Prayer Requires Time and Expectancy

The Sovereign Lord showed me a vision. I saw him preparing to send a vast swarm of locusts over the land. This was after the king’s share had been harvested from the fields and as the main crop was coming up. In my vision the locusts ate every green plant in sight. Then I said, “O Sovereign Lord, please forgive us or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”

So the Lord relented from this plan. “I will not do it,” he said.

Then the Sovereign Lord showed me another vision. I saw him preparing to punish his people with a great fire. The fire had burned up the depths of the sea and was devouring the entire land. Then I said, “O Sovereign Lord, please stop or we will not survive, for Israel is so small.”

Then the Lord relented from this plan, too. “I will not do that either,” said the Sovereign Lord. [Amos 7.1-6]

Intercession is real.

Intercession is necessary.

Intercession is clearly spoken of throughout the Bible.

Are we interceding? Are we spending enough time with the Father for Him to even show us what to intercede for? No doubt, Amos was spending time with God when he was shown the visions detailed above. Likewise, Amos must have been expecting something from God as he was able to discern what the visions he saw meant! He could have simply thought "it was something he ate."

I wonder how often God has given us visions that we passed off as bad or weird dreams?

The lesson here for me is that, first, I need to dedicate the time to allow the Father to reveal things to me. It will take time.

The next lesson is that I need to develop and maintain a sense of expectancy for what God is going to do - I need to look for God to speak to me though whatever means He chooses - visions, dreams, or circumstances. How easy is it to just pray to God with no sense of expectancy?

So my conclusion is that intercession takes time along with a sense of expectancy.

Father, please forgive me for all the time I have stolen from You - time that I should have been praying. And, forgive me for praying in a mind-numb state with no expectancy of what You will do. Help me in my prayer life to be effective and pleasing to You - and as that happens, I know I will be useful to You!