What was lacking in my prayer life? God answered this question while Nick was teaching on the stayed mind the other day and I remembered this verse, or perhaps Nick brought it up:
James 5:16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
I thought to myself, how do you pray an effectual fervent prayer? Is it an emotional thing? There is a not an emotion promised you in the Word of God. We are not promised a feeling. If you think about it, feelings are five-senses based and are a function of the soul not the spirit. You do the word whether you feel like it or not. You may be lonely, you may be sad. You may be angry or you may be happy. That does not stop you from doing the word.
How is a prayer effectually fervent then? Think about love. You love somebody and they do things that make you feel angry, sad, happy, or whatever. Right? Does your love change? No. You have the same level of commitment regardless. This is your good friend or family member so your commitment does not falter. If they do something bad to you, you may need to follow through with consequences, but the love doesn't change. Love is a deliberate decision.
Have you noticed that when somebody is intensely enthusiastic about something, it is contagious? There is something about intensity. We train this way athletically. Some of us learned this in basic training in the military or in sports. You get great results when you are very focused in on what you are doing.
In the Army I struggled with the run for a long time until I discovered that I was running pretty much just from my knees. If I involved my whole body into the run, I got great results. That's what the drill instructor meant when he or she said "lean into it." You push and involve your whole body into what you are doing.
How about pushing your mind when you pray? Now, if you are very angry or very sad it might be quite natural to be intensely focused on prayer or something else that you need to do. Emotion can stir up intensity.
However, you do not need to harness some kind of emotion to generate intensity in your prayer life. Your life doesn't need to be on the line. You just deliberately decide to do it. It's all about focusing your attention and not allowing your mind to stray.
When you speak in tongues or pray you can mutter underneath your breath or pray quietly; but if you intensely push into it with your whole mind and mouth it stirs up stuff! There is a genuine difference when you focus and press into your prayer with enthusiasm.
Matthew 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single [focused], thy whole body shall be full of light.
Don't get distracted. If you really want something, be focused in on what you want when you pray, not distracted. Don't just jog casually; sprint! Involve your eyes. Involve your ears. Involve your brain. It's about paying attention and then observing what you are thinking and saying.
If enthusiasm feels hard and if it helps to be angry to get intensely focused, get mad at the devil. He hates you, so hate him back and get intensely focused in on undoing his evil deed in your life or the life of someone else that you love. Just go about doing the will of your father in heaven.
Matthew 6:7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
It's not about how much or how loud you speak, intensity is a matter of focus and of not being distracted. That can be taken to an extreme, however. If you are in a crisis situation you can get extremely focused and actually develop a kind of tunnel vision about what is going on.
Police and firefighters have to be trained to develop an overall awareness in a crisis so they can correctly react to a developing situation. In the military people get killed from friendly fire because someone was so focused on a target, they literally didn't see the other person who ended up getting killed.
The other extreme is to be distracted or not able to focus on anything for very long. As Nick has stated before, we have been trained to be distracted by the bombardment of commercials. We also have this notion that multitasking is an effective tool.
While it is true that we can listen to a book on CD while driving down the road or talk on the phone while washing dishes. It is important to make it a habit to be fully engaged in things that we do. Granted, we can speak in tongues while doing just about anything because it bypasses the conscious mind. Whatever we do, we need to put in a diligent effort. It just makes sense. It is easy to just speak words or be half-hearted about something. We should avoid that.
Ecclesiastes 9:10 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.
Don't procrastinate. Do it now. You see something that needs to be taken care of, do it now. The time is going to come when it is too late.
Don't wait until you feel like it and do it now with intensity. It is good to practice focusing on something everyday. Just pick a conversation, a prayer, a meditation. Lean into it. If you are not used to doing it, it may take a bit of practice to develop the habit.
In the Book of Acts, chapter three, Peter and John see the lame man laid daily at the temple gate. The record says:
Acts 3:4 And Peter, fastening his eyes upon him with John, said, Look on us.
Peter and John did more than just see the lame man, they gazed at him. They intended to help him, so they did more than just look at him. They knew they could help him, so they focused in on the man and his situation.
We also can focus our believing and love on different situations in our lives or the lives of others and offer the spiritual solution we have to give. Healing and wholeness are promises we can extend to others.
2 Corinthians 6:2 (New King James Version) For He says: "In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you." Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
You can trust God in any situation. He entrusted his holy spirit to you. He will show you what to do. We just do our best and expect God to do the rest. We can trust that if we do our job to the best of our ability, God will follow through on his end.
Psalm 32:8 I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
There are not coincidences in life. If God puts someone in our path and we see the need, we know God is guiding us with his eye. Wholehearted obedience is always going to be more powerful than half-hearted indifference. Give it a shot. What do you have to lose?