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Learning to lean your heart into God is a sensitive skill worth developing. It is one of the intimate strings on the prayer bow, and requires quietening the soul in God’s presence.

The Hebrew word most commonly translated as wait (wait upon the Lord) is qavah, which also means to tie together by twisting, or entwine, or wrap tightly.

Like a plant leaning toward the sun our heart leans toward the presence of God and we entwine our affections to His purposes.

All of this happens in the prayer closet. Hours of unseen intimacy, relinquishing our attachment to the world.

Can this be taught? Yes, indeed it can. Let me introduce you to your teacher.

His name is “time”.

Only time allows the sediment of the world to sink to the bottom of the jar so vision becomes clear. All the fears and folly flush away the longer we wait. The tighter you wrap yourself around your Father’s words, the looser the grip the world will have on you.

This is where the mysteries of Isaiah come alive:

“Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, does not faint or grow weary; there is no searching of His understanding. He gives power to the faint and weary, and to him who has no might He increases strength [causing it to multiply and making it to abound]. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and [selected] young men shall feebly stumble and fall exhausted; But those who wait for the Lord [who expect, look for, and hope in Him] shall change and renew their strength and power; they shall lift their wings and mount up [close to God] as eagles [mount up to the sun]; they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint or become tired.” (Isaiah 40:28–31 AMPLIFIED)

“WAIT and listen, everyone who is thirsty! Come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Yes, come, buy [priceless, spiritual] wine and milk without money and without price [simply for the self-surrender that accepts the blessing].” (Isaiah 55:1 AMPLIFIED)

“For from of old no one has heard nor perceived by the ear, nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who works and shows Himself active on behalf of him who [earnestly] waits for Him.” (Isaiah 64:4 AMPLIFIED)

Actively reach your inner person toward heaven. Become aware that the real you is not incarcerated in the body you are clothed with. The spirit reaches beyond the bounds of this realm and touches eternal things.

The most striking emotion I can liken this to is the same one that Isaiah spoke of when he said, “WAIT and listen, everyone who is thirsty!”

It begins as a spiritual thirst that cannot be satisfied by earthly activity. This thirst drives the desperate to their closet, and develops a dedication that refuses to be refused.

It is often a wordless prayer far more powerful than any expression of the lips that rises within us and reaches heaven. An inward yearning that craves nothing less than the presence of the One who made us.

“…but the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26 KJV)

The sweet pain of separation draws us to leave our comforts and worldly pursuits and step outside ourselves to drink deep of something no words can explain, and no money can buy.

This, friend, is just one of the endless pleasures of prayer.

The old adage insists, “practice makes perfect”.

Perfection may be a little out of league, but proactive certainly makes proficient. It also opens up a freedom that nothing else can.

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.

A pianist or a violinist has to traverse the painful scales and bypass a very choppy rendition of chopsticks before they soar on to sonatas and symphonies. The hard hours of practice break the back of resistance and ignorance and free the musician to relish the unlocked music of their heart.

Why would anyone think that the secret depths and songs of the spirit would be any different? Access has been freely given but so few sit down to play long enough too get past the equivalent of kindergarten chopsticks.

At times it is tempting to so spiritualise spiritual activities that we falsely convince ourselves that there is some mystery to their attainment. There is no mystery, dear friend, the discovery is in the doing.

Do prayer, and you will discover the secrets of praying well.

Don’t do prayer and your life song will remain unplayed.

So how do we practice?

The same way one would practice most skills.

1. Learn from others

I spent many hours reading and listening to others pray. I even went so far as to record fire-infused prayer meetings and preferred to listen to those playback than even the sermons. Hearing the untamed and unedited language of the heart pouring from my leaders left lasting impressions on my own spiritual expressions.

It is said that prayer is often more caught than taught, and I would agree. And if you don’t presently have someone to infect your passionate pursuit of God, lean hard into the Master Himself. No place is more alive than the secret place.

2. Repeat

Repetition is the mother of skill. All those hours at the keys, or honing your business acumen, did not happen by accident. Whatever your expertise in the natural the same disciplines apply in the spiritual.

For me, set time set place has been a master key to mastery. No excuses, no shirking, just working your spiritual muscles until the lifting becomes a breeze.

I find it amusing how people so readily apply themselves to natural things, sacrificing whatever is necessary to accomplish their goals, but when it comes to spiritual disciplines they sit around waiting for a lightning bolt to move them to action.

