Passion for Prayer


Once when Jesus had been out praying, one of his disciples came to him as he finished and said, “Lord teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.” Luke 11:1

The big question is - how does one have a passion for prayer? For some it seems to be given in the form of the gift of praying for others, also known as intercession. It seems to me that prayer can be taught, but passion must be ‘caught’.

It was Jesus’ habit to go out early to pray. It is recorded a number of times in scripture that he went alone to pray. From this verse in Luke we can see that it sparked in the disciples a desire to learn how to pray. I guess they saw the difference it made in his life. We also learn from this same verse that John the Baptist was a man of prayer who taught his disciples how to pray.

It appears that Jesus waited for his disciples to ask before he began to teach them. It is not much use teaching someone to pray unless they have a desire to learn. As I see it, there are three main things we can do to develop a passion for prayer. Get a love for God and for people Ask God to give us a desire to pray Hang around people who love to pray. (This is how you catch it!)

If we love God and develop our relationship with him and get a feel for His heart for this world I believe that our desire to pray will grow but we will still need to rely on Him to grow that desire for prayer in us if we do not have the (spiritual) gift of intercession.

Every week a small group of ladies meet together to pray for our community. We worship the Lord, spend time listening for Him to share His heart with us, we read some Bible verses and pray as we feel the Holy Spirit leading us. It is different every week. These are precious times with God and in fellowship with other believers and they have helped me develop more of a passion for prayer.

Of course we need to realise that we will not feel like praying. Our flesh doesn’t naturally desire to do what God calls us to do. Also we have an enemy, Satan, who will do whatever he can to keep us from prayer. He’s got many excuses and distractions he can employ to keep us from prayer. Be aware of his schemes and resist him. James 4:7-8 says “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” What a wonderful promise that is. Remember that we are told to always pray and not give up (Luke 18:1-8), and to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

For an example of passionate prayer read Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that he prayed for us in the closing hours of his life. Can you feel his passion?

Prayer: Jesus, I want to have the same passion for prayer that you had when you walked this earth as a man. Please help me to grow in this area of my spiritual life. Amen.