By David Hobbs
Prayer is not prayer until the Holy Spirit shows up with His anointing. That’s why so many Christians hate to pray: they don’t understand “pressing through to the anointing.” Without the anointing, prayer is a dry and powerless drudgery.
When I’m asked to pray in a crowd--you might call it “prayer on demand”--I do the best I can with what anointing I can muster on the spot. But when I get alone to seek the Lord, that’s when I set the terms. And the first thing I do always is search for the anointing. Another way to say it is I try to get into the Presence of the Lord. I need Him to supply the direction, unction, and power. Otherwise I’m just spinning my wheels.
How do I get into the felt Presence of the Lord? There are many different ways. Even before I do anything I try to sense some direction—What is the Spirit saying? What is my own spirit wanting to do? It will be different from my last prayer time, I can count on that. One thing I’ve been doing a lot lately is sitting in stillness and waiting: let my mind clear and my thoughts cease. At other times I might try to prime the pump with the sacrifice of praise, read aloud from the Psalms, sing a song or two, meditate on who God is, what He’s done, and His "great and precious promises," and give thanks accordingly…. All the while I’m looking for the response of the Spirit. It’s usually not hard to get or long in coming. Then the prayer time takes off in glory.
That’s when conditions are right. But what if they’re not? What if the enemy has been messing with me, beating me down with accusations, discouraging me with running commentary on how pathetic I am, flooding my mind with distracting thoughts and then accusing me of being unfocused! Sometimes the pressure and bondages are so great I can’t enter in; I can’t break through to that “sweet spot” in the Spirit. What then?
Last week I had just such a time. I was at a hotel in Sacramento to work with the State Contractor’s License Board on updating the painting exam. I was fasting because we were having a big spiritual push leading up to the woman’s retreat last weekend. My intent was to lock myself in my room all evening and seek the Lord. But my soul was crying out for food, my body was crying out for sleep, the pressure on my spirit was crying out for release, and nothing worked—God was nowhere to be found. There were also other issues going on in my head that the enemy was working with: e.g. I was needing to update my blog but was having “writer’s block.”
The situation was not conducive to prayer: the beds were too high to kneel at, I couldn’t be loud, there was little room to pace; but mostly it was the pressure. I was bound up tighter than a drum, like being squeezed by a demonic anaconda. Other times in similar circumstance I have simply given up, gone to bed, turned on the TV or otherwise vegged out. But even that wasn’t a viable option here—how can you satisfactorily "veg out" when you’re fasting!? This time the circumstances pushed me into a corner until I had no choice but to push back. I couldn’t take it anymore.
Filled with what turned into fierce determination, I lay down on the bed, drew my knees up and turned my face to the Lord, resolved I was not going to quit till I got an answer from Him. The intensity was too great to speak so I just lay there in silence. The enemy said, “Go ahead and lie there, because I’m going to make you fall asleep! Try as you will you can’t keep yourself awake!” (He was correct. Ever try and keep yourself awake with sheer willpower?)
Just like he said, worn out from the battle, I dozed off. But when I awoke I was still there lying before the Lord. I dozed off and awoke again, but I was still there; unwilling to get up; unwilling to end my vigil. Then I realized something. Falling asleep didn’t negate my prayer as long as I kept my resolve and kept my face toward God. “Go ahead and put me to sleep,” I said in my mind to the devil. “I won’t sleep forever, and when I awake I’ll still be here praying. You can put me off for awhile, but you can’t stop me!”
A couple of hours went by and darkness came over the room. I dozed and waked, dozed and waked, but always with my face to the Lord, in mute appeal for His help. “Lord I can do nothing but cry out in silence. Lord I’m here; I’m waiting on You!”
About 8 o’clock I felt like the intensity had abated, though I hadn’t heard or sensed any word from the Lord. But the pressure had eased, and I no longer felt tired. I got up and went to my computer and typed out my last blog entry. The writer’s block was broken; God’s Presence returned. I had taken the enemy to the mat in prayer and won!
When I’m asked to pray in a crowd--you might call it “prayer on demand”--I do the best I can with what anointing I can muster on the spot. But when I get alone to seek the Lord, that’s when I set the terms. And the first thing I do always is search for the anointing. Another way to say it is I try to get into the Presence of the Lord. I need Him to supply the direction, unction, and power. Otherwise I’m just spinning my wheels.
How do I get into the felt Presence of the Lord? There are many different ways. Even before I do anything I try to sense some direction—What is the Spirit saying? What is my own spirit wanting to do? It will be different from my last prayer time, I can count on that. One thing I’ve been doing a lot lately is sitting in stillness and waiting: let my mind clear and my thoughts cease. At other times I might try to prime the pump with the sacrifice of praise, read aloud from the Psalms, sing a song or two, meditate on who God is, what He’s done, and His "great and precious promises," and give thanks accordingly…. All the while I’m looking for the response of the Spirit. It’s usually not hard to get or long in coming. Then the prayer time takes off in glory.
That’s when conditions are right. But what if they’re not? What if the enemy has been messing with me, beating me down with accusations, discouraging me with running commentary on how pathetic I am, flooding my mind with distracting thoughts and then accusing me of being unfocused! Sometimes the pressure and bondages are so great I can’t enter in; I can’t break through to that “sweet spot” in the Spirit. What then?
Last week I had just such a time. I was at a hotel in Sacramento to work with the State Contractor’s License Board on updating the painting exam. I was fasting because we were having a big spiritual push leading up to the woman’s retreat last weekend. My intent was to lock myself in my room all evening and seek the Lord. But my soul was crying out for food, my body was crying out for sleep, the pressure on my spirit was crying out for release, and nothing worked—God was nowhere to be found. There were also other issues going on in my head that the enemy was working with: e.g. I was needing to update my blog but was having “writer’s block.”
The situation was not conducive to prayer: the beds were too high to kneel at, I couldn’t be loud, there was little room to pace; but mostly it was the pressure. I was bound up tighter than a drum, like being squeezed by a demonic anaconda. Other times in similar circumstance I have simply given up, gone to bed, turned on the TV or otherwise vegged out. But even that wasn’t a viable option here—how can you satisfactorily "veg out" when you’re fasting!? This time the circumstances pushed me into a corner until I had no choice but to push back. I couldn’t take it anymore.
Filled with what turned into fierce determination, I lay down on the bed, drew my knees up and turned my face to the Lord, resolved I was not going to quit till I got an answer from Him. The intensity was too great to speak so I just lay there in silence. The enemy said, “Go ahead and lie there, because I’m going to make you fall asleep! Try as you will you can’t keep yourself awake!” (He was correct. Ever try and keep yourself awake with sheer willpower?)
Just like he said, worn out from the battle, I dozed off. But when I awoke I was still there lying before the Lord. I dozed off and awoke again, but I was still there; unwilling to get up; unwilling to end my vigil. Then I realized something. Falling asleep didn’t negate my prayer as long as I kept my resolve and kept my face toward God. “Go ahead and put me to sleep,” I said in my mind to the devil. “I won’t sleep forever, and when I awake I’ll still be here praying. You can put me off for awhile, but you can’t stop me!”
A couple of hours went by and darkness came over the room. I dozed and waked, dozed and waked, but always with my face to the Lord, in mute appeal for His help. “Lord I can do nothing but cry out in silence. Lord I’m here; I’m waiting on You!”
About 8 o’clock I felt like the intensity had abated, though I hadn’t heard or sensed any word from the Lord. But the pressure had eased, and I no longer felt tired. I got up and went to my computer and typed out my last blog entry. The writer’s block was broken; God’s Presence returned. I had taken the enemy to the mat in prayer and won!
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