Most believers do not rise to their full privilege in prayer. Successful prayer cannot be rushed. If we want to hear from heaven, we must allow time for God's voice to fully break through the din of life. When we have a tremendous amount of work to be done for the day, we dare not leave out prayer. As Martin Luther observed, "I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer."

The real danger in not taking sufficient time to commune with God and implore Him for our requests is the slow erosion of the Spirit's voice, when life's static distracts a believer from what is truly important and necessary for a successful life.

In this classic work on effective prayer, Will J. Harney reminds us that there are vast rewards in store for those who make prayer a priority. Prayer does not need to be a chore for the growing Christian, for it is one of the highest privileges accorded us. But to receive our divine answer, we must "pray clear through"-- that is, pray continually and with urgency until, at last, we hear from heaven.

"And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." (1 John 5:14-15)