5 Keys To a Glorious Prayer LifeSample

Day 4: Lord, Increase My Capacity for Prayer

Do you ever feel worn out, fried, and frazzled—like you've reached the end of your tolerance for an intense activity, and can't handle another moment of the stress?

Many people can relate to feeling frazzled after a tough day of school, a difficult visit with family members, or even a challenging day with your children. After days like that, you might feel like all you want to do is relax. The stress just gets to be too much! 

Over time, however, as you learn how to handle various situations better, the things that stress you out today might not bother you at all. Your capacity for handling things increases, and you begin to embrace and even enjoy things  that used to cause you stress.

Prayer and Bible study work the same way.

When you pray, you come face-to-face with the God of the universe! Conversations with God transport you from the earth-realm in front of you right into the realm of the eternal. That's a pretty intense experience!

Bible study is a similarly intense experience. Jesus said that the words He speaks are spirit and life. The Word of God is the original creative force; through it, Jesus actually formed the worlds. He still holds the world together by the word of His power! So reading these words—even though we were born for the Word of God—can really take some getting used to.

Since prayer and Bible study are such powerful forces, we have to practice in order to sustain either activity for any length of time. 

When we practice praying and studying our Bibles, that time we spend in practice actually increases our capacity to sustain the activity—just like constant practice can turn a beginning jogger into a healthy, fit marathon runner.

We aren't born with the skill set we need to do big things without practice. It takes time and growth to become experts at anything. And the same practical wisdom applies to our prayer life. We don't start out with a huge capacity for prayer or for studying the Bible. 

If you're anything like I was, you start out with almost no capacity for prayer. 

After I first got saved, I would read about two verses in the Bible each morning, and that was all. It was all I could handle! However, I'd pray over those two verses and ask God to help me obey whatever He showed me in those two verses. 

After I prayed over my two verses each day, I was done. My prayer muscles and Bible study muscles were weak; I had never used them before.

But my lack of capacity for prayer and the Word bothered me. A lot. 

I was so hungry for more. I was desperate for God. So, I began to ask God to increase my capacity for prayer and the Word. 

You know what? He answered. 

Little by little, I started reading and absorbing more Scripture. Little by little, my prayer time increased from two minutes to five minutes. I remember clearly the day when I set a goal to pray (looking at my watch!) for ten whole minutes. It wasn't easy, either! But God helped me pray for those ten minutes, and He kept on helping me day after day after day. 

Fast forward almost twenty years. 

I'm still asking God to increase my capacity for prayer and the Word, but He's already done a marvelous work. There's nothing I love more than being alone with God in prayer and the Word, and I spend as much time with Him as I possibly can every day. THAT, my friend, is a testimony to God's grace and answered prayer. 

I could never have forced myself to enjoy prayer. I could not have made myself love or absorb the Word of God. The Bible tells us that the natural man cannot receive spiritual things; we need God's help to eat from His table:

“But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Corinthians 2:14). 

The things of God are spiritually discerned, and only God can help us learn, digest, and absorb them. But if we ask, He will give us His divine empowerment to seek Him in prayer. He will give us the desire, hunger, inspiration, and motivation we need. 

And if we are hungry for God, Jesus promised we would be filled: 

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled" (Matthew 5:6). 

So are you ready to pray? Pray this with me: 

"Heavenly Father, I come to You in Jesus' name. 

Father God, I thank You for promising to help me with everything I need. Lord, I confess to You that without You I can do nothing; and that I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13). Your strength is made perfect in my weakness (2 Corinthians 12:9). So thank You, Father, that Your strength and power are working in me right now. 

Father, I desire more of You. I long to know You better. And Father, in order to grow closer to You, I need to spend more time with You. 

I want to seek You, Lord; and for that, I need more hunger. So please help me. Help me to hunger and thirst for You and for Your righteousness. Help me to be so motivated to seek You, and so inspired to get alone with You, that I run to You and to Your company all the time. 

Abba Father, in Jesus' name, please increase my capacity to seek You.

Increase my capacity to know You, Lord. Increase my capacity for prayer and for studying Your Word. Help me to enjoy Your Word; to revel in it; and to delight in spending time with You.

Father, please help me to get alone with You every day. I pray that You would help me to enjoy our time together more than any other thing. Help me to seek Your Kingdom and Your righteousness first, and all these things will be added to me.

Thank You, Father. I love You. Thank You for hearing and answering my prayer. In Jesus' name, amen." 

If you just prayed that prayer, God will answer. He will do a marvelous work in your life.

Your Father's heart longs for intimacy with you, just like yours longs for Him. So prepare to have your capacity for Him increased, my friend. God Himself, who leaves the ninety-nine to come after the one, is coming to your rescue right now.

Check back tomorrow for the next key to your new, glorious prayer life!