Sweet Hour of Prayer, Part 2
See here for Part One:
I must admit, I started out my hour of prayer strong. I locked myself in a secluded room with only my Bible, my journal, and a clock. I determined beforehand that I would not waste my time constantly staring at the clock, but rather focus on Christ and the petition for myself and others. This is about prayer, not a record or marathon.
And I managed to confess every sin God brought to mind, intercede for every member of my extended and intimate family, plead on account of every unsaved person I knew, and even thank God for the rain – all in 20 minutes. I’ll have to confess, when I looked at the clock I was a little discouraged. And ashamed. After just twenty minutes I was tired and finished with my requests? What perseverance I have… not.
I began to ask the Lord, “What is the point of prayer? Why do I pray? Is this it? I just say what is on my list and then ‘amen’?” Just keep praying. Keep praying. So I continued on. Then I began to get sleepy. Maybe it was the early morning. Or the long day. Or maybe I am ten times weaker than I thought I was. My prayers became more desperate. Lord, please, give me strength. I’m doing this for You. I want to know You more. I want to be obedient to Your Word. But I’m just so sleepy. Please help. Then the revelation came.
A story popped in my mind: Jesus is desperately praying in the garden. The disciples are sleepy. Jesus tells them to stay awake and pray. They fall asleep. Jesus goes to pray, only to come back and find them sleeping. “And He said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”” (Matt. 26:40-41)
Jesus seemed to be talking to me in these verses. How weak I am that I cannot stay awake for one hour to pray to my Master! But wait… maybe this is the point of prayer. I am weak. He is strong. Prayer connects the two.
“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:16) “For this reason I bow my knees before the Father … that He may grant you to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in your inner being.” (Eph. 3:14, 16)
Prayer is drawing near to God for strength. Prayer is admitting my weakness, and clinging to Jesus for power and stability. Prayer is drawing near, receiving mercy, finding grace, getting help, discovering strength in Christ alone. No one else can offer this… only Jesus Christ.
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Filed under: Devotional Life on July 19th, 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. 
Kaysie,
Thanks for being honest and humble enough to share about your struggles with the one hour of prayer plan.
I’ve often wanted to try this, and I hope to soon.
I was just wondering if there were any immediate blessings from this, like did you really feel a closer sense of God’s presence?
Well, I recognize my need for prayer more. There was no “sun burst through the clouds” moment or anything like that, and there is nothing *special* about praying for one hour, but even though I didn’t *feel* any different after doing this, God used it to break my self-reliance and come to Him for strength. Through the course of a few days trying to pray for longer periods of time, God has shown me a lot about my sin, dependance, and need for grace through my weakness in prayer.
So, yeah, a lot of good has come out of it.
I think any time we determine to seek God more with our time, energy, and devotion, God will teach us things and reward us. (Heb. 11:6) Any amount of prayer (whether one hour or 10 minutes) helps our souls because it connects us to God and opens our hearts to listen and speak before God. That is powerful.
Great answer.
I agree with you that there’s nothing *special* in praying for one hour, but I think it can be really beneficial to do something different like this in our spiritual walk sometimes, and it’s neat to see some of the lessons you were shown.
This is a really neat post. Great lesson. God has gifted you with a lot of wisdom. I’m still praying for more women to learn to become prayer warriors. Perhaps you could meet with other women to do that. I just came from a Sat. prayer meeting, both men and woman. I can’t tell you the joy that comes with seeing our prayers answered. God bless you.
Amen. I myself often find that indeed, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Thank you for your honesty Kaysie, probably all of us have been there at one time or another. I find the times of most earnest and sweetest prayer are not the times when I’m praying for things, or people. It’s just me sitting on my bed, talking to God, most often with tears streaming down my face. It’s asking questions, it’s seeking the heart of God. I think you hit the nail on the head in that last paragraph. It’s not about the physical, or the logical things (lists, etc.), it’s about drawing near to Him and dwelling in His throne room.
I had never thought it it that way. But I think you hit it dead on! Thank you so much for sharing this experience. It has definitely changed the way I think about prayer.
To be able to see your heart and your desire to know your Saviour in a more intimate and personal way through this post was an extreme blessing. You are such an encouragement to me and I thank God for you and your desire to be true to Him in all areas! Blessings my dear!