The Hose of Prayer

The water table was high. The well was deep. The pump was pumping. The faucet was on. Water was expected to pour from the faucet, yet water was nowhere to be seen. Such was the scene at my Mom and Dad’s house when I was a teen.

Mysteriously, the water that had poured into our house the night before providing us with the means to do laundry, to cook, to bathe and to brush our teeth had vanished the next morning.  The means to carry out the necessities of life had been stolen.  The culprit was not drought, nor was it a bad pump.  The culprit was rust.  Rust had eaten a hole in pipe reaching from the pump down into the ground taping into the water table.

I’ll never forget how we survived the next couple of days.  Our neighbor had a well that was only 10-15 feet away from ours. It pumped water from the very same water table and his well didn’t have a hole in the pipe. The solution was so simple.  We ran a water hose from a water spigot running off of his well to a water spigot to our house.  His pump pumped the water from the ground through his water spigot through the water hose to our house providing us with the water we so desperately needed.

Prayer is much the same way.  We find ourselves in spiritual desperation and in physical distress, yet we still try to meet our needs through the well of self.  The pump is still running; there is still a lot of things “I” can do.  But the pump won’t prime – it will not accomplish anything.  The well of self has a hole in it caused by the rust of sin.  The only way to have our needs met is to go to our neighbor, our Friend, and draw from Him.  We must run the hose of prayer attaching it to the spigots of faith in order to tap into the rivers of life that would spring up into our souls.

When Abraham talked to the Lord in Genesis 18, he did so believing that the Lord would answer his request.  He understood that there was nothing he could do of his own might to save the cities, but he knew that the Lord would do that which was right.  He had faith not only that his prayer could move the heart of God, but that his prayer would move the heart of God.

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering – James 1:6

Mysteriously, it seems we have lost the power to move the heart of God.  Could the answer be so simple? Our faith needs to draw from Him and not the well of self.  We need to stop believing that prayer can move the heart of God and start believing that the prayer of faith will move the heart of God.

[Article 3 of 7 in Series on Prayer]

Article 1 – An Anomaly of the Christian Life

Article 2 – Between Friend

Article 3 – The Hose of Prayer

Article 4 – Forged Prayer

Article 5 – Lord, Teach Us to Pray

Article 6 – The Praying Hands

Article 7 – God Remembered