A coming, terrible judgment and a great salvation that has its well-spring in Zion, reaching all nations and destroying “the shroud that enfolds all people” (Isaiah 25:7). The prophet gives his message and then prays: a prayer of trust (the key to inner peace in the coming turbulence), followed by a prayer of hunger for God. The second one is going to give us our Pray in the Rain focus.
Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts. My soul yearns for you in the night, in the morning my spirit longs for you. (Isaiah 26:8, 9)
The Lord’s name should be earth’s greatest attraction. When the heart’s compass is fixed on him, living takes the route we were designed for. The prophet understands that. He also understands that if the Name is to be the focus of other hearts, it must first be the desire of our hearts. And that starts with my heart. So he prays his own hunger for God: my soul yearns…my spirit longs for you.
Isaiah is looking at a panorama of future happenings, both pleasant and unpleasant. He knows that in everything –judgment, restoration, pain and peace – the Lord always draws attention to his name. And the prophet wants what God wants, so he prays it: hunger for the fame of your name (TPT)
It was a prayer for his nation to have an appetite for God. But it was also personal; pouring out his own day-and-night hunger for the Lord.
Pray in the Rain – HUNGER for the Lord
In Christ, we echo that prayer of Isaiah, but our hunger-reach goes beyond the Old Covenant ceiling. In fact, Christ has connected us into the very same longing that he has for the Father’s Glory (Eph 3:21), and he has given us his own Spirit to keep deepening our hunger-reach.
A prayer of hunger is a declaration of desire for the Lord. By it, we announce that his name is worthy to be wanted above all else; that our greatest longing is him, his presence, his voice and his Glory.
Our Pray in the Rain scripture from the Wingspan Pray Scripture Bank (Appetite/for the Lord to be known) is the above passage, (a segment of) Isaiah 26:8-9. Use the guide below, adapt it, or create an entirely new one from the anchor scripture to build agreement with the Lord in prayer.
I DESIRE YOU, LORD
My soul yearns for you in the night, in the morning my spirit longs for you.
- Pray PRAISE. Exalt the Lord that he shines and doesn’t remain hidden. He has chosen to make his Glory known in order to draw men to want him.
- Pray THANKS. Tell the Lord of your gratitude that he created you to want him, and that he made it possible for you to live the satisfying life that has desire for him at the centre.
- Pray CELEBRATION. Rejoice that freedom in Christ allows you to live hungry for him; filled, yet always reaching deeper into his fullness.
- Pray HUNGER. Use the thoughts below to voice your desire for the Lord:
- You are the great desire of my life, but I long to know you more deeply than I do.
- The inner yearning for you can’t be satisfied by anything less, and there’s nothing I long for more than you.
- I want to know Christ (Phil 3:10). Use these words of Paul as a prayer conversation piece.
- This hunger for you isn’t an occasional interest. I choose for it to be my way of life, in the night and in the morning. I want hunger for you to define me.
- I read your Word to hear your voice, but I long to hear you more clearly.
- I thirst for you. I want my awareness of your presence to spread into the busy activities as well as the quiet rhythms of each new day.
- The more I see you, the more I want to be like you. And the more you change me, the more I want to see you.
I LONG FOR YOUR NAME TO BE DESIRED
Your name and renown are the desire of our hearts
- Focus on a church, or cluster of churches. With the above personal prayers of hunger as your platform, tell the Lord of your longing that his name (his Glory & presence) be the great desire of that church family – a hunger that (wonderfully) overwhelms hearts and defines them when gathered and when dispersed in daily life.
- Focus on a people group, nation or community. The Lord desires the fame of his name among them; agree with him about that. Declare that he is worthy to be wanted, known, loved and worshipped there. As you pray your own hunger for him, ask for the Spirit to awaken a similar longing in their hearts. Ask for a hunger-for-Christ movement among them.
