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Much Time Should Be Given
to Prayer
from
POWER THROUGH PRAYER
by
Edward M. Bounds
Luke
6:12 (KJV)
And it came to pass in
those days,
that Jesus went
out into a mountain to pray,
and continued all night in
prayer to God.
The great masters and teachers in
Christian doctrine have always found in prayer their highest source of
illumination. Not to go beyond the limits of the English Church, it is recorded
of Bishop Andrews that he spent five hours daily on his knees. The greatest
practical resolves that have enriched and beautified human life in Christian
times have been arrived at in prayer.—Canon Liddon
While many private prayers, in the nature of things, must be short; while public prayers, as a rule, ought to be short and condensed; while there is ample room for and value put on ejaculatory prayer—yet in our private communions with God time is a feature essential to its value. Much time spent with God is the secret of all successful praying. Prayer which is felt as a mighty force is the mediate or immediate product of much time spent with God. Our short prayers owe their point and efficiency to the long ones that have preceded them. The short prevailing prayer cannot be prayed by one who has not prevailed with God in a mightier struggle of long continuance. Jacob’s victory of faith could not have been gained without that all-night wrestling. God’s acquaintance is not made by pop calls. God does not bestow his gifts on the casual or hasty comers and goers. Much with God alone is the secret of knowing him and of influence with him. He yields to the persistency of a faith that knows him. He bestows his richest gifts upon those who declare their desire for and appreciation of those gifts by the constancy as well as earnestness of their importunity. Christ, who in this as well as other things is our Example, spent many whole nights in prayer. His custom was to pray much. He had his habitual place to pray. Many long seasons of praying make up his history and character. Paul prayed day and night. It took time from very important interests for Daniel to pray three times a day. David’s morning, noon, and night praying were doubtless on many occasions very protracted. While we have no specific account of the time these Bible saints spent in prayer, yet the indications are that they consumed much time in prayer, and on some occasions long seasons of praying was their custom. We would not have any think that the value of their prayers is to be measured by the clock, but our purpose is to impress on our minds the necessity of being much alone with God; and that if this feature has not been produced by our faith, then our faith is of a feeble and surface type. The men who have most fully illustrated Christ in their character, and have most powerfully affected the world for him, have been men who spent so much time with God as to make it a notable feature of their lives. Charles Simeon devoted the hours from four till eight in the morning to God. Mr. Wesley spent two hours daily in prayer. He began at four in the morning. Of him, one who knew him well wrote: "He thought prayer to be more his business than anything else, and I have seen him come out of his closet with a serenity of face next to shining." John Fletcher stained the walls of his room by the breath of his prayers. Sometimes he would pray all night; always, frequently, and with great earnestness. His whole life was a life of prayer. "I would not rise from my seat," he said, "without lifting my heart to God." His greeting to a friend was always: "Do I meet you praying?" Luther said: "If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day. I have so much business I cannot get on without spending three hours daily in prayer." He had a motto: "He that has prayed well has studied well." Archbishop Leighton was so much alone with God that he seemed to be in a perpetual meditation. "Prayer and praise were his business and his pleasure," says his biographer. Bishop Ken was so much with God that his soul was said to be God-enamored. He was with God before the clock struck three every morning. Bishop Asbury said: "I propose to rise at four o’clock as often as I can and spend two hours in prayer and meditation." Samuel Rutherford, the fragrance of whose piety is still rich, rose at three in the morning to meet God in prayer. Joseph Alleine arose at four o’clock for his business of praying till eight. If he heard other tradesmen plying their business before he was up, he would exclaim: "O how this shames me! Doth not my Master deserve more than theirs?" He who has learned this trade well draws at will, on sight, and with acceptance of heaven’s unfailing bank. One of the holiest and among the most gifted of Scotch preachers says: "I ought to spend the best hours in communion with God. It is my noblest and most fruitful employment, and is not to be thrust into a corner. The morning hours, from six to eight, are the most uninterrupted and should be thus employed. After tea is my best hour, and that should be solemnly dedicated to God. I ought not to give up the good old habit of prayer before going to bed; but guard must be kept against sleep. When I awake in the night, I ought to rise and pray. A little time after breakfast might be given to intercession." This was the praying plan of Robert McCheyne. The memorable Methodist band in their praying shame us. "From four to five in the morning, private prayer; from five to six in the evening, private prayer." John Welch, the holy and wonderful Scotch preacher, thought the day ill spent if he did not spend eight or ten hours in prayer. He kept a plaid that he might wrap himself when he arose to pray at night. His wife would complain when she found him lying on the ground weeping. He would reply: "O woman, I have the souls of three thousand to answer for, and I know not how it is with many of them!"
