I have experienced from time to time the kind of fervent desire for God to move that we need to have in these days. There have been times in prayer when I so yearned for Him to display His greatness that I felt absolutely undone. There have been times when my spirit was so ablaze with the flame of Godit seemed I would just burn up! And I’ve prayed with others who’ve had the same experience.
Surely, it was this kind of spirit of supplication that came on the prophet Isaiah when he spoke to the Lord and said:
Oh, that You would rend the heavens and that You would come down, that the mountains might quake and flow down at Your presence—as when fire kindles the brushwood and the fire causes the waters to boil—to makeYour name known to Your adversaries, that the nations may tremble at Your presence! (Isa. 64:1 – 2 AMP)
Obviously, we cannot muster up such fervency on our own. It must be granted to us by God. But we can cooperate with Him by yielding to Him. We can learn to work with Him more effectively so that He can instill and enlarge His desires in our hearts.
One way we can do that is by lifting up to Him the desires He has already placed within us. Even though they may seem to be initially quite small, as we lift them up to Him in prayer, He will be faithful to send those desires back to us in a stronger way. As we continue in that cycle (described so beautifully in Isaiah 55:8 – 11), we will grow in fervency until we reach the level of power and intensity to which God is lifting us. Then God can use our prayers to do the great things He longs to do.
Scripture Reading: Isaiah 55:8 –11
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!”