I Am Prayer

״ואני תפילה״ Psalm 109:4 “I Am Prayer”

In Psalm 109:4 King David declares before the Lord “I am prayer.” Most English translations record David saying, “I give myself to prayer.” However, in Hebrew it simply says “I”, “״ואני, and then “prayer”, “תפילה”, written as a noun. “Give myself to” is omitted in the Hebrew reading.

In this Hebrew structure David could have just as easily written, I am king or I am a child of God. David was feeling the pains of being hated by his friends, and then David strangely states, “I am prayer.” 

What does that even mean that you “are” prayer? That doesn’t even make sense! Prayer is an activity. It is something that you do. Right?

However, King David makes “prayer” his identity, the very essence of his being. The Spirit of prayer flowed in him naturally and gave him a grace to commune with God in intimacy and intercession.

Because David was declared by God to be the man after God’s own heart, it is wisdom and it behooves us to understand what David understood and pursue it. 

David’s revelation of becoming prayer is the high vision of Heaven for each one He created, regardless of individual callings.

From this prayerful communion with God we move into the fullness of our individual callings.

To become prayer is not only for the intercessors and worship leaders. King David himself was a king with many responsibilities. This baptism of the Spirit of Grace and Supplication is for everyone.

Why should we give ourselves to the act of prayer? By praying we, like David, will become prayer and enter into union with God.

Union with God

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. …If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”

- YESHUA  John 15:5,7

You were made for fellowship with the Holy, Uncreated God. You were created to become one with Him. Him in you and you in Him. God is looking for the man after His own heart, the ones who seeks Him and desires the high vision of union with Him. 

Yeshua gave His life to save you out of sin and into a sacred fellowship with the Godhead. He never meant for us to settle for only being saved from our sins. He wants to receive all He died for. The invitation is for all to come out of darkness and into the all-consuming light of an abiding companionship with God.

He longs for the two of you to become one flesh, that you would know His heart, His mind, and His emotions, and that your body would be infused with His Spirit and His strength.

The basic means by which He makes us one with Himself is the Spirit of prayer.

To know Him, love Him, enjoy His Presence, to be healed heart, mind, soul and body, to hear His voice speaking - all of this comes through the dance of prayer, the dance of listening, beholding and speaking to the God of your life.

“One thing is needed…” Yeshua.

“…a certain woman named Martha welcomed [Yeshua] into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Yeshua’s feet and heard His word.” 

“But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Yeshua answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”

- YESHUA Luke 10:38-42

One thing is needed. One thing? Lord, that doesn’t make sense.

As I sought the Lord on what He could mean, it dawned on me that it is from this “one thing” that all other things flow. Communion with Him is the source for all other needs being met. 

“The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1

Mary knew how to “abide in the vine,” by lingering long in the presence of the One Who is the Word of God made flesh. She heard His words and conversed with Him about the anointed words that poured forth from His lips. She was captivated.

“One thing I have desired of the Lord, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in His temple.” Psalm 27:4

Yeshua says “one thing is needed.” David, the man after God’s own heart says “one thing is desired.” And it all is centered in the dance of prayer, of sitting and listening to the Word of God, gazing on the beauty of God and asking Him questions. Prayer is the “one thing,” the foundational piece in your life with God.