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from The Prayerline Newsletter by Darrell C. Porter

"The Other Side of Prayer"

October - December, 2005

Pull a coin out of your pocket - any coin; and you will notice it has two sides. Most often, one side will have the head of a president or national leader while the other side a national structure or artifice. Prayer is like a coin. It has two sides. However, the side we often use is the one where we ask God for what we want. Now, of course, that’s a good side. The Lord bids us to come to Him and ask for what we want. "Ask and it shall be given you." (Mt.7:7) The Bible encourages us to come to God in prayer and to make our requests known to Him. It says that you have not because you ask not. (Jam. 4:2) It reveals that many arguments and strife, and even national wars are started because one side failed to simply ask for what they wanted or needed.

As important as it is to seek God for what you want, there is also another side of prayer. This side is also vitally important. Yet, it is largely over looked by many who instruct in the virtues of prayer. The emphasis of many in today’s modern church is on what I can get from God. The prayers that are prayed are largely, if not entirely, focused on that end. Lord, do this for me or for those I want you to do it for. Furthermore, stress and the demands of this life keep us focused on our selves. We do not necessarily mean to be selfish. We are simply driven into it by the rushing "waves" of this world. Like fish, carried away in a jet stream, Christians are often carried away together with their fellow Christians, in the routines of self-centered prayers. That is when we actually do pray.

It is a strong current, one in which I also found myself caught in several years ago. I finally reached a point where I told God that I was sick and tired of always coming to Him praying for myself and for what I wanted. It became routine. I was going in a circles it seemed. I was putting out a lot of energy but was getting nowhere. It was so obvious. I knew I was in a spiritual trap to one sided prayer. I wanted to get out and at the same time was afraid to leave. I was concerned that if I didn’t pray for myself, earnestly, then who would? If I didn’t petition God earnestly each day for my needs then where would I be? Well, I did those things each day, year after year and saw that it brought little fruit to my personal life. I was sincere. I was dedicated. I was earnest. Yet something was missing. I was doing all the right things (in my mind, and by all spiritual appearances) yet not getting what the Scriptures promised.

I was holding on to that one side of the coin and would not flip it over. Oh I might flip it here and there. But for the most part I stayed to that one side, determined to see God answer my personal prayers my way.

Now, one of the greatest things the Holy Spirit showed me was the futility of my self-willed prayers. Not all my prayers, mind you. For the Lord has graciously instructed me and has used me mightily in my Christian life, in prayer. I’ve led many citywide prayer meetings, conducted nationwide prayer seminars, published an internationally acclaimed newsletter on prayer, co-founded a 24 hour prayer center, prayed for many on the street, in schools, in their homes in the church. Testimonies abound of God’s answers to my prayers.

However, I’m not speaking here about my prayers for others. I’m speaking about my personal prayers for myself. It wasn’t till recently that the Lord ministered to me one night about this other side of prayer. This side has nothing to do with me. It has nothing to do with what I want. This side of prayer is where we enter the presence of God and seek for nothing but His own Personal will and desire to be done.

For several nights in a row the Lord ministered to me in this area. For over two whole weeks the Holy Spirit kept this on my mind and caused me to practice it. I came to realize it was this type of praying in which our Lord and Savior entered. The Scriptures record that Jesus taught His disciples to seek the will of the Father when they prayed. "Thy kingdom come; thy will be done..." (Mt.6:10)

As I entered this new dimension something lifted off me. It was no longer a "heavy" burden for me to pray for myself. I realized that the burden of taking care of me was no longer mine. It was the Lord’s. The care that I placed upon myself for myself, was now freely being turned over to Him. "Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. (1Pe 5:7) I began to rest and relax in prayer for myself like I had never done.

Now God, in my earlier years, had honored many of my self-focused prayers. I was young in the Lord then. But now that I’m older in the Lord and more mature, He requires a putting away of the dependency of my own spiritual wit and yield to His loving care and provision. One of the nights the Lord ministered to me about this other side of prayer, I arose and wrote the following on a note pad I keep by my bedside.

"You’ve got to have a bigger mind than your own. You’ve got to have the mind of God. Not only that, you’ve got to look for that mind You’ve got to come from that mine when in prayer." The Lord Jesus never sought His own. He always, always, always sought that which came from the Father. (Jn.6:38) He never, ever, sought His own. (Jn.8:50) True prayer always seeks for the Father - His will, His desires, His Way. (Ps.40:8) Even though our heavenly Father (as in my case) honors many prayers that at self-centered. He does it to draw us nearer to Him and to get us to communicate with Him and trust and depend on Him. We all accept things from children where they are because they are young and immature. Yet we never tell a child to stay there. We say you must grow and develop and mature. When they reach a certain age we expect more from them. We do not accept the ways of a five year old from a twenty year old. We expect more from the one who is older. So too does the Lord expect more from us as we become older in Him.

