M. Bounds has said, “It is the ardor created by desire that burns its way to the throne of mercy and gains its plea.” Again, Bounds said of desire, “This holy and fervid flame in the soul awakens the interests of heaven, attracts the attention of God, and places at the disposal of those who exercise it, the exhaustless riches of Divine grace.” Thus desire not only helps me pray, but it helps my prayers reach God.

But we must not think that what Bounds is suggesting is that we can manipulate God by our desire.  No, God is in no way surprised by our desire or feels manipulated.  In fact, He waits for us to come to Him with desire—that desire that He has already planted within our heart.

Moreover, when we come to Him with holy desire for certain things, we have the promises of God assuring us that our righteous desires will be granted.  Here are three promises you can claim:

Psalms 37:4 

Delight yourselves in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

 Proverbs 10:24

…the desire of the righteous will be granted.

Matthew 5:6  

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Here also are four points on how desire helps us pray, which I blogged a long time ago, but I will re-blog it here for you.

Four Ways Desire Helps Us Pray

1. As we desire Him, the Holy Spirit energizes and guides our prayer. Wesley Duewel, in his book Mighty Prevailing Prayer, 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 lose 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.”

Sources

E.M. Bounds, Prayer and Revival

E. M. Bounds, The Necessity of Prayer

Wesley Duewel, Mighty Prevailing Prayer