Earnest and Desperate Praying

 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself,

‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’

And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying,

‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

~Luke 8:10-14

Which of these two, do you think, prayed earnestly?  Which one was sincere in their prayers?  The tax collector was willing to humble himself to seek the face of God.  He needed God's helps so much that he was willing to beat his breast in public humiliation.  Are you and I willing to do that?

Are we desperate for God?

Do we want more of His Spirit so much that we would do whatever it takes (even fasting for three days, or praying all night) to receive His power?  If we don't, then we have not fully comprehended the weakness of our own flesh.

You see, before we can be desperate for more of God, we must thoroughly hate ourselves.  Our flesh. Our sin.  We must despise everything about ourselves so that we might learn to pray with a complete desperation--knowing that if God does not answer our prayers, we will not survive--for indeed, we cannot survive without Him.

Leonard Ravenhill says this: "Your prayer life denotes how much you depend on your own ability, and how much you really believe in your heart when you sing, "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling...." The more self- confidence you have, the less you pray. The less self-confidence you have, the more you have to pray."

"...The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." ~James 5:16

Did you see that? Our prayers have power, but they must be fervent. We must be desperate for God's grace.  This is not being desperate that I would get a good score on my essay--this is desperate for lost souls.  Desperate for revival. Desperate for an outpouring of His Spirit.  

We need Him!  We must demonstrate that through the fervency of our prayers.

God longs to pour out the abundance of His blessings upon us. But He wants to see that we really want them. He is testing the fervency of our requests.  He may wait even after we have begun praying to see how desperate we are for more of Him.  That is why we must "continue earnestly in prayer, being vigilant in it with thanksgiving" (Colossians 4:2).

When we we continue in prayer, He will hear us.  When we continue earnestly in prayer, then the Lord will pour out His blessings upon us.  But first, we must be desperate.  What are you willing to sacrifice for more of Him?  Will you spend 30-60 minutes each day on your knees begging for an anointing of His power?  It will come, but first, we must pray with earnestness--crying out with everything we have.  Let us wrestle in prayer as Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord--refusing to let go until we have been anointed with His Holy Spirit.

Let us pray earnestly and desperately my friends, and we will see revival come to our hearts and to this land!