The only thing the disciples ever asked Jesus to teach them was 'how to pray.' This is because they saw His intimacy with the Father when He prayed.
Prayer is not a shopping list but intimate fellowship with the Father.
Our battle is not with flesh and blood, but sadly many of our prayers are in the flesh. “Lord, grant us...,” we say. Instead of bombarding the Father with a torrent of words, we ought to pray like Samuel, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening,”
Prayer is not just fruitless crying out to the Lord but it is also laboring for the harvest.
God chided Moses for crying aloud and commanded him to stretch out his rod over the sea (Exodus 14:15-16). The process of harvesting includes battling with the demons of weeds and predators, watering and manuring the crop, reaping the harvest, bringing in the sheaves, threshing, gathering and getting ready for the next harvest.
It requires tear-soaked prayers, sweat-soaked prayers and sometimes even blood-soaked prayers (like Stephen) to make unbelievers fellow heirs of the Body. Sadly the modern church is full of spiritual derelicts who pray but do not act.
As we pray tonight, ask God to speak to you and be ready to learn from Him. As we pray on behalf of those on our lists, make a commitment to be a tool in God's hand to answer those prayers. Go and encourage, go and share Jesus, go and stand in the gap, go and forgive, go and toil along side.
God Bless,
Bro Steve