Gen 32:24-26
(KJV)
And Jacob was left alone;
and there wrestled a man with him until
the breaking of the day.
{25} And when he saw that he
prevailed not against him,
he touched the hollow of his thigh;
and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of
joint, as he wrestled with him.
{26} And he said, Let me go, for
the day breaketh.
And he said, I will not let thee go,
except thou bless me.
1 Sam 12:23-24
(KJV)
Moreover as for me,
God forbid that I should sin against the
LORD in ceasing to pray for you:
but I will teach you the good and the
right way:
{24} Only fear the LORD,
and serve him in truth with all your
heart;
for consider how great things he
hath done for you.
Psa 22:2-5
(KJV)
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou
hearest not;
and in the night season, and am not
silent.
{3} But thou art holy,
O thou that inhabitest the praises
of Israel.
{4} Our fathers trusted in thee:
they trusted, and thou didst deliver
them.
{5} They cried unto thee, and were
delivered:
they trusted in thee, and were not
confounded.
Mat 14:22-23
(KJV)
And straightway Jesus constrained his
disciples to get into a ship,
and to go before him unto the other side,
while he sent the multitudes away.
{23} And when he had sent the
multitudes away,
he went up into a mountain apart to pray:
and when the evening was come, he was
there alone.
Luke 18:7-8 (KJV)
And shall not God avenge his own
elect,
which cry day and night unto him,
though he bear long with
them?
{8} I tell you that he will
avenge them speedily.
Col 4:1-3 (KJV)
Masters, give unto your servants
that which is just and equal;
knowing that ye also have a Master in
heaven.
{2} Continue in prayer,
and watch{G=keep awake, be
vigilent} in the same with thanksgiving;
{3} Withal praying also for us,
that God would open unto us a door of
utterance,
to speak the mystery of Christ, for which
I am also in bonds:
Col 4:12 (KJV)
Epaphras, who is one of you, a
servant of Christ, saluteth you,
always labouring fervently for you in
prayers,
that ye may stand perfect and complete in
all the will of God.
Col 1:9-20
(KJV)
For this cause we also, since the day we
heard it,
do not cease to pray for you,
and to desire that ye might be
filled
with the knowledge of his will in
all wisdom and spiritual understanding;
{10} That ye might walk worthy of
the Lord unto all pleasing,
being fruitful in every good work,
and increasing in the knowledge of God;
{11} Strengthened with all might,
according to his glorious power,
unto all patience and longsuffering with
joyfulness;
{12} Giving thanks unto the Father,
which hath made us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the
saints in light:
{13} Who hath delivered us from the
power of darkness,
and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear Son:
{14} In whom we have redemption
through his blood,
even the forgiveness of sins:
{15} Who is the image of the
invisible God,
the firstborn of every creature:
{16} For by him were all things
created,
that are in heaven, and that are in earth,
visible and invisible,
whether they be thrones, or
dominions, or principalities, or powers:
all things were created by him, and for
him:
{17} And he is before all things,
and by him all things consist.
{18} And he is the head of the
body, the church:
who is the beginning, the firstborn
from the dead;
that in all things he might have
the preeminence.
{19} For it pleased the Father
that in him should all fulness dwell;
{20} And, having made peace through
the blood of his cross,
by him to reconcile all things unto
himself;
by him, I say, whether they be
things in earth,
or things in heaven.
IXTHEUS CHRISTIAN GROWTH DEVOTIONALS
ALWAYS FREE OF
CHARGE
(but not necessarily free
of COST)
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God Bless You.....brother
bob.......<><
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