Fervency Before God Counts in the Hour of Prayer

Tip! 'Intercession' is amplification in prayer; it is going out in broadness and fullness from ones self for others. Primarily, it does not center in praying for others, but refers to the freeness, boldness and childlike confidence in praying.

Our Lord warns us against feeble praying. "Men ought always to pray," He declares, "and not to faint." That means that we are to possess sufficient fervency to carry us through the severe and long periods of pleading prayer. Fire makes us alert and vigilant, and brings us to the place of being more than conquerors.

The atmosphere about us is too heavily charged with resisting forces for limp or lazy prayers to make headway. It takes heat, and fervency and dramatic fire, to push through, to the upper heavens, where God dwells with His saints, in light.

Many of the great Bible characters were notable examples of fervency of spirit when seeking God. The Psalmist declares with great earnestness:

"My soul breaks for the longing that it hath unto Thy judgments at all

times."

What a strong desires of heart is here! What an earnest soul that longs for the Word of the living God!

An even greater fervency is expressed by David in another place:

"As the hart pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?"

That is the word of a man who lived in a state of grace, which had been deeply and supernaturally created in his soul.

Tip! In (Phil. 4:6) we have these words about prayer: "Be careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God."

Fervency before God counts in the hour of prayer, and finds a speedy and rich reward at His hands. The Psalmist gives us this statement of what God had done for the king, as his heart turned toward his Lord:

"Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withheld the request of his lips."

At another time, he expresses himself directly to God in preferring his request:

"Lord, all my desire is before Thee; and my groaning is not hid from Thee."

What a cheerful thought! Our inward groanings, our secret desires, our heart-longings, are not hidden from the eyes of God our Father with whom we have to deal in prayer.