This week, I want to share with you a truth that when the Lord first revealed it to me, it helped me see His heart in such a way that it has changed not just how I pray but how I live. It’s changed what I do when I go to the grocery store. It’s changed how I interact with people in my everyday life.
It is a revelation so simple I’m almost embarrassed to admit that I failed to see it for so many years. Once the Lord showed it to me, I kept thinking, Everyone else probably knows this already and they’ve just been praying for me to get it.
If that was the case, whoever was praying should be glad because I finally did! It all began one day when I was reading this passage in the Gospel of Matthew:
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matthew 9:35 – 38)
Although I’ve read those verses many times, the day I got this revelation I suddenly saw them in a different light. I glimpsed the heart of Jesus in them as never before. I realized that when He looked out and saw the sea of hurting humanity thronging to Him, He was moved with tremendous love. He wanted to reach them all at that moment. He saw that they were trapped in darkness and wanted to bring the light of God into each one of their lives.
But in His natural body, He was limited. He couldn’t personally touch everyone who was reaching out to Him. So He turned to His disciples and uttered the cry of His own heart and the heart of His Father, “Pray for laborers who will take God’s love and light to people in need! Pray for disciples who will go!”
Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:13 – 16
On the chilly March night in 1972 when Lynne Hammond took her first step into a life of Spirit-led prayer, she had no idea what was about to happen. All she knew was the hunger in her heart for God wouldn’t let her sleep. In the few short months she’d been born again, her desire to fellowship with Him had grown so strong she could hardly contain it. “Help me, God!” she cried. “I want to know you. I want to be able to talk to you. Please, teach me to pray!”
Suddenly, a heavenly presence flooded the room. Lynne sensed waves of spiritual fire sweeping over her and a beautiful language began to flow like a river from within her. Although she’d never heard of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, she knew instantly, without a doubt—this was God!
What began that night soon blossomed into a life of prayer that ultimately became a ministry of prayer when, in 1980, Lynne and her husband, Mac, founded Living Word Christian Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Under Lynne’s leadership, the prayer ministry at Living Word has become an internationally recognized model for developing effective pray-ers in the local church.
A teacher and an author, Lynne publishes a newsletter called Prayer Notes, has written numerous books, and currently serves as the national prayer director for Daughters for Zion. Her passion for inspiring and leading others into the life of Spirit-led prayer continues to take her around the world to minister to believers whose heart cry, like hers, is “Lord, teach me to pray!”