I’m always on the lookout for “trade secrets” when it comes to prayer. I’ve discovered six practical steps to a more powerful prayer life which I share in my new book,Sometimes He Whispers, Sometimes He Roars: Learning to Hear the Voice of God. But my greatest lesson didn’t come, as I would have expected, through discipline or fervor or a clever plan. My greatest lesson in powerful prayer came, instead, through weakness.
My husband David and I battled through years of infertility before we finally had our three children. Waiting for the deepest longing of your heart is not what I’d call fun. Many of you know what I’m talking about. You have prayed and prayed about something. You’ve heard God whisper to you to keep believing. And yet the answer still hasn’t come.
But a time of waiting can be incredibly fruitful–a season when our faith muscles have a chance to grow. That’s why I refer to this time in my life as “wait training.” The Bible gives plenty of encouragement about how to “wait well.”
During our years of infertility, I strengthened myself on the promises of God’s Word. I held tightly to verses about healing—too many to count—day after day, month after month, year after year. I learned to hear God’s whispers of encouragement and trust His character, even when my circumstances seemed hopeless. In short, I learned the secret of what the apostle John calls “abiding in Christ.”
If you’re in the waiting room right now, be encouraged by the words of 19th century preacher, Charles Spurgeon:
The longer the blessing is in coming, the richer it will be when it arrives. That which is gained speedily by a single prayer is sometimes only a second-rate blessing; but that which is gained after many a desperate tug and many an awful struggle is a full-weighted and precious blessing.
Training Tips:
Listen as David and I talk about our time of “wait training” on WBT’s David Chadwick Show.
Learn my six-step prayer method in an interview with Wendy Blight. Check out her February 28th post.
marilynn chadwick 