Don’t wait for the lightning, set your alarm, shut you door and pray. Set. Shut. Pray. Repeat.

3. Never Give Up and Keep It Spicy

A big killer of powerful, satisfying prayer, is boredom. We stumble through the same vain circles so many times that our soul loses interest and our enthusiasm wanes. This is why you must engage yourself emotionally in your praying. I won’t push this on anyone, but one simple key to keep prayer spicy and live is to turn up the volume. Get your diaphragm involved! Find somewhere you can lift your voice in ways that are socially unacceptable and let her rip!

Aggressive prayer of this kind blows the pipes clean and gets the gusher running like little else can.

Don’t believe me, go give a try. Shout out your requests. Whoop and holler your praises. Make yourself nervous with how excited you sound. If nothing else, you’ll make yourself laugh at how noisy and childlike you are acting.

And believe it or not, noisy and childlike is a great place to pray from!

The interweaving of praise and prayer is a marvellous thing.

In the hiding place of prayer, a symphony is playing, harmonising with heaven’s choirs.

“Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah.” (Psalm 32:7 KJV)

The language of prayer does not reside in the realms of time. We thank God for answers before we even embark upon the asking. We call things that are not yet, as though they are our present possession.

We watch for the solutions before the first supplication spills from our lips.

Thanksgiving is so integral to the process and practice of prayer that the two are irreversibly mixed.

“Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” (Philippians 4:6 KJV)

“Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;” (Colossians 4:2 KJV)

How powerful this faith reality we have been invited to enjoy – experiencing the substance of thing before we even see it.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1 KJV)

I am overwhelmed even to write these words and my heart stings with regret for all that I have not yet been thankful for. So familiar are my blessings I pass them by almost every moment of the day.

How much will the Father give? As much as we will believe Him for!

He places no boundary on our asking. In “every thing” let your requests be known.

And in the asking we speed the requests to His hand on the brisk wings of thankful song. New songs and old billow from a soul filled with gratitude.

Some of my favourite verses on prayer in the whole of Scripture speak of this delightful duet:

“What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.” (1 Corinthians 14:15 KJV)

Praying and singing. Praying and singing.

Asking and thanking.

Asking and thanking.

How much can you thank God for that you already hold in your hand? Retrospective gratitude is powerful indeed. But how much more can we embrace as we learn to thank El Shaddai, the God of more-than-enough, for all that’s yet to come?

Your prayers and your songs lift you to a place where past, present, and future bleed into one. Encompassed in eternity your requests and thanksgiving take fast hold of future realities.

“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isaiah 57:15 KJV)

God’s habitation does not live by the natural rules we are accustomed to. He steps outside of time and space and invites us to do the same. This time-busting, realm-leaping, eternity-dwelling practice is called prayer!

Now that is something worth singing about!

Great outpourings of power begin with great outpourings of prayer.

The rains of revival in the House of God always begin with the houses of God pouring out their hearts. Just in case you didn’t catch the meaning, you are the house of God!

“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19 KJV)

“In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.” (Ephesians 2:22 KJV)

Prayer is the primary means through which Papa promotes His purposes on earth. He has designated that devotion to prayer is the platform upon which His actions will stand. Not the strength of men, or the genius of women. Not the perfections of natural talent or skill.

The heights are reached by humbling.

Ladders may exist and many are eagerly climbing them, even in church circles, but the way to the top is not through prideful accomplishment. It is upon our knees that the real accomplishments are secured.

Jesus, our forerunner and example, accomplished the greatest victory in all of history.

“…his decease which he should accomplish at Jerusalem.” (Luke 9:31 KJV)

The highest, most noble purpose ever undertaken was accomplished through death.

Prayer is a death to self. It is a declaration of utter dependence. Every time we come to the closet we are admitting our weakness and embracing His strength. Through the fervent exercise of prayer, we die to our own abilities and accept the reality that “without Him, we can do nothing”.

“I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” (John 15:5 KJV)

And from this joyous place of humility all things become possible. Because with Him we can do all things.

“For with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:37 KJV)

Maybe it’s just me (although I suspect not) but I want to experience so much more of what God can do, and if that requires that I trust less in my own ability and intelligence, so be it.

The liberty that results from a life thrown on the rock is indescribable.

What we need is far greater than any man or movement can provide. The darkness that envelops humanity cannot be extinguished with the flickering candles of limited human effort – we need the blazing flame of the All-Consuming Fire to fill the skies and light the hearts of a disconnected generation.

