The following article is an excerpt from Prayer A to Z.

The way I see it, the way God gets a hold of us and brings us to into prayer is by first creating in us a desire for Himself and for what He wants to give us by showing us that we have a need or a lack.  Next, He, in His own way, gets a hold of us and shows us that He can fill that lack; He shows us that He is the great provider and lover.  As He desires us and draws us to Himself He continues to create in us a greater and greater desire for Him.  The more we are united with Him in love the more we desire Him and what He wants to give us; hence, the more we have a desire to pray.

As we go to prayer here are…

Four Ways Desire Aids Us

1.  As we desire Him, the Holy Spirit energizes and guides our prayer.  Duewel writes, “Holy desire is a holy power that energizes prayer.  It is a dynamic of the Spirit.”  When we desire God and His Word we allow the Holy Spirit to pray through us.  The more we desire Him the more the Holy Spirit is able to guide us and give energy to our prayers.

2.  Our God-given desire gives us spiritual vision. According to Duewel, “The Spirit-born and Spirit-deepened desires indicates what God wants to do.  He gives desires for what He longs to bring to pass.” And let me add that all the things He desires, He has purposed that they would come to pass through our prayers.  Therefore, whatever He desires to do through us He will give us the desire for those things so that we will envision them, which in turn will increase our faith to pray for them.

3.  As we pray exactly according to the desires He gives us, our prayers will become more specific, vital and personal. Again, According to Duewel, “Desire makes prayer more specific.  It focuses prayer and asserts priority.  Desire makes prayer both vital and personal…It makes it your very heart-cry.”        

4. Desire gives us perseverance and courage in prayer.  Without desire we would loose heart and not have the courage to bother God with all our petty requests.  But with desire that is created in us by the power of the Holy Spirit, and which continues to work in us by that same power, we gain both perseverance and courage.  According to E. M. Bounds, “It is pertinacity of desire that gives triumph to the conflict in a great struggle of prayer…It is desire that arms prayer with a thousand pleas and robes it with invincible courage and all-conquering force.”