Desire and Prayer.

Romans 10:1(NIV) Brothers and sisters, MY HEARTS DESIRE AND PRAYER to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. Prayer is a topic that one can write thousands and thousands of manuscripts about because I believe as one grows in the things of God, even his prayer experience changes. For instance there are times when Peter, James and John would sleep during prayer not being able to watch even for an hour (Matthew 26:40), but then there also came a time when they could continue to give themselves constantly to prayer saying "then we apostles can SPEND OUR TIME IN PRAYER and teaching the word."(Acts 6:4). However even as the experience grows the basic definition remains the same, no matter what kind of prayer it is, prayer is communicating with God. It does go without saying that when one comes to God he has to come ready to lay his heart on the table, he has to speak out of the abundance of the heart because sometimes prayer becomes so fashionable and religious in our lives that we just speak whatever feels right in our lips without even a consideration of what our hearts are saying. There is something about heaven that is a revelation, in heaven one can't speak something he is not thinking in fact in heaven thoughts are audible because in the Presence of God nothing is hidden. If we say we are in the Presence of God when we are praying then we are acknowledging that we have entered the very Throne Room and we must be conscious that it means we have come into a place where no thought of the heart can be hidden. The writer of Lamentations says it this way "...POUR OUT YOUR HEARTS LIKE WATER IN THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD."(Lamentations 2:19) and that is exactly the kind of prayer that God wants, a prayer from the heart. Jesus says "for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of"(Luke 6:45), and the scripture is in the New International Version of the bible which is just on point in its rendering. Somebody says "I can say something but it might not be what my heart is full of, so how can He say 'for the mouth speaks what the heart is full of'" - well that simply means your heart is full of lies because you are speaking the lies you have invented in your heart therefore you are still speaking from the heart. Nonetheless this whole praying your heart thing is not there to condemn us or judge us as liars in the face of God; its there to help us communicate better with Him. We have to come to a point where we understand that God has our best interests at heart and not trying to find all the mistakes that we do, so He can shame us and send us to hell, like one man of God likes to say, I also say "a thousand times NO". One man of God said "If your child has ever welcomed you by jumping on you with his dirty hands, youll understand what I mean. Your childs action was based on his love for you and excitement to see you; he isnt afraid of punishment for he expects you to respond with the same love and affection. Thats perfect love. There are children who are afraid to get close to their dad or mum. Such children arent growing in love but in fear, because theyre more conscious of punishment than the parents love." - its just powerful, John says "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love."(1 John 4:18). Anyway let us come back to the heart and prayer. Paul says in the opening scripture "MY HEARTS DESIRE AND PRAYER to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved."

and we can see from his words that both what was in his heart and what he prayed for was the same, he spoke his heart. O how Paul loved the Israelites and wished or desired that they also would obtain this salvation, in another place he says "For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, the people of Israel"(Romans 9:3-4) - how great was his love for his people and he shows it when he says "MY HEARTS DESIRE AND PRAYER to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved." The love of God is in our hearts (Romans 5:5) and when we pray out of our hearts that love is bound to our prayers and God begins to move for us. Someone might say "but faith is the elementary key" and that is very true but also this is indeed true that faith works by love, Paul says "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but FAITH WHICH WORKETH BY LOVE."(Galatians 5:6). A person's desire is that person's wish or yearning and God is calling us to bring our yearnings to Him through prayer, not praying because we have heard this way or that way is how we need to pray but praying because we have deep yearnings to convey to God. The only way that God wants us to pray is "to the Father in the name of Jesus" and by faith, Jesus says "VERY TRULY I tell you, MY FATHER WILL GIVE YOU WHATEVER YOU ASK IN MY NAME."(John 16:23) - Jesus gives us such great assurance that the Father will give us whatever we ask in His name, how wonderful are the words "very truly", meaning it is true in every sense of the word, and He also says "IF YOU ABIDE IN ME, AND MY WORDS ABIDE IN YOU, YOU SHALL ASK WHAT YOU WILL, AND IT SHALL BE DONE TO YOU."(John 15:7) - now the will is this: "what you will". If you have the word of God and abide in Jesus, your heart is synchronized with the will of God in the Spirit, even in prayer - His heart's desire becomes your heart's desire and prayer. Does He not say "and He WHO SEARCHES OUR HEARTS KNOWS THE MIND OF THE SPIRIT because the Spirit intercedes for God's people in accordance with the will of God."(Romans 8:27) -O if one could understand this scripture, he could see how powerful it is. He is saying, when God searches our hearts in our prayer through the Spirit and looks at the mind of the Spirit, (the Spirit intercedes for God's people according to His will), we are in alignment, meaning our hearts have been synchronized with the mind of the Spirit and the prayers of the Spirit becomes our prayers. Lets look at Solomon when he had become king after the death of his father David, one night he is in a night vision and God appears to him saying "ASK WHATEVER YOU WANT ME TO GIVE YOU."(2 Chronicles 1:7). Now God wanted to give Solomon whatever (in every degree of the word) he wanted, this word was too personal to Solomon and Solomon responds to God's question by saying "You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made me king in his place. Now, Lord God, let your promise to my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth. GIVE ME WISDON AND KNOWLEDGE, THAT I MAY LEAD THESE PEOPLE, for who is able to GOVERN THIS GREAT PEOPLE OF YOURS?"(2 Chronicles 8:10). This mighty man was concerned about how he may lead God's people the right way, how he may govern them the way God would govern them, how he may reign over them with Gods heart, of David it says "THE LORD HAS SOUGHT OUT A MAN AFTER HIS OWN HEART WHO MIGHT REIGN OVER HIS PEOPLE"(1 Samuel 13:14).- what selflessness did Solomon have, as though Paul " MY HEARTS DESIRE AND PRAYER to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. You see there's nothing more personal to a person than their heart's desire and when your heart's desire has been consumed by other people's well being then you have started walking in love and believe you me, you are going to grow in it, because God will keep on sending more people to you for you to express and display the love of God to - and that is just

