Habakkuk’s prayer is motivated by his knowledge of God’s past fame, and his own reverence for the work that God had done in the past.

What would it look like if I prayed like Habakkuk? How can his prayer be my model in my prayers that I will pray today?

I still remember how my life was changed when I started to read a book about martyrs who gave up their life for their love of Jesus. Reading history and learning of how God moved in revivals is also another powerful encouragement that teaches me how to pray. I have this hope because I know it has been done before.

O Lord, I have heard of what you have done,
    and I am filled with awe.
Now do again in our times
    the great deeds you used to do.
Be merciful, even when you are angry. – Habakkuk 3:2 GNT

This prayer leads me to pray boldly. What made these men and women of yesteryear so great was God. God answered their prayers and worked in their situations. It only means that He will work in mine and He will answer my prayers. As I think of what He has done, I am being invited to pray for those great things, and greater things to take place again.

May my prayers for the future be as grand as God’s deeds in the past.

Here is the rest of the first part of his prayer.

God is coming again from Edom;
    the holy God is coming from the hills of Paran.
His splendor covers the heavens,
    and the earth is full of his praise.
He comes with the brightness of lightning;
    light flashes from his hand,
    there where his power is hidden.
He sends disease before him
    and commands death to follow him.
When he stops, the earth shakes;
    at his glance the nations tremble.
The eternal mountains are shattered;
    the everlasting hills sink down,
    the hills where he walked in ancient times. – Habakkuk 3:3-7 GNT

What a picture of the power of God’s Kingdom. May my prayers have such a consuming passion. It is why Jesus prayed for God’s kingdom to come and His will be done. Through this kind of prayer God can ordain such a feat. It is a prayer that can change the direction of our world. It is a prayer that prays for the things that burden the heart of God. It is not about what I want, as Jesus modelled so well. It is about praying with confidence in God’s sovereign rule over everything. I am being called to pray with an adequate and appropriate vision of God’s eternal purposes – that is where my confidence and my hope comes from. I do not trust what my eyes see around me.

Kingdom prayer is a bit of prophetic prayer too – every knee will bow someday. It is a place where I view Jesus on His throne of grace and in glory. It is a place where I turn from doom and gloom to one of praise and hope.

Here is what Jesus’ prayer looked like in the vein that I have been sharing.

Jesus left the city and went, as he usually did, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples went with him. When he arrived at the place, he said to them, “Pray that you will not fall into temptation.”

Then he went off from them about the distance of a stone’s throw and knelt down and prayed. “Father,” he said, “if you will, take this cup of suffering away from me. Not my will, however, but your will be done.” An angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. In great anguish he prayed even more fervently; his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.^[c]

Rising from his prayer, he went back to the disciples and found them asleep, worn out by their grief. He said to them, “Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray that you will not fall into temptation.” – Luke 22:39-46 GNT

Jesus prayed a simple prayer, but it was not simplistic.

He added an element that we have not talked about yet and that is this – if I do not pray, I could fall into temptation. So I can chose to pray or fall into temptation. I must learn how to pray so that I can overcome.

I love the fact that Jesus calls the disciples to pray – not that He would pray for them. I have to remind myself – He is not asking them to pray against sin, but against temptation.

“The Christian most prepared to conquer temptation is the one who prays and plans against it.”

Prayer matters and as sovereign God rules the universe, prayer plays a role. Things happen or do not because His people pray.

When I come to a place where I am not just praying against my sin, but against the temptation to sin, it is in that place that I can see myself humbling maturing.

By praying against temptation, am I not seeking to avoid it? In doing so, am I not becoming a means to God answering my prayer? It is the very act of praying that engages me more deeply in the fight.

“God really does keep us from some temptations in response to our prayers.”

Praying against temptation put me on the path of planning against it as well.

At least I will not be taken off guard by it because of prayer – it is like I am making myself ready for battle. I am most prepared to conquer temptation when I pray and plan against it.

“It is grace not only to be kept from sin but also from temptation.”

That means that I can expect God to answer my prayers in different ways when it comes to temptation. I can expect God to not only keep me from temptation but keep me through them as well.

The secret of effective praying is found in the verse, in the words “WITHOUT CEASING.”
In the Revised Version, “without ceasing” is rendered “earnestly.” Neither rendering gives the full force of the Greek. The word means literally “stretched-out-ed-ly.” It is a pictorial word, and wonderfully expressive. It represents the soul on a stretch of earnest and intense desire. “Intensely” would perhaps come as near translating it as any English word. It is the word used of our Lord in Luke 22:44 where it is said, “He prayed more earnestly: and His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” – R. A. Torrey