Sweet Hour of Prayer, Part 1
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
That calls me from a world of care,
And bids me at my Father’s throne
Make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief,
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare,
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer! - William W. Walford
As I was humming this hymn the other day, the lyrics and message of this song began to stir some questions and desires in my heart about prayer. My first question was, “Have I ever prayed for a straight hour?” …I don’t think so. Actually I will be more honest: prayer is a weak area for me. I don’t do it enough, and I seldom find the “relief and escape” the hymn writer describes. Most of my prayers are casual. I say a quick prayer for someone or myself throughout the day, but I hardly ever dedicate sufficient amounts of time devoted to prayer. This answer and reality awakened a desire in me to experience the sweetness of prayer; to commune with Jesus more intimately; to answer His call – for an entire hour.
I know praying for one hour is really a little “goal”. Not to undermine the eternal difference a “little” or “big” prayer can make, but compared to many prayer warriors out there, my little “challenge” may arouse laughter or sighs. That’s ok. I will humbly admit it: I don’t pray as I should. When I examine Scripture and find the commands and examples for prayer, I realize I fall desperately below the mark. But, by God’s grace and Spirit, I desire to change and become fervent in prayer.
“Pray without ceasing…” 1 Thessalonians 5:17
Tomorrow I hope to post my struggles and thoughts about my hour of prayer.
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Filed under: Devotional Life on July 18th, 2008
I'm Kaysie, 22. Jesus follower. Lover of sunshine, trees, hot tea, books, music, family, the gospel, poetry and Barnes and Nobles. Has a weird obsession with paper. Over-analyzes almost everything. Adores simplicity. Lucky for you. 
I can’t wait to hear about how you did. Prayer is also something that often alludes me. I’m just not sure what to pray about either. I mean, of course, I pray for others when I know of a specific request and for the general safety of family and friends…but other than that, it’s a non-stop Lord give me this-fest, which I hate doing. I’ve taken to asking for strength and other spiritual gifts, rather than material things, but the guilt is still there. Maybe you should do a friendly forum on prayer. Or is that too personal to ask people how they pray and what they pray about?
I think that would be a great idea! I’ll start setting one up.
I would also love to hear about how others pray and honestly focus of Christ instead of requests. Thanks for your comment.
This is something that I have thought about too. For about a week or so, I was praying for quite awhile (not an hour though) before going to bed. Going over all the people that need prayer and thanking God for all his gifts. I haven’t been doing as well lately. I am so tired when I go to bed and my mind wanders from prayer to other things. But I am going to try to get in a full hour strait of prayer before I leave for camp. I have a post on prayer that I have scheduled to be published later this week.
In Christ,
Olivia
To be honest, prayer is an area that I tend to lack in as well, although I have improved. Thanks for being so open and honest.
I think that prayer is an area that a lot of people have problems with. I think some of it might, subconsciously, be societal (as in we’re (I’m generalizing the American society) taught that talking aloud while no one else is visibly there is unacceptable past a certain age). And we also have no clear cut directions. We aren’t told how much asking for things, even spiritual gifts, is too much.
I know that God is generally just happen to listen and is glad we’re talking to Him. But I, personally, want to make it a focused conversation that has a point and doesn’t meander into blathering, like it so often does after a few minutes or as I’m going to sleep.
Sometimes, it is hard to do that “hour of prayer,” but the Lord really desires us to come to him all throughout the day. When we don’t read the Word or pray for a certain amount of time, we can feel like lesser Christians. The constant little prayers we pray countless times every hour mean just as much to Him.
[...] Sweet Hour of Prayer, Part 1 [...]
Ella, you are exactly right. And the Lord revealed those wrong motives in my heart through my prayer time. Is is not about the amount of time, even though we think it does, but truly coming to Christ for our needs, requests, and desperation for Him.