Satan often uses good works of service to distract committed believers from drawing near to the Lord in fellowship and in prayer. He knows they won’t yield to the pressure to sin. So he pushes them to fill up their lives with harmless and even good activities that God has not ordained. By seducing them with the good, he tricks them into neglecting the best.
Let me give you an example to show you just how sneaky that tactic can be. Suppose the Lord woke you up in the night and gave you a burden to pray for some brother or sister. Suppose He let you know that they were in serious trouble and needed you to spend extra time the next day interceding for them.
So you decided you’d spend your morning praying for that person just like God told you to.
As you start to pray, however, your telephone rings and your neighbor says, “Will you come over this morning? I have some important things I need to talk to you about.”
What would you do?
If you’re like most of us, you’d probably disobey the inner command of God and yield to the external demands around you. You might even reason it out thinking, Well, surely the Lord would want me to take care of my neighbor, and you’d never even realize that hindering spirits were at work to keep you from prayer.
It’s happened over and over again. Satan has kept believers from praying by occupying them with the natural affairs of life and even the busyness of ministry. As a result, the power of the Church has dwindled and Satan has run riot in individual lives, families, and nations.
It’s time for us to put a stop to that! It’s time for us to get our priorities right and—first of all!—pray.
Scripture Reading: Psalm 5:1 – 3
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!”