I’m a faith person. I love faith and believe in its importance in receiving from God. But the Bible makes it clear that the Shunammite woman was not believing for a son. She didn’t have faith enough to even ask for one. She was so entrenched in unbelief about it that when Elisha told her she would have a baby, she thought he was lying! That’s not how a person responds when they are in faith, confidently expecting God to do something for them.
Despite her doubts and negative confession, however, a year later that woman was a mother. She had a child against all natural odds, not because of her great faith but because she made room for the supernatural. She made room in her life for the presence of the Lord.
You and I can do the very same thing. We can turn our hearts toward the Lord and determine to love not just His gifts and His blessings, but Him! We can draw aside from the natural demands of life and take the time to worship and adore Him, to bring Him our lives instead of just our lists of what we need.
But to do that we must recognize, as Romans 13:11 says, “… what [a critical] hour this is, how it is high time now for you to wake up out of your sleep” (Amp). We must wake up and recognize that we are living in the last days—the days when the Lord is walking among us, offering to abide with us if we will only welcome Him and make room for Him like the Shunammite woman did. We are living in the days when He has promised all who will welcome Him into their hearts that He will do for them exceedingly abundantly above all that they can ask or think.
We are living in the day of visitation.
Scripture Reading: Luke 19:28 – 44
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!”