A Prayer Secret

2 Kings 19:15

And Hezekiah prayed before the LORD, and said, O LORD God of Israel, which dwellest between the cherubims, thou art the God, even thou alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; thou hast made heaven and earth.

One of the secrets to Hezekiah's success was that he was a man of prayer. Nobody will ever be a success for God who does not make prayer an essential part of their life. Too many people try to do everything on their own and only run to prayer in a crisis, instead of being a person of prayer who not only has a prayer time, but they have a prayer life. Hezekiah did good as long as he kept his prayer life, but the moment he left his prayer life was the moment he made foolish decisions that ruined his testimony.

You are as great a Christian as your prayer life. You show me what your prayer life is like, and I will show you what kind of Christian you are. You cannot have the power of God and serve God successfully with power without having a fervent prayer life. Hezekiah's prayer life had some great secrets that helped him to get answers to prayer. Let me share some of these secrets with you.

First, in the day of trouble, he prayed. 2 Kings 19:3 says, Thus saith Hezekiah, This day is a day of trouble… Hezekiah did not wait until the troubles were past or until they troubled his life to the point that he had no hope, but he immediately went to God in prayer when the troubles came. Too many people wait until they have tried every other resource before going to God in prayer, when they need to make prayer their immediate action when trouble comes. Never adopt the mindset that you don't want to bother God with your problems. Let me remind you that God wants to be bothered with your problems. 1 Peter 5:7 says, Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Hebrews 4:16 reminds us, Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Matthew 7:7 says, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: God would not give us these verses if He did not want us to come to Him in prayer.

Second, Hezekiah often went to the house of God to pray. Jesus said in Matthew 21:13, …My house shall be called the house of prayer… I believe it is good to use the church altar to pray during the invitation time. Bringing your problems to the altar during the invitation time shows God that you are serious about Him answering your prayers. I also believe it would be beneficial to visit the church altar during the week to pray, especially when facing problems that require an immediate answer.

Third, Hezekiah spread his prayers before God. In other words, he would have his prayer requests written out on paper and spread them out on the altar, much like you would spread out papers on your desk that you are working on. He would take those papers and show God what His problem was. It would be good to take your prayers to the church altar and spread them out before God on paper. Take your bills and spread them out on the altar, and ask God to supply your needs to pay those bills. Whatever your prayer is that you need an answer to, write it out on paper and spread it before God on the altar; it is this type of prayer that shows God you are willing to follow the model of prayer that He has already answered, and that you believe that He can do the same for you.