What’s Really at Work?

It’s time for another confession from this praying writer.  When prayers seem to have no effect, sometimes the trouble is with the one doing the praying (yours truly) – not the person being prayed for.  This has become especially apparent where loved ones and others with whom I have frequent interaction are concerned.  Though I could offer many different examples, I will share the first one in which this lesson became so clear to me.

Revelation 22:12-14 NIV ¹² Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. ¹³ I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. ¹⁴ Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.

As I considered Jesus’ words, my thoughts turned to a lost loved one for whom I had prayed many times over the years.  If Jesus returned now, I knew they could not partake of the tree of life and enter through the gates, and it saddened me.  Yet, there was frustration as well, and the Lord used it to show what was at work in my heart.  You see, the underlying focus of my prayers wasn’t on the lost soul heading to hell apart from God, as much as on the irritation they had become to me because of not being saved.  My main motivation in praying for their salvation was to make my life easier when Jesus changed them.  Ugh!  These prayers definitely did not come from God’s heart of love and compassion for this person, but from a place in me that needed to be changed by His love.

Romans 5:5 NIV  God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

God has never withheld His love from me in any area, but I had become self-focused along the way, which blocked my ability to receive all of His love and pray from that place.  Had I continued praying with the same selfish attitude, the results would have remained the same, as well.  But God!  He not only desires the salvation and relationship of this lost one, He also loves me enough to show what’s at work in my heart, removing hindrances to our relationship in the process.

Now, as I allow myself to pray from Daddy’s heart of intense love and compassion, Holy Spirit is able to direct the intercession with precision.  It might not bring about the harvest immediately, but He is fertilizing and watering this tender shoot through each prayer I pray.  When the plant (the soul) is fully ripened, the right laborer will reap the harvest for God’s kingdom!  As an added benefit, I find those irritating habits don’t bother me so much anymore, either.   That’s the power of His love!

1 Corinthians 13:8 NIV  Love never fails. . . .

Dearest Daddy,

On behalf of those who read this simple teaching, I ask You to help us all have a greater revelation of the love You have already poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.  Then, Lord, help us pray in the freedom of that love for each one You put on our hearts – no longer hindered by selfish motivation – that they, too, may know Your great love.  Thank You, Jesus, for making this love so real and personal to us!

© Copyright 2010  Kay V. Stocking