Friends, Some one just came to me after attending a conference with 7,000 people where they were told that if they wanted "to move in signs and wonders they must pray three hours per day." Speaking against this proposition will seem to many like speaking against prayer so what I say may be spitting into the wind but here we go anyway.

When will we begin to see that we are not occultists manipulating god with our spiritual technology? So what if you pray three hours per day. Why not three hours, three minutes and three seconds? Triple three would be a really holy number! Is three hours the magic number to convince God to do something that He really does not want to do? What does such foolishness speak about your picture of God?

Acts 19 does not say that God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul because he prayed three hours per day. There is no New Testament basis for this three hour stuff. Actually Paul instructs us to pray without ceasing and that sounds like the flow of your heart; That sounds like focus your heart upon Him always and give Him the affections of your heart; That does not sound like filling up three hours with spiritual blather. We are not putting in hours, we are building a relationship. We are not filling time, we are creating it. We are not filling up bowls of intercession, we are in relationship with our Father.

Besides none of the people on the platform giving amen to this nonsense pray three hours a day. If any do and then talk about it, they already have their reward. Jesus had a lot to say about people who make long prayers for public consumption. His commandment was to pray in secret so that God could reward openly.

Why do we go to these events to pay money to be made to feel guilty and useless because we do not pray three hours a day? It is very simple. If the glory of the grace of Christ was preached; If the richness of the indwelling Christ was preached; If the finished work of the cross was preached; If entering into rest and ceasing from our own works was preached; If the people were made to know their completeness and freedom in Christ- they might just go out and do the signs and wonders and not come back to the next conference. However, if you make them feel guilty and useless they will come back for another round to learn what they must do to work the works of God. They come back for another round of impartation from the anointed ones. They come back with another round of offerings.

It is the donkey's carrot and the stick.

The carrot is signs and wonders and platform ministry.

The stick is guilt over not praying enough.

When will the body of Christ realize that they are not a donkey?

Just saying

Steve