Why do you ‘pray through’?

In the course of living our your day, you experience culture and temptation.  Sometimes we fall to the temptation.  Our ‘flesh’ or our sinful nature creates a barrier to our spirit and soul.  It’s like a hard outer shell.  The devil also throws every kind of distraction our way also.  Thoughts of bills, spouse, kids, fear, laziness, other desires all crowd into our mind when it is time to pray.  Many times we are physically tired or sleepy when it is time to pray.

Prayer is communicating with God, a dialog where both parties speak to each other.  This simply can not happen unless we get beyond all the distractions listed above.  Luke 11:1-10 and 18:1-8 talk of this concept.  We do not give up.  We push through until we connect with God.

We do not have to earn our way closer to God.  In fact, He is as close as ‘the mention of His name’.  Praying through is all about us getting past our mental block and spiritual barriers.  We have to get past the flesh.  To get a clear understanding of ‘the flesh’, read Romans chapter 7.

How do you ‘pray through’?

Honesty in prayer is crucial. Do not hold back.  Express to God your honest feelings about life, eternity, the future, the past, the present, etc.  God knows what is happening in your life.  If you try to hide it or down play it, you will never break through in prayer.  Praying through means that you are totally honest with God and both of you are sharing heartbeats.There are several ways to break through the flesh-nature and mental block when you start to pray.

• Worship – Music and dance break through the mental block of prayer extremely well.  Find music that you are able to sing, meditate, or dance with. Begin your first 10 minutes of prayer with worship music.  Just this morning, I listened to a wonderful CD by Russ Jones.  During the first 2 songs, I sung and hummed along.  During the 3rd song, there was a shift in my mentality and spirit.  I had broken through.   ‘Worship’ means proclaiming the wonder of God and recognizing His supreme Diety.  ‘Praise’ is thanking God for all He has done.  When Jesus taught us to pray in Matthew 6, he began with Praise and Worship.  Do not start your prayers with petitions or suggestions.  Begin your prayers with worship and adoration.
• Meditation – Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. Sometimes, we need to be quiet and enter into solitude to connect with God.  Our lifestyle is so hectic and fast-paced that we always expect God to speak our fact-paced language.  God has His own way.  We need to often be still and mental focus on the face of Jesus.  Breath slowly and steadily.
  
• Cry out! – This would be the opposite of meditation.  Many scriptural references encourage us to ‘cry out’ to God.  This means raising your voice and audibly shouting, crying, exclaiming, proclaiming, etc.
  

How do you know when you have ‘prayed through’?

You will know.  There will be a change in the atmosphere of your spirit and entire room where you are sitting.  You will sense a ‘breakthrough’ and a peace that passes all understanding.  You will actually feel the Presence of the Holy Spirit in your life.  No matter how big your problems may be, they will not seem to be daunting at all, in fact you will forget them for a while, and after you remember them again, they will not give you fear.  You will feel truly connected to God.  You will have no doubt that He exists.  You will be in a place of excitement.  Only after you break through, do you clearly understand the phrase ‘praying through’.  So, if you have not been there yet, keep pressing in.  God is waiting.

When you get to this place of prayer and the Holy Spirit is in your midst, surrounding you in a powerful way, continue to worship God and ask Him to Baptize you with the Holy Ghost (Matthew 3:11, Acts 1:5, Acts 10:44-46, Acts 11:16)  Allow God to move into your life through manifestation of His Spiritual Gifts.  More on this in the days to come…

+robin