Posted on by Angela

3 Tips for Spending an Hour in Prayer 

 I was privileged to lead the prayer ministry at our church several years ago. Our group learned much about prayer during that time and the principles will be with me for the rest of my life.  

To spend an hour in prayer, I think there are at least three key ingredients you need. These are simple ingredients that you probably already know. Yet they are vital to remaining focused during your hour in prayer when you commit to spending that time alone with God. In no order, you need a Bible with pen and paper or a journal, a prayer list, and a hymnal or listing of worship songs. Now let’s take a look at them in turn. 

Bible and Journal or Notebook

You need to have with your Bible and a pen and some paper. You can use a journal, a 3-ring binder, a spiral notebook, whatever suits your personality and budget. When you spend an hour in prayer, you will not be talking the entire time. You will want to have time when you need to listen. God will speak to you. He will impress things on your heart and mind. As he does, you need to be prepared to write things down.  Don’t assume you will be able to remember everything later. A journal or a notebook will help keep impressions and thoughts together.  

As you are praying, you will also find your mind wandering to all the things you need to do or random thoughts creeping into your mind. If they are important, write them down to deal with them later. If they are not important, acknowledge them then dismiss them and refocus on the task of prayer. Also, realize it is normal for your mind to wander. We are human after all, and our minds are constantly bombarded with thoughts. Some of us more than others. What is more, our enemy, the devil, is not at all eager for us to spend an hour in prayer. So, naturally, he will do everything to distract us and keep us from prayer. Being prepared to write down distractions can help us stay focused and win the battle in the moment. 

Prayer List

Another tool you will need is a prayer list. Don’t assume when you start to pray for an hour that you will remember everything you want to pray about. Our enemy will snatch away those requests by every distraction. Remember, he doesn’t want you to pray. So, write down your prayer list. Have things on your list like your family needs, your nation, your government, those that need salvation, missionaries, those that are sick, people you know that are in difficult situations, difficult situations you might be facing, and so on. Put these items in categories if you like. Put them in order of highest need if that is something you wish. If you remember something while you are praying, add it to your list.  

Prayer is not always asking. It is also about confession. Be sure to confess sins you need forgiveness for and maybe write down any ways you need to make them right if the sin is against another person. Or an action plan if the sin is a habit you need to stop doing.  You might want to start with confession before you begin with your list of needs. Make things right between you and God, then move to needs of self and others.  

Hymnal or Worship List

Another good tool to have during your hour is a hymnal or a listing of worship songs. You can have a playlist ready, but I don’t really recommend it. I prefer just voice during this time. It is easy to get off track with the music and spend far too long on music and not enough on prayer. Having a hymnal or list of worship songs you are very familiar with will limit how much time is spent on music and bring balance to your prayer time. Of course, if you desire to spend the entire time in worship, that is your option. However, we are talking about an hour in prayer, not singing. All you need is two to four songs/hymns at most that you can sing through in worship to get your heart and mind in the right place.  

You can use the hymnal/list at the beginning as a time of worship before you begin to pray and then at the end as another time of worship and thanksgiving. You might also want to come back to a time of worship if you notice your mind continually wandering. A short time of worship would realign your focus on the One you are there to spend time with.  

A lot of churches today use projectors during worship services and have a supply of hymnals no longer in use. You might talk to your pastor or worship leader or music director about how to acquire one if you would like a copy of a hymnal for devotion and worship during your prayer time. You might also be able to find one at a secondhand store or bookstore. Of course, you can always go to Amazon and buy a new copy of your choice there. I checked and there are several copies to choose from.  

Conclusion

So here we have three tips for praying for an hour. Your Bible with pen and paper, prayer list, and a hymnal or listing of worship songs. These are by no means exhaustive. Let me know others you think of or have tried. These three things will help with wandering mind and help you keep your focus on God and what He is saying to you and what you want to say to Him. They will help you with praise and worship and thanksgiving and help you remember that He is a holy God who wants to have fellowship with you.  

