{mosimage}Becoming A PRAYER Warrior
By Elizabeth Alves
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.”
–Matthew 22:37
In 1970 I went through an experience that brought me into a rekindled sense of God’s presence. The Lord in His ultimate wisdom raised up a godly mentor for me who was dedicated to prayer. She talked to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit as if they were right there with her. I so longed for that kind of intimacy with the Lord that I spent the next three years sitting at her feet and following her example.
Because I had come from a liturgical background, I felt awkward with much of the body language I saw my mentor use as she poured out her heart to God in prayer. Lifting my hands was especially difficult in the beginning because our church did not do that. As I read through the Scriptures, however, I found verse after verse about lifting my hands to the Lord (see Pss. 28:2; 63:4; 119:48; 134:2; 143:6). I realized my struggle was not as much with God as it was with tradition and my fear of man: What would people think of me?
My self consciousness ended one Sunday morning in church when I lowered my hands because I thought someone was watching me. Suddenly a little five-year old boy loudly exclaimed, “Mommy, why does that lady raise her hands down to praise the devil instead of up to praise Jesus?” That did it! I threw my hands into the air. From that day forward, I began to pray with uplifted hands and new sense of purpose in my heart.
As I watched my spiritual mother walk, lie, kneel and move about with an intense spirit of worship, I too, began to minister to the King of kings and Lord of lords with my whole heart and body. People often ask me, “How long, where and in what position should I pray?” As we look at some of these basic questions, remember that the issue is not as much time, place or position as it is faithfulness to God.
How Long Do I Pray?
My mentor’s son was an evangelist for whom I served, doing household chores. Throughout the day I would stop to pray with him and his wife, and we saw many miraculous answers. Eventually the evangelist decided to rent a house to use for prayer. He asked me if I would be willing to pray between four and six hours a day. Excitedly, I responded, “I’ll take six!”
The evangelist wisely suggested I start with four, and I’m glad he did. I’ll never forget that first day. I walked into the prayer house, closed the door behind me and sighed, “Oh Lord here we are, just You and me.” I dropped to the floor and began to pour my heart out in prayer. I prayed and prayed until I found myself laying there in a state of exhaustion. When I looked at my watch, I thought the battery was running down. Could it be that I had only prayed for 15 minutes! I began again. I prayed for everyone I knew. Then I prayed the Lord’s prayer—I even sang the Lord’s prayer. I looked at my watch again, only 42 minutes had passed. I couldn’t believe it! Finally I cried out to God, “Lord teach me to pray.”
I understood for the first time the frustration and anxieties of Jesus’ disciples, who walked with Him daily but knew that they did not have what He had in terms of communication with the Father. Each one of us must come to a point where we too cry out to God, “Lord, teach me to pray.” Learning to pray begins by making the choice to be alone with Him.
The account of Jesus and His disciples at Gethsemane clearly shows that Jesus did not hesitate to ask His followers to pray with Him for “one hour,” and that this was a perfectly legitimate request. Yet, at the time He most needed and desired their support they disappointed Him. Surely it must still disappoint our Lord when His followers put sleep and other activites above a desire to pray and spend time with Him.
One pastor has said, “When you come to the place where you can tarry with the Lord one hour, something supernatural happens. You begin to understand the character and purposes of God, and to experience the anointing of the power of God as never before.”
If making a commitment to pray one hour a day seems too difficult, begin by praying 15 minutes a day, then strive to increase your prayer time.
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{mosimage}Excerpted from Becoming a Prayer Warrior A Guide to Effective and Powerful Prayer by Elizabeth Alves (Regal Publishing, 1998. To order your copy of this book, please visit Christianbooks.com