We may be frustrated in our Christian life and don’t know why. Often it’s because God is trying to grow us up; yet we keep trying to stay where we are. There is never peace with God when God says its time to move and we don’t move. In effect we keep expecting God to be where He was the last time with us; but God has moved forward. He is that living water that many happily drink from; though we may be in a dry and barren "desert". We can pray all we want - bless me, bless me, bless me; and He will not hear us. Because He’s not where we are. He’s over here now; and I must come to where He is. (Ex.40:36-37; Num.9:17-22) He is not where I want, as though I am the center of all things. He is where He is; for He is the center of all things.

When I focus on Him I move with Him. When I abide in Him (Jn.15:7) His presence and blessings are automatically upon me. His favor and grace are with me. His power and deliverance are upon me. I learn - as is my entire goal in life - to follow Jesus. (Mt.16:24) I am not learning to learn about following Jesus. I learn to actually follow Jesus.

How do you pray like this? First, the attitude must be one that desires after God. Jesus said not my will but "thy will be done." (Mt.26:42) He wanted what His Father wanted. He looked for it. His heart, His very soul went out to His Father. He did not turn inward to himself; rather He by-passed himself entirely and went out to His Father. "Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God." (Heb 10:7)

Before a word comes out of your mouth your desire must be toward God. In this side of prayer you do not uphold your wish list. Rather you seek after the wishes and desires of God. You may certainly have a burden on your heart for something or someone. Still, the process is the same. Look to the Lord. Be open to His desire; and ready to let Him lead you in prayer. In times of uncertainty I will often ask the Father, "Lord, how do you want me to pray?" I look for His direction because only then am I able to pray like He wants me to pray.

Many times people have asked me to pray. The Lord instructed me how to do this many years ago. He taught me to pray His Word back to Him. You see, the Word of God is God. (Jn.1:1) When you pray God’s Word you are praying God’s will. If you want people to be healed and delivered through your prayers then you want to give them God’s best. God’s best is His Word of promise to them. His written promise is His perfect will for their lives. Nevertheless, I’ve learned to take nothing for granted. I’ve learned to always listen for the Holy Spirit to lead, to guide me on how to pray and what to pray. You see, it is not my prayer that I am praying. It is God’s prayers. He is the One Who is praying. I am merely His mouth piece. He is the true Intercessor. (Heb.7:25) I am merely the vessel He is using to pray through.

This is where we have missed it in the past. We go into prayer thinking it is our prayer. Since it is ours we assume we can give God our instructions. The mature saint comes to learn that prayer is not about me and what I want. Prayer is about God and what He wants. Jesus said, "thy will be done." (Mt.26:42), not mine. Prayer is not about me. I am a vessel through whom the Spirit prays. True prayer is God praying through me.

The burden may be mine. The prayer requests may be mine. Yet the passion and the purpose must be His. If it is not His it is not pure. If it is not His it is not holy. God teaches us to pray then gives us His own Spirit in which to do so. "....for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us..." (Ro 8:26 ) He leaves nothing to us without Himself. "for without me ye can do nothing." (Jn.15:5) No, not even prayer. We need God in order to pray the way we ought to pray. It is often good to simply say, "Lord, put your prayer in me." "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." (Php 2:13)

Another way to enter into this other side of prayer is through worship. Let your soul lift up the Lord through praise. Before you ask for a thing thank Him for Who He is and what He has already done. Set your affection on His goodness. Lift up your hands to heaven, if you please, and worship Him. Surrender into His presence with praise. The Bible says He inhabits the praises of His people. (Ps.22:3) God’s very presence is felt among those who praise Him.

Through worship prayer is made magnificent. For His Spirit is now upon you. He comes to you and puts in your heart prayers to pray. He even directs your very words in prayer. Hannah was so caught up in prayer that only her lips moved while her heart was "lost" in the presence of God. (1 Sam.1:13) In this place "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." (Jam.5:16) For you are in the Spirit. And whatsoever things you ask for (in the Holy Spirit) you will receive. (Jn.14:13) Because Jesus prayed in the Spirit (and taught us to do so) he was able to confidently say, Father, "I knew that thou hearest me always:." (Jn.11:42) What confidence. This side of prayer takes you out of the mere pages of the Book into the mighty presence of God.

Come, let us enter the other side of prayer. Let’s pray what God wants, not what we want.

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The PRAYERLINE Newsletter is a quarterly publication of Darrell C. Porter Evangelistic Assoc., Inc.

www.oneaglewings.com

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