I challenge you to look at your calendar the coming week and schedule an hour that you can get alone with your God and relish in who He is and what He wants to say to you. The first try may be difficult like any new practice, it will take discipline but keep at it. You will find a power you never experienced as God numbers you as a prayer warrior. You will not leave the same.  

All for One 

Angela 

Posted on by Angela

Third Verse Devotion: I Am Thine, O Lord

This week’s hymn is “I am Thine, O Lord.” It is one I can still hear my grandfather singing and one of many favorite Fanny Crosby songs. So, let’s explore the third verse,  

O, the pure delight of a single hour 
that before Thy throne I spend, 
when I kneel in prayer, and with Thee, my God, 
I commune as friend with friend!  

 
There are four stanzas to the hymn, and each seems to have a different theme. However, when you come to the refrain (chorus) they are all bound together.  

Refrain: 
Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, 
to the cross where Thou hast died; 
draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, 
to Thy precious, bleeding side. 
 

They are all about being drawn closer to Christ. This particular stanza is about drawing deeper in prayer. What does prayer mean to you? How much time do you dedicate to prayer? Can you say you spend a single hour in prayer? I tend to relate more to the disciples when Jesus was in the garden, and He took the disciples with Him. He asked them to watch and pray. What did they do? They fell asleep. He came back and found them sleeping. His response? “Could you not keep watch for one hour?” (Mark 14:37) He asked the question to Simon Peter, but He might as well have asked me. I doubt I could have done much better. This account is found in Matthew 26 and Mark 14 if you need a refresher.  

Crosby calls it a “pure delight” to spend an hour in prayer. Some of us can barely manage fifteen minutes in prayer before our minds start to wander. So how can we spend an hour in prayer? I think it is a learned practice. It is something you build up to. It becomes a spiritual discipline. We begin to delight ourselves in the Lord (Psalm 37:4) and watch as His desires become our desires. At first distractions are everywhere then over time they come to a minimum as we learn to focus on Him and he becomes our heart’s desire.  

It is also important to remember that we are coming before the throne of Almighty God. We are not calling 1-800-I WANT NOW. We often need to change our attitude before we begin our prayer time. Our stanza talks about the delight of spending an hour before His throne. It is Him we are seeking. His presence. When we come with a list of Christmas wants, of course we can’t focus on much more than just those few things. He wants to spend time with us. He wants to commune with us. He wants us to want to commune with Him. Notice the last line, “as friend with friend.” You can’t say that when you meet with a friend you rush in with that friend and say something like, “I can only give fifteen minutes, so much to do, but here is what I need, by the way, I love you. You are my best friend. See you soon. Gotta run. Bye.” Before long that friend won’t want to meet with you and you can hardly call yourself friends. Friends talk and share. They listen to each other. They spend time together. They enjoy each other’s company. This is the relationship described in the hymn, “I commune as friend with friend.” 

I don’t know what your relationship with God is like. You may have a depth that others can only dream about. You may be more like the friend I just described. You may be somewhere in between. I hope wherever you are in your relationship you long to go deeper. You long for an ever-closer relationship with Him. I can say that with confidence because our God is so awesome in scope and power that just when we think we know Him He reveals another layer of His nature and character to us and we are blown away by Him and His greatness. 

I challenge you in this next week to change the way you think about your prayer life. Maybe you need to just begin to pray. So, five minutes is a challenge, and an hour is an eternity. So, start with the five minutes you do have. Maybe you are more like the friend I described earlier. Slow down and focus on Him who sits on the throne. He loves you and gave Himself for you. Leave your list and worship Him. Try something different. It is not too late to begin to draw nearer to God. In fact, He desires a relationship with you. Prayer is a conversation between you and God. He is waiting for you.  

 My prayer for all of us is that we would reach a place where our delight is a single hour in prayer talking with our God as friends.  

“Draw me nearer, nearer blessed Lord.” 

All for One 

Angela