My prayer time is personal. Sometimes it's distracted. Sometimes it's intense. Sometimes it's filled with words, and other times I struggle to find any.
I'm human. We all are.
But I've come to understand something: The secret place is where intimacy is cultivated, faith is strengthened, and transformation begins. We MUST take time to operate in that place.
I could spend the rest of my life studying, practicing, and teaching on prayer and still barely scratch the surface of what it means to commune with the living God.
Recently, during my quiet time, I've felt the Holy Spirit drawing my attention back to something important: The anointed person prays differently, and they see results.
Not because they have mastered some spiritual formula. Not because their vocabulary is more impressive. And certainly not because they have earned greater access to God.
They pray differently because they are learning WHO they are speaking to.
1. The Anointed Stop Performing and Start Communing
God is not impressed by religious performances. Or religious people.
Jesus warned against praying to be seen by others and against piling up empty phrases (Matthew 6:5-8).
Yet how often do we approach the throne of grace sounding like someone we aren’t? Using a voice that we typically don’t?
We polish our words. We hide our fears. We rehearse religious language while our hearts remain guarded because we don’t want to be disappointed or let down.
God does not need your performance. He desires your sincerity.
Bring Him your weaknesses. Your disappointments. Your fears. Your failures. Your gratitude.
The God who knows every thought before it reaches your tongue invites you to come boldly before His throne (Hebrews 4:16).
Stop trying to sound or be anointed and just seriously start pursuing intimacy.
2. The Anointed Give Voice to Their Prayers
There is something powerful about speaking to God aloud.
Not because God cannot hear silent prayers. He absolutely can. Hannah prayed silently, and God heard her (1 Samuel 1:13–20).
But speaking aloud can engage our attention, strengthen our intentionality, and give expression to faith.
Jesus prayed aloud. The early church lifted their voices together in prayer (Acts 4:24).
And when we pray in the authority of Jesus Christ, we are not speaking as powerless people trying to convince heaven to listen.
We are children approaching our Father through the access Jesus has already secured, speaking over an enemy that has already been defeated.
Remember, the authority is not in the volume of your voice, not in a formula or a particular phrase, nor is it how commanding you sound.
The authority belongs to Jesus Christ. And our ability to know and understand the commission He gave us to represent it.
Pray boldly. Pray audibly. But never confuse loudness with power.
3. The Anointed Pray With Specificity and Expectation
Some of us have become so culturally accustomed to vague prayers that we no longer recognize what we're actually asking God to do.
"Lord, bless them."
"Lord, will you put your hand upon this situation."
"Lord, move in their life."
There is nothing inherently wrong with these prayers. But why are we not being specific?
Blind Bartimaeus cried out to Jesus for mercy. Jesus asked him: "What do you want me to do for you?” -Mark 10:51 (ESV)**
It seemed kinda obvious. And Jesus knew his condition. Yet Bartimaeus answered specifically: he wanted to recover his sight.
Tell God where it hurts. Tell Him what you're afraid of. Ask Him for specific healing, or restoration, deliverance, wisdom or salvation.
James 5:16 reminds us that the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Pray with expectation, but surrender the outcome to God's wisdom.
Faith is not demanding that God fulfill our preferred result. It is trusting His character even when His answer differs from our request. You might need to read that again. Then, maybe again. And not just read it, but ingest it.
And when God answers, remember His faithfulness. Praise Him like you prayed to Him! Then, let yesterday's testimony strengthen tomorrow's prayers.
4. The Anointed Know When to Be Silent
This may be one of the most neglected disciplines of prayer.
We enter God's presence, unload our requests, say amen, and immediately return to the noise of our lives.
But prayer is more than presenting a list of needs: prayer is communion with the living God!
Psalm 46:10 tells us to be still and know that He is God.
How often do we actually make room for stillness?
Not every thought that enters our minds is the voice of the Holy Spirit. Unholy spirits are also working to influence us as often as possible. So we must test what we believe we hear against Scripture (1 John 4:1). God will never lead us to contradict His revealed Word.
But back to the point here, we should make room to reflect, listen, repent, receive conviction, and allow Scripture to shape our hearts.
Here’s another, what might seem like an obvious point: don’t become so consumed with speaking to God that you neglect being shaped by His presence.
5. The Anointed Believe God Is Listening
Jeremiah 33:3 says: "Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known." (ESV)
God spoke those words to Jeremiah in a specific moment, but they reveal something precious about His character: He is not distant, indifferent, or incapable of responding.
And through Jesus Christ, we have the astonishing privilege of approaching our heavenly Father.
So why do we sometimes pray as though nobody is listening? Why do we ask for God to move while inwardly assuming nothing will change?
Hebrews 11:6 tells us that whoever draws near to God must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him.
Let’s again make sure this point is being heard… prayer should not be a religious obligation we endure. It should be a relationship we eagerly pursue.
The goal is not simply to have more prayers answered, the goal is to know God more deeply, trust Him more completely, and become increasingly obedient to His voice as revealed through His Word and Spirit.
I wonder how much of our prayer life has become routine rather than relationship.
How often do we speak words our hearts have stopped engaging?
How often do we rush through the very presence we claim to desire?
The anointing of the Holy Spirit is not a reward for impressive prayers. It is God's gracious work in and through surrendered lives.
You don't need a platform, a title, a microphone, or an audience.
You need a surrendered heart.
And you have an invitation to draw near to the Father through Jesus Christ. So let’s stop performing and start truly communing.
What does your prayer life look and sound like right now? Maybe today is the time to begin to unlearn some bad habits and begin a new walk in prayer.
~Devin
Devin Osborne
The Early Church
