On Saturday, 12/11/10, we had such an intense and yet also fun time of prayer! It was definitely very hard praying in the beginning on Saturday. It felt like it was dry and flat, which was very different from our previous Saturday where we had such a huge spiritual breakthrough for our house and for those who came! In times when the prayers feel dry like that, we need to hold onto the promise of God that if we seek Him wholeheartedly, we will find Him or encounter Him. My vision whenever I come in prayer is to encounter God personally and believing in this promise for my community that I am praying for as well. A lot of times, I ask God how He wants to encounter us individually/corporately and God’s vision becomes the fuel for which I engage in prayer. Knowing God’s vision or His way leads us to knowing Him (Exodus 33:13).
When I looked at the spiritual state of that Saturday night, I believe that it was an opportunity for us to strengthen our faithfulness and perseverance in the spirit. I knew that God is with us even when it feels dry or when it feels like the whole room is shaking where we fall prostrate on the floor because of the manifest presence of God. As we continued to press in the spirit with expectation, we can feel the whole spiritual atmosphere of the room changing. It was dry for the past one and a half hour and then all of a sudden, there was shift in our hearts because the Holy Spirit was there to help us pray. I always get excited when the Holy Spirit manifest Himself, because we began to pray with convictions and also great fervency. Praying with the Holy Spirit is key to seeing personal and corporate revival, reformation, and transformation.
When we pray, we don’t pray with the mindset thinking that God won’t show up. This kind of faithlessness produce very little fruit and without faith, we cannot please God. We also don’t pray thinking that if we cry out louder, that God will finally listen. We know that God listens to His own elect, and He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him (Luke 18:7).