Passion in Prayer

Passion in prayer – what is it?

The King James Version of the letter by James speaks of “fervent” prayer. The word “fervent” sometimes brings to the contemporary mind a picture of things done at a high emotional temperature.

The prophets of Baal can scarcely be matched for examples of men who prayed with feverish passion – shouting, screaming and cutting themselves for hours on end – utterly to no avail. Evidently theatrical passion and physical force are no compensation for the sin of praying to the wrong person with the wrong requests, moved by wrong motives of the heart.

And then there was Hannah… silently mouthing the desire of her heart for a child, audible only to God and visible only to one who might catch the slight motion of her lips. But the desire she expressed was THE fervent desire of her heart, which she presented to THE God of the Universe, out of the motives of a pure heart. God gave her a son named Samuel, the last and greatest of the judges of Israel.

Passion in prayer – what is it? Theatrical prose delivered at high volume to benefit the social standing of the speaker before impressionable bystanders is not prayer. It is simply passion. Prayer that comes from the integrity of the heart and expresses the desire of one’s heart to the Person most loved by that heart – is both prayer and passion… at any volume.

What do I truly seek in prayer? Why do I seek this, and who is this One I am asking? These questions, rightly answered, put the passion in prayer.