Soaking Prayer
“Soaking Prayer, what is that?”
The term soaking prayer has caused many different reactions. For those who understand the concept, it has become life changing. Soaking prayer is our effort to explain to a do-do-do culture what it is to just be-be-be.
The whole point is simply being with the One who created you for relationship; only from that intimate relationship will a fruitful life flow. Our relationship with Him, like any other, must be cultivated daily and it must be two way. That’s what soaking is all about learning to not just talk at God but to wait before Him and listen to His voice, resting in His Presence.
The concept of soaking prayer is nothing new. During previous revivals, people referred to it as “waiting on the Lord” or “tarrying” as they lingered, expecting God to touch them.
Soaking includes waiting, but there is so much more. We choose to rest in His love rather than to strive in prayer. It is an active rest; we wait expectantly. Soaking prayer time is spending time with God, like being marinated in His love. You can actually feel God loving you. Marinating a steak changes its flavor.
Esther in the Bible prepared herself to meet the king with beauty treatments that included one year of soaking in different kinds of spices. In the same way, as I just rest and reflect in my heavenly Father’s unconditional love, my heart softens. As the psalmist says, “Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him…” (Ps.37:7).
When we pray, we often wonder whether we’re even worthy to enter His presence, whether the Creator of the universe has time to just sit with us and pour into us. Does He care about the issues of my heart, the questions that I have, the dreams that I have, the potential that I have, the healing that I need? Who is He? What does He think about me? Does He have a plan for my life? God’s answers to those questions are life-changing, life-transforming, and revolutionizing. When we soak, we take time to listen for His answers.
Soaking prayer is also about learning to come to Him for Him, for His heart, learning to adore Him, learning to get lost in Him. We lay down our own ideas and agendas in order to focus on Him. In that place of resting, of being vulnerable and open to Him, of getting to know Him and being known by Him, our hearts capture the answers to our life questions.
I am amazed by the simplicity of connecting heart-to-heart with my Maker. We want to be so sophisticated, but it is very simple. When our hearts the hidden, hard, dry, disappointed, lost, underperforming, hurt, and squelched parts start to receive the first splash of the river of His love, the revelation moves from our minds to our hearts. And God captures and heals the human heart with the power of His love!
Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30).
Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God.…”
There is so much noise around us, and inside we constantly think of things to do. We need to give ourselves permission to take time for ourselves, time when we can be still, focus on the Lord, and listen to His voice. Then is when our hearts will receive the revelation of who God is and who we are in Him.
The result is that you will know God more intimately. It’s not being still and knowing about God, but getting to know His heart. We must take time alone with Him, time to just be in His presence in order to have more of His presence in our daily lives.
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