Praying the Way He Wants Me to Pray!

Praying the Way He Wants Me to Pray!
(Written while incarcerated in 2001)
by Katie Souza

 “For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you brought Me together with yourselves and welcomed and entertained and lodged Me, …” Matthew 25:35 (AMPC)

At prayer meeting, Sister Constance had major back problems.  I wanted to help her, so I rubbed her back and prayed, but nothing happened.  I did not get anything from Holy Spirit, which proves to me that when we do anything without His go ahead, there will be no power in it, even if it is something good and loving.  So, was it wrong or a waste of time to rub her back and pray for her?

This morning I had a dream that I was sanding or polishing something brass – that’s me; I’m trying to cleanse and purify before the 21^st. Father, I pray and ask you to guide me into a fast.

Today I felt a desire to go to the prayer meeting all day.  While I napped before 12:30 pm, I was getting revelation, but now I can’t remember what it was. When I got to the prayer meeting, I got very hot when I was praying. I felt stupid as I prayed for drug addicts because I felt like I was bumbling through it.  But, I was physically very hot.  After I was done, I cooled off.

On the first day of the Kairos reunion, I got a name tag that had a singing sun and people who were singing too.  I drew posters and had a good time.  Nothing from the Lord, except I realized that I was wrong about Kairos.  Forgive me, Father.

On the second day of Kairos, we had really good speakers. They gave us a bag full of cards, each one handwritten especially for us. I stood up and asked Stacy to forgive me. I don’t think she took it well, but I did my part and was obedient.  I planted a seed; God will water it.  I will begin to pray for her now.  We even had a half-hour prayer session at our table.

Kairos does these things:

• Every day of the meeting, hundreds of people pray for all of us
• Every card and name tag are prayed over as they are hand-drawn
• Each speaker is prayed over in the chapel before they speak
• All day long they take prayer requests, put them in a basket, and pray over them

On the third day, we had to learn everybody’s name!  I am not good at remembering people’s names.  I need to change that. I expect better relationships because of this third Kairos day.  I realize that I have always wanted to be the center of attention.  Now I want to know more about other people and step into the background.

At 8:00 pm prayer meeting, I asked the Lord to give me the strength to pray more. He has given me the desire, but now I need the strength and concentration to do it.  I also need the Lord to provide the names, faces, and situations to pray for.

I am still praying for the ability to discern a “yes” or a “no” and if they are from the Lord or my flesh. The October 12th Daily Bread talked about a man who would write “YBH” in the margins of the books he read, meaning “yes, but how?”  He said it meant he agreed with the author, but didn’t know how to get that truth off the page and into his life.  Sometimes it’s hard to translate the printed page and put it into practice.  How do we actually go about hearing from God?

Tonight, I prayed and asked the Lord to tell me if I was going to go to court or straight home.  So, I let the Bible fall open and it opened to the scripture where Jesus goes back to his hometown.  I asked the Lord to confirm that this was from Him.

Today is Sherrie’s 25th B-DAY!!

As I was half asleep this morning, I started thinking/dreaming of people that I hadn’t thought of in a long time.  I thought that meant that the Lord wanted me to pray for them.  I did, but not fully.  I needed to awake fully and pray.  I asked that the Lord would give me the strength to pray more. Could this be part of the answer? Lord, help me respond to it.  I saw Jacky C, then I prayed that Sherrie and Hulda’s party would go very well.

“Everything you ask for in prayer will be yours, if you only have faith.”
Mark 11:24 (CEV)

I dreamed that Darlene’s daughter, Shawna, and Tracy’s brother were having an affair and that she had a mastectomy.  I woke up and began praying for her. Then I asked the Father if both of those things were true or if it was just a dream.  I couldn’t remember Tracy’s brother’s name, so I asked Holy Spirit if the mastectomy part was true, please give me his name. I did not hear anything. Then, I said, “If the other is true…” suddenly I heard, “Lewis”.  So, I started to pray.  I was half asleep and praying haphazardly when I heard, “Stop praying for her.”  I thought, “What”?  So, I stopped praying and I started slipping back into sleep again.  The next thing I knew, I was roused by the Father telling me to come against the enemy for her vigorously and put a wall of fire around her! Wow, God told me to stop praying for her so I would get quiet in my mind and be able to hear specific instructions on what and how to pray.  He was guiding me to pray the way He wanted me to pray!

Do you ever wonder why your prayers seem to go unanswered? Could it be that you are praying from your own soul and are not praying Spirit-led prayers?

Try listening for directions before praying and see if you see a major difference in the results you get. Then, let us know what happened in the comments below!

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