Day Four: What do you desire?

Scripture: Romans 10:1

Principle: Prayer is preceded, created and intensified by desire.

The Apostle Paul’s desire for his fellow Jews to be saved is what led him to pray for them. This desire wasn’t merely a simple wish. It was a deep desire that led him to write “that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.” (Romans 9:2–3, ESV) No doubt because of his great sorrow and anguish he spent much time in intense prayer asking God to save his brothers and sisters. Our prayers reveal the things we care about. The more we desire, the more we pray and with greater intensity. E M Bounds says,

“Without desire, prayer is a meaningless mumble of words. Such perfunctory, formal praying, with no heart, no feeling, no real desire accompanying it, is to be shunned like a pestilence. Its exercise is a waste of precious time, and from it, no real blessing accrues.”12

While prayer flows out of desire, it is not our own desires which should motivate us to pray. Prayer is not a magic formula to get the things we desire. God is not going to grant your request no matter how intensely and frequently you pray if it is not first His desire. Paul’s desire to see his brothers and sisters wasn’t just his desire. It was also God’s. A. W. Tozer says,

“The spiritual quality of a prayer is determined not by its intensity but by its origin. In evaluating prayer we should inquire who is doing the praying—our determined hearts or the Holy Spirit.”13

Application: Today examine the quality of your prayer life. What is it that you have been praying for? What is the origin of your prayers, your own desires or the desires of the Holy Spirit? If you lack spiritual desire, for prayer or for spiritual things, then pray that God would give you a desire for His things. And continue to pray until He grants your request.

12 Edward M. Bounds, The Necessity of Prayer (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1999).
13  A. W. Tozer and W. L. Seaver, Prayer: Communing with God in Everything–Collected Insights from A. W. Tozer (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2016).