what God wants to have people see Him through us. Anyway after Solomon gives his request to God, a divine response comes from Him so powerful, the first time I saw it, it changed my life, God says to Solomon (reading from the NIV) "SINCE THIS IS YOUR HEARTS DESIRE and you have not asked for wealth, possessions or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but FOR WISDOM AND KNOWLEDGE TO GOVERN MY PEOPLE over whom I have made you king, therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, possessions and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have.(2 Chronicles 1:11-12) - my God, my God it feels just like the first I read it, its powerful "THIS IS YOUR HEARTS DESIRE " - these first words are important to allow us to understand that God wants us to pray our hearts. It means that God was actually looking at Solomon's heart while he spoke searching if what he asked for was really what he desired, no wonder Jesus says "for your Father knows what you need before you ask him."(Matthew 6:8) and David says "before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely."(Psalm 139:4). It appears Paul knew this truth therefore he says "MY HEARTS DESIRE AND PRAYER". God also says to Solomon "you have not asked for wealth, possessions or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king," which taught me that church leaders ought to always have the interest of the congregation at heart, it must be first priority even in prayer - Solomon wanted the wisdom and knowledge not for himself but to govern the people whom God had made him king over. There is nothing that makes prayer more effectual than eager desire, Jesus says to His disciples I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer."(Luke 22:15) - what words from Jesus. The desire to see others brought to the salvation and the believers prosper in the things of God should be our heart's desire, it should so consume us that we become like Paul who would say "what comes upon me daily: my deep concern for all the churches."(2 Corinthians 11:27), the believers were Paul's daily concern and worry, their well-being had taken over him so much he could not rest, sometimes he would say "night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers."(2 Timothy 1:3) - thank you Holy Spirit. There are things that should consume us and work its way to our heart's desire that when we think of them we just want to start praying, Paul had that experience, to the Ephesians he says (from the New Living Translation) "SO PLEASE DONT LOOSE HEART because of my trials here. I am suffering for you, so you should feel honored. WHEN I THINK OF ALL THIS, I FALL TO MY KNEES AND PRAY TO THE FATHER,"(Ephesians 3:13-14) - O when Paul thought about how the Ephesians wanted to give up and drawback, because of hard times he would fall on his knees. If we could think about all the believers in the world who are in trouble with sin, persecutions and distress and let their breakthroughs become our heart's desire, there would not be enough hours in the day to fall on our knees and pray . Personally I have suffered greatly under the bonds of sexual immorality and I think about the teenagers that suffer (not knowing their suffering) the same in the world and I was once locked outside in one cold winter night with no place to go to and in the streets I felt the pains of the dark cold night and saw the people who lived in them and imagined the pain and suffering they go through every night, with tears their hearts set on a hope that the night would be short, for "weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning."(Psalm 30:5), I have suffered a part of my life to drugs and alcohol and when I think about the young men and women in the world who have given themselves over to such objects of destruction, the music I loved so much that has corrupted and destroyed our

society, even though I thank Jesus for deliverance, my heart fails me in that I just want to kneel down and pray to the Father for their deliverance. Let us use our positions as kings and queens in God to intercede for others because the Spirit said in David "How the KING rejoices in your strength, O Lord! He shouts with joy because you give him victory. FOR YOU HAVE GIVEN HIM HIS HEARTS DESIRE; YOU HAVE WITHELD NOTHING HE REQUESTED"(Psalm 21:2). Now the question is what is one's heart desire. God Bless You