Prayer Takes Imagination

Romans 8:26 "The Spirit helps us in our weaknesses, for we do not know how to pray how we ought; but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words."

In "Prayer On Fire", chapter 5, our author begins by encouraging us when we pray to "stop trying to force it". I know that he's right in that encouragement. Forcing religious prayer can be one of the most empty experiences in life. Prayer that is effective and satisfying rests upon the fullness of the Holy Spirit leading the mind, will and emotions. When you are led by the Spirit of God, then your very imagination becomes a like a water line; a pipe into which the Holy Spirit releases the flow of His thoughts about your prayer concerns.

This flow of the Spirit is what the grace of God in your life is all about. God makes His presence real and effective in your life, in your prayers, when you hold your needs and concerns before Him (to picture a posture of prayer) with open hands. Hartley referred to the Lord impressing upon his mind that he should pray with "cupped" hands. This is an excellent way for you to keep in mind that you and I are "asthenia" - we are weak when it comes to effective prayer. What is effective prayer? It is prayer that takes hold, effectively discerns the problem, and brings the power of God to the scene. Can you and I accomplish that on our own? No. But even so, we still want the power of God in our lives, and in our prayers.

Thank God! He Himself is the answer to our need.

Are you sincere about gaining God's answers when you pray? If you are, then when you have a need or want help for a friend, let the Sprit begin to intercede in you. Open your heart and your mind. Open your imagination. Focus your attention first on the Lord, rather than on the need. By simple faith - believing He will answer and provide - start by giving Him thanks for the coming answer. Be glad - in fact, smile and laugh with joy as you praise God for the answer He is sending. Speak the need or concern to the Lord. Soon you will get a mental image, an imagination, of the blessing that is coming in the form of God's answer. Speak this good imagination of God's answer and declare that the answer is coming. Do you believe the verse that began this page? "The Spirit helps us..." (Romans 8:26). If you believe it, then pray like you believe it. Say it is so - say that you have His interceding help for your need.

The verse goes on to say that the Spirit intercedes with "groanings". In other words - words may be quite inadequate for the work that the Holy Spirit wants you to do with Him. But He still empowers you to pray. Imagine that you are praying for a friend and you feel inspired to believe that a miracle should take place in their life. In your agony over the need for God's help, you go to your best place to pray, and what do you do? You do what Jesus did when He encountered impossible needs. At times, He wept, He touched the need, and He had compassion. This is "groaning". Go ahead and groan in the Spirit, and when you do, believe that the answers come. God is teaching you and me. He seems to be teaching us that He will let us be involved in His compassion for people. I believe that the business of prayer involves imaginative compassion. When you pray, read God's Word to know what He as done. Then imagine His best blessings and gifts invading the concerns that you are carrying, and call upon Him with the loving groans of a believing heart. Take hold of God in your prayers and don't let go.

In 2 Corinthians 3, we get a negative, though victorious word about imagination. "...casting down imaginations ... and every high thing that exalts itself above Christ." Turn that scripture to the postive: Exalt Christ by using your imagination. Let the Holy Spirit capture your imagination and He will give you the words and the groanings to speak. He will teach you the language of effective "prayer in the Spirit, and with the understanding." (1 Corinthians 14)

Imagine yourself praying with His Holy fire,


Pastor Rich Marshall