelujah for the privilege…

We GET to pray!

We GET to dive into the Bible and eat its truths like a hungry horse!

That old nature is dead, pinned to the cross together with Christ. The old has gone, the new has come, and we now live according to a different rule – the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.

This is the Spirit that works behind the doors of prayer. Not duty or dry habit.

An ever-flowing spring of life showering the soul with fresh revelation. Deep wells of grace soaking the spirit.

Prayer is the oasis, the feast, the fast lane to fulness, the fearfully, wonderfully, wild world of God with wide open doors beckoning you forward.

Today, you do not have to pray. You GET to pray.

Wow! How amazing is that?

A perpetual invitation from the King. Hallelujah!

Kick off your shoes, and let’s get real.

I have two passions.

Christ and creativity.

In that order.

Jesus first, everything else follows.

Speaking on prayer recently at a Bible school the Holy Ghost told me, “prayer is the place of entrance to the heart of God.”

Prayer is the threshold of knowing, not just knowing about. It is the great frontier, largely unexplored by saints too busy to stop the bus. Too much to do, places to go, people to see.

All the while, the great adventure awaits. To know God and to be known by Him.

We have history

I’ll never forget a conversation I had in my garage one day. For a season my garage was my prayer closet. The place I kept my engine tuned.

I was dry as old bones and with nothing to say I apologised.

“Sorry, Lord, I’ve nothing in the tank.”

“It’s ok, we’ve got history,” He replied.

And my heart fell head over heels into comfortable, close familiarity.

He knows me. I don’t need to speak.

We have history.

Our hearts have entwined over the years like lovers married.

We can be in one another’s presence without the compulsion to fill the space.

Simply together is sometimes enough.

This Grand Romance

Have you fallen in love yet with the one who calls you to the closet?

The invitation to come aside from the busyness remains:

“And He said to them, “Come aside by yourselves to a solitary place and rest a while.”” (Mark 6:31)

Do it often, and build a history of intimacy.

Prayer is the place of entrance to the heart of God.