What Does It Mean to Pray Through?
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Have you heard the old Pentecostal term “pray through?”
If someone encouraged you to “pray through,” would you know what that means?
If your prayer life is like mine was just a few years ago, when you pray, you start with great intentions of praying for an hour, get through your prayer list, look at your clock, and realize that it’s only been 10 minutes.
The biggest frustration I faced in prayer was that I never really felt like I had actually connected with God.
I’ve been walking with God for over 40 years, and over the years I have discovered the power of praying effective, powerful prayers. That is why I created my 7 Days to Establish Your Prayer Life challenge.
It is 100% free, and with it, you receive a free workbook and access to video lessons. You can click here to join, but first, let’s learn what it means to “pray through!”
And that’s what prayer is: connecting with God on a deep level.
Partnering with Him in seeing His will accomplished here on earth.
This is very different from prayer being a time when I recite to God all my needs from 1-10….
… one-sided…
… one-dimensional.
When I actually start partnering with God, when I make that connection with Him, and when I discern what His will is in a certain situation and begin praying with authority according to His will, suddenly the one-dimensional relationship becomes multi-dimensional!
But what does it take to get there?
That’s the question, right?
What I believe most people miss in prayer is this….
Waiting on God
Praying through
What Does It Mean to Pray Through?
There used to be an old Pentecostal term: pray through.
You’d go to the altar and kneel to pray, and if you got up too soon, the deacon’s big hand would descend upon your head, pushing you back down to the carpet as he’d boom out, “Pray through, sister! Pray through!”
This could happen multiple times before suddenly something inside would break, and you’d walk away that day completely and utterly changed from the inside out.
But in this just-add-water, microwave, instant-meal society in which we live, we have forgotten what it means to wait on God.
You see, in prayer, there are no just-add-water, microwave, instant-meal results.
Connection with God, partnering with God, and seeing His will be done on earth requires waiting. It requires praying through.
Yes, there will be sleepless nights.
Yes, there will be sore knees.
But in exchange, you will enter into a partnership in which you know when you’ve said amen, you’ve literally met with the King of all the Universe, the Lord of all Lords, I Am that I Am.
I can’t tell you what this one thing has done for my prayer life.
In the past few years, my prayer life has deepened and continues to deepen each and every day, and learning to wait in prayer is just one thing that has transformed my understanding of prayer.
Prayer is so much more than we think. It’s more than just having a conversation with God.
- It is allowing Him to give you a strategy for victory
- It is partnering with Him in fulfilling the Great Commission
- It is allowing Him to daily fill you with power to set the captives free
- It is giving Him time to burden your heart with what burdens His heart
It is literally training yourself to become constantly aware of Him, His presence, and His heart.
And this kind of prayer takes time. It takes effort. It takes discipline. It takes courage. But the rewards of our sacrifice in getting up early, staying up late, and making time to spend time with Almighty God are invaluable!
In doing so, we are literally entering into the purpose and destiny that God commissioned us for when He created us.
We were created to be ambassadors for Christ, and in being ambassadors, we must know the will of the One who sent us. And in order to know His will, we must daily spend time in His Word and His presence.
We must spend time in His presence.
We must pray through.
Learn more about the 7 Days to Establish Your Prayer Life Challenge here
Resources for Prayer:
Free Prayer Cards
Such great points, Rosilind. We are so quick to lay out our needs and walk away but what does that accomplish? Yes, God cares about what is burdening us, but He wants intimacy and relationship. Not just a drive up and collect connection. Great word!
Thank you so much! Your comment encouraged me so much today.
This is an amazing post!! So truth!!! Thank you and I thank God for speaking to me through your post . God bless .
Oh – I am so grateful that the Lord spoke to you through this.
Just this evening I was talking to the Lord about this. I am desperately working on my walk with the Lord and it still seems a bit disconnected. I believe this is one of the keys I needed. Thanks for sharing.
Oh – praise God that this came to you at just the right time. That is just like God!
I struggle with terms like “pray through “ Go deeper “ have more faith “ etc. Is time spent on our knees what He looks for, or is it the genuine heart ‘s desire that God responds to? I want a closeness to God so I can see his eyes and hear his voice. To me this comes from interacting with another person that is showing me an open and honest heart. It may be a person in need or one who brings a clear word of knowledge that resonates with my heart. I believe He hears me the first time and knows my heart. Does repeating my prayer over and over for an hour make it t any clearer to Him?
I think certainly Evangelical Christianity has it’s phrases that perhaps grow meaningless when they are not paired with an authentic heart. But I also believe that many times these phrases are rooted in truth. We do need to pray through – because there are times when we kneel in prayer and before a change of heart can take place, we have to break through barriers and walls we’ve erected – much like how Daniel had to pray and warfare for several days before God’s message could get through. In prayer we battle ourselves, our thoughts, our walls, our unrepentant sins….but also the enemy who seeks to keep us from the deep, abiding, and growing relationship God wants to have with us by keeping us trite, shallow, and distant.
Staying on your knees is not literal here. Many people can not get ontheir knees. Many have no knees. He is saying God should not be confused with the tooth fairy, Santa Clause, Genie in a bottle myth. He is saying it’s about taking time to build a relationship. Just you and God. Well.doing is good. But like Martha it is better to sit at His feet and recognize he wants a lot more you and him time. We can’t good deed our way to heaven pr God’s favor. The relationship is what fully equips us to do every good work to the glory of God.