Oh, that our hearts would break with God-like yearnings for the multitudes standing today in the valley of decision. Oh that our prayers, twined together with heavenly passions and covenant promises would become the ropes that lift many souls to salvation.

Prayer and prayer alone is adequate enough to plumb the depths and drag men from the grip of their own delusions.

Paul likened prayer to child-birth. Co-labouring with God to bring men to new birth.

This is a long citation but please do not pass it by. Read it and hear the Father’s heart:

“The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, he shall stir up jealousy like a man of war: he shall cry, yea, roar; he shall prevail against his enemies. I have long time holden my peace; I have been still, and refrained myself: now will I cry like a travailing woman; I will destroy and devour at once. I will make waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools. And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known: I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are our gods. Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.” (Isaiah 42:13–18 KJV)

Dear friends, the work of prayer is not a pretty one. Sometimes it is messy and loud.

We have held our peace for long enough.

Let a cry rise from the depth of your heart, like that of a woman in pangs, like a roaring man of war.

The next outpouring of grace resides right now in the hearts of praying men and women, and the dam is beginning to break!

A favorite promise box scripture, so worthy of bumper sticker, is found in Jeremiah chapter 29. I’m sure you are familiar with it:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11 NIV)

What most people don’t include on their sanctified T-shirt or bookmark is the context and what follows:

“Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:12–13 NIV)

The plans, the prosperity, the future, and the hope, all spring from the well of passionate devotion to the practice of prayer.

Prayer is a wellspring of life springing from the inner man, bringing God’s plans to the surface. Divine blueprints reside inside, God’s design for your life, but without your absolute dedication to bring them forth, you may well be destined for disappointment.

Did God let you down? We’ve all faced the thorny mystery of unanswered prayers and frustrated hopes. But maybe the Almighty was not the bottleneck here.

Could it be a lack of “calling upon”? Too little praying through? Half-hearted seeking?

I for one am not willing to leave it to chance. I’m no shining example of unswerving faith and dedication to prayer. My “questions I’m gonna ask God when arrive on the doorstep of Heaven” pot is just as full as anyone else’s, but I have determined one thing. I will not be blaming God for the postponements and upsets. I won’t be accusing Him of not coming through on His promises.

Nor will I lean to the other extreme and lambast myself for lukewarmness or lame faithless living. I am what I am, and I do what I do, and will continue to lean in even if the results elude me.

Worst case scenario and I still don’t get what I want, at least when I stand before the Master I will be able to say that my lack of results was not the result of my meagre dedication to reach for them. I’m hot in pursuit, and very forthright in the requirement I place on Papa’s promises, at the same time learning to be comfortable that I am not the one responsible to produce the far-reaching results I seek.

I’ll bring the faithfulness and prayer to the table, in the best way I know-how, and let God bring the God-stuff, including whatever timing He chooses!

We deposit faith into the heavenly bank through our prayers, and the returns are exponential. Some we might receive here, others are bestowed in the world to come. Either way, God will never be my debtor, and the cost to return ratio is without compare.

Jesus is by far the best Advisor and one who understands history from beginning to end.

He offered this sage advice:

“Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:” (Matthew 6:19–20 KJV)

The greatest treasures are not physical. Examples include a virtuous woman being far more precious than rubies, and wisdom and knowledge being of greater worth than gold. Your reputation is more valuable than a quick buck, and the crowns and stewardship you will receive as rewards in the new world are not given for the best sales or contracts won this quarter. Let’s keep our perspective and keep sowing to the spirit, even as we seek to grow in the natural.

Ask a sick rich man what is more precious, his commodities or his health, and I think you’ll know the answer before he even opens his lips.

True prosperity is far more than money in the bank, and generous giving more than notes in the offering.

I believe in physical riches, prosperity through the covenant, but how much more treasured are the intangibles that are stored in Heaven awaiting your arrival.

How is your heavenly account accumulating?

Are you making regular deposits?

Sermonettes at offering time remind us that part of this process is having a generous hand in the natural (and we should), but the treasures of your time and your heart are the real slices of life you lay on the altar. Be sure that a precious portion is dedicated to purposeful, passionate prayer. Eternity will prove your prudence in doing so, even if the world ridicules the idea for now.

Every moment dedicated to the sincere practice of prayer is logged, stored, and begins gaining interest. Heaven pays dividends to its investors.

Papa will never waste one penny of the passion that you pour out.