WHEN TO
PRAY
If we would know the fulness of blessing that
there is in the prayer life, it is important not only that we pray
in the right way, but also that we pray at the right time. Christ's
own example is full of suggestiveness as to the right time for
prayer.
- 1. In the 1st chapter of Mark, the 35th verse,
we read, "And IN THE MORNING, rising up A GREAT WHILE BEFORE
DAY, He went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there
prayed."
- JESUS CHOSE THE EARLY MORNING HOUR FOR PRAYER.
Many of the mightiest men of God have followed the Lord's
example in this. In the morning hour the mind is fresh and at
its very best. It is free from distraction, and that absolute
concentration upon God which is essential to the most effective
prayer is most easily possible in the early morning hours.
Furthermore, when the early hours are spent in prayer, the whole
day is sanctified, and power is obtained for overcoming its
temptations, and for performing its duties. More can be
accomplished in prayer in the first hours of the day than at any
other time during the day. Every child of God who would make the
most out of his life for Christ, should set apart the first part
of the day to meeting God in the study of His Word and in
prayer. The first thing we do each day should be to go alone
with God and face the duties, the temptations, and the service
of that day, and get strength from God for all. We should get
victory before the hour of trial, temptation or service comes.
The secret place of prayer is the place to fight our battles and
gain our victories.
- 2. In the 6th chapter of Luke in the 12th
verse, we get further light upon the right time to pray. We
read, "And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into
a mountain to pray, and continued ALL NIGHT in prayer to God."
- Here we see Jesus praying in the night,
spending the entire night in prayer. Of course we have no reason
to suppose that this was the constant practice of our Lord, nor
do we even know how common this practice was, but there were
certainly times when the whole night was given up to prayer.
Here too we do well to follow in the footsteps of the Master.
Of course there is a way of setting apart nights for prayer in
which there is no profit; it is pure legalism. But the abuse of
this practice is no reason for neglecting it altogether. One
ought not to say, "I am going to spend a whole night in prayer,"
with the thought that there is any merit that will win God's
favor in such an exercise; that is legalism. But we oftentimes
do well to say, "I am going to set apart this night for meeting
God, and obtaining His blessing and power; and if necessary, and
if He so leads me, I will give the whole night to prayer."
Oftentimes we will have prayed things through long before the
night has passed, and we can retire and find more refreshing and
invigorating sleep than if we had not spent the time in prayer.
At other times God doubtless will keep us in communion with
Himself away into the morning, and when He does this in His
infinite grace, blessed indeed are these hours of night prayer!
Nights of prayer to God are followed by days of power with men. In
the night hours the world is hushed in slumber, and we can
easily be alone with God and have undisturbed communion with
Him. If we set apart the whole night for prayer, there will be
no hurry, there will be time for our own hearts to become quiet
before God, there will be time for the whole mind to be brought
under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, there will be plenty of
time to pray things through. A night of prayer should be put
entirely under God's control. We should lay down no rules as to
how long we will pray, or as to what we shall pray about, but be
ready to wait upon God for a short time or a long time as He may
lead, and to be led out in one direction or another as He may
see fit.
- 3. Jesus Christ prayed BEFORE ALL THE GREAT
CRISES IN HIS EARTHLY LIFE.
- He prayed before choosing the twelve disciples;
before the sermon on the mount; before starting out on an
evangelistic tour; before His anointing with the Holy Spirit and
His entrance upon His public ministry; before announcing to the
twelve His approaching death; before the great consummation of
His life at the cross. (Luke 6:12,13; Luke 9:18,21,22; Luke
3:21,22; Mark 1:35-38; Luke 22:39 -46.) He prepared for every
important crisis by a protracted season of prayer. So ought we
to do also. Whenever any crisis of life is seen to be
approaching, we should prepare for it by a season of very
definite prayer to God. We should take plenty of time for this
prayer.
