A Revelation of Prayer by Bishop Eddie L. Long

I challenge you to eliminate everything from prayer that has nothing to do with God. Many of us are mad with God because He has not answered our prayer, and half the time we have not even prayed. It is not as complicated as we make it.

It appears that we pray only when we are at our wits end, when we run out of ourselves. You are not really praying, because you do not know what prayer is until you come to your wits end, then you cry out. That's prayer, because at that moment you have no agenda. Prayer is really not a part of our natural life. It is not ordinary. To worldly-minded people, it's not sensible. Prayer is actually an interruption of our personal goals. You are telling God, "I interrupt my personal goals and ambitions to submit myself to yours." Most folks pray according to their desire and are actually asking God to fall in line with what will personally satisfy them. Unless you understand that prayer is an interruption in your plans, I propose to you that you are not talking to God.

Prayer is not a way of developing us; what God is doing through prayer is waking up Him in you. Most folks pray to improve their program or their self-image. God says, "I'm telling you to commune with Me because I'm in you, so My character and nature can come through you."

We look at prayer as a means of getting things for ourselves. God's idea of prayer is for His holiness, purpose, and wise order to come into our lives. We must remember that there is a difference between God's order and His permissive will. His order is His character and His permissive will is what He will permit. It is His order that there should be no sin, but in His permissive will, He allows it. The only way you get into God's order is by prayer.

The bible says, if you ask in His name, you will get it, and so you think, "I don't care if it is His will or not. It's in the name." No, it's not! I'm sorry. It's not in His name, it's in His nature. God is saying, "If you don't know Me and you use My name, you still don't get access." When a king walks in a room, he doesn't have to say it. If you don't carry God's spirit, you can say "Jesus" and "hail Mary" all you want in prayer. The bible says His nature is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit when we are born from above. It has to be nourished. Jesus promised to only be at those prayer meetings where two or three are gathered together "in My name," meaning, "in My nature."

I've sat in prayer meetings where folks trip out on the way people pray, "God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The one who brought something out of nothing...The one who flung all the stars..." God isn't listening to that. When you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathens do....God is not deaf. So volume doesn't make Him hear any better than speaking softly. The only reason you can talk to God is because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. His blood bought and empowered you. If you don't understand that it is the blood of Jesus, then words and volume can easily impress you. When you pray, you don't have to put on a show. Just talk to Him. The church is so messed up because we want somebody that can stand before us and tickle our ears. These persons in turn begin to think they are the ones getting you to the throne, but it is Christ.

You have to have the knowledge in prayer that God is "Master." Here is the problem: We like "Savior"; we like "healer"; and we like "our provider." We like anything that keeps God as a "supernatural buddy." If He is our provider, then we are only going to call Him when we need something and base the prayer on the need and not the cost and who paid it. If we just look at Him as healer, then we will only get in tune with Him when we are sick. Once you dance about your healing, you forget what it cost you to get it. If we just know Him as "my deliverer," then we only get serious about it when we need to be delivered. When you get down to pray, God says He is not responding because you are hurting or sorrowful, but rather because "My Son went through the agony, pain, crucifixion, death and burial, and I raised Him up." When you pray, understand this, and then pray, submitting your agenda to His, and pray in His name.