The Cycle of Prayer

True prayer moves in a cycle.

It begins in the heart of God, with the purposes and desires of God. Then God places those desires in you heart. "It is God who works in you both to will and to do" (Philippians 2:13). As the psalmist said, "Delight yourself also in the Lord and He shall give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4) God puts His desire in your heart, and then you express it back to Him in prayer. It begins with God, it moves down, touches your heart, and then returns to God. Thus the cycle is complete and the door is now open; God has the opportunity to do those things for you that He so wants to do.

Second Chronicles 16:9 reads "For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him." God is looking for people whose hearts are in harmony with His. That's all He wants-hearts in harmony with His own. God is looking for instruments through which He might accomplish His work and through which He might pour out His resources to a needy world.

The key thing is to discover the will of God. Get your heart beating in harmony with God's heart. "Now this is the the confidence that we have in Him, " John wrote, "that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him" (1 John 5:14-15). If we are praying according the will of God, we can pray in confidence that our petitions will be answered because we have opened the door for God to do what He desires to do. TH key is asking according to His will. And keeping in step with the Spirit enables us to know what that will is.

from Living Water, Chuck Smith

As I read this the first part of it, talking about how He puts the desires in our heart and we express them back to Him in prayer, just really struck me. That is awesome! One of the biggest things for me, would be to remain in God's will and make sure that my petitions are in keeping with God's will. Someone recently told me that it is always okay to pray for whatever is on your heart, but always remember to finish with "God's will be done!" That way we are not just putting our needs out there, but ultimately our hope that His will will be done!. ENJOY