- 4. Christ prayed not only before the great
events and victories of His life, but He also prayed AFTER ITS
GREAT ACHIEVEMENTS AND IMPORTANT CRISES.
- When He had fed the five thousand with the five
loaves and two fishes, and the multitude desired to take Him and
make Him king, having sent them away He went up into the
mountain apart to pray, and spent hours there alone in prayer to
God (Matt. 14:23; Jn. 6:15). So He went on from victory to
victory.
It is more common for most of us to pray before the great events
of life than it is to pray after them, but the latter is as
important as the former. If we would pray after the great
achievements of life, we might go on to still greater; as it is
we are often either puffed up or exhausted by the things that we
do in the name of the Lord, and so we advance no further. Many
and many a man in answer to prayer has been endued with power
and thus has wrought great things in the name of the Lord, and
when these great things were accomplished, instead of going
alone with God and humbling himself before Him, and giving Him
all the glory for what was achieved, he has congratulated
himself upon what has been accomplished, has become puffed up,
and God has been obliged to lay him aside. The great things done
were not followed by humiliation of self, and prayer to God, and
so pride has come in and the mighty man has been shorn of his
power.
- 5. Jesus Christ gave a special time to prayer
WHEN LIFE WAS UNUSUALLY BUSY. He would withdraw at such a time
from the multitudes that thronged about Him, and go into the
wilderness and pray. For example, we read in Luke 5:15,16, "But
so much the more went abroad the report concerning Him: and
great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed of
their infirmities. But He withdrew Himself in the deserts and
prayed." (R.V.)
- Some men are so busy that they find no time for
prayer. Apparently the busier Christ's life was, the more He
prayed. Sometimes He had no time to eat (Mark 3:20), sometimes
He had no time for needed rest and sleep (Mark 6:31,33,46), but
He always took time to pray; and the more the work crowded the
more He prayed.
Many a mighty man of God has learned this secret from Christ, and
when the work has crowded more than usual they have set an
unusual amount of time apart for prayer. Other men of God, once
mighty, have lost their power because they did not learn this
secret, and allowed increasing work to crowd out prayer.
Years ago it was the writer's privilege, with other theological
students, to ask questions of one of the most useful Christian
men of the day. The writer was led to ask,
"Will you tell us something of your prayer life?"
The man was silent a moment, and then, turning his eyes earnestly
upon me, replied:
"Well, I must admit that I have been so crowded with work of late
that I have not given the time I should to prayer."
Is it any wonder that that man lost power, and the great work that
he was doing was curtailed in a very marked degree? Let us never
forget that the more the work presses on us, the more time must
we spend in prayer.
- 6. Jesus Christ prayed BEFORE THE GREAT
TEMPTATIONS OF HIS LIFE.
- As He drew nearer and nearer to the cross, and
realized that upon it was to come the great final test of His
life, Jesus went out into the garden to pray. He came "unto a
place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye
here while I go and pray yonder." (Matt. 26:36) The victory of
Calvary was won that night in the garden of Gethsemane. The calm
majesty of His bearing in meeting the awful onslaughts of
Pilate's Judgment Hall and of Calvary, was the outcome of the
struggle, agony and victory of Gethsemane. While Jesus prayed
the disciples slept, so He stood fast while they fell
ignominiously.
Many temptations come upon us unawares and unannounced, and all
that we can do is to lift a cry to God for help then and there;
but many of the temptations of life we can see approaching from
the distance, and in such cases the victory should be won before
the temptation really reaches us.
- 7. In 1_Thess. 5:17 we read, "Pray WITHOUT
CEASING," and in Eph. 6:18, R.V., "praying AT ALL SEASONS."
- Our whole life should be a life of prayer. We
should walk in constant communion with God. There should be a
constant upward looking of the soul to God. We should walk so
habitually in His presence that even when we awake in the night
it would be the most natural thing in the world for us to speak
to Him in thanksgiving or in petition.
|