What Ever Happened To That Sweet Hour Of Prayer?
Betsy Hoffman: 10/19/2006
Article #: 18

“Prayer changes things.” Ever get sick of hearing it? Sometimes we roll our eyes and mutter a collective “amen”. But why does prayer seem like such a tough job, when Jesus said, “My yoke is easy, my burden light?” The answer? Prayer is a discipline as well as a privilege. We live in a drive-through, instant gratification society and many times that is how we commit to prayer. Current lifestyle trends lend themselves to convenience from every angle. Oftentimes we take a 5 or 10 minute break for a short daily devotional which may or may not include an actual prayer, and we are off about the business of the day. The days and weeks speed by without any deep move of the Spirit in our personal walk with the LORD.  Before we know what is happening, our thoughts become filled with carnality and finding the sweet presence of Jesus that helps us through our daily trials takes more of our time than we are willing to invest. Suddenly, we realize that it must be time to clean the prayer closet.

Some of you are saying, “Hold on a minute, sister. I’m not in sin just because I cut a few prayers short or miss it altogether sometimes.  What do you mean?” When we neglect prolonged prayer as a part of our spiritual lives and rely upon a quick devotional, many times our flesh nature finds a place to fill our minds and hearts with the cares of life. Once this happens, forgetfulness of our loving Savior can cause us to rely upon ourselves. Then we spend less time bathing our souls in His love, and filling up with what we believe to be important. Before long, prayer and church seem to be a chore, hindrances pull us every direction except toward the Lord, and this can easily set up breeding ground for excuses that keep us from the house of God.  As His children, we need to come lovingly into His presence, seeking His face on a regular basis – without being “cattle prodded” by our Pastor or other leadership.

Many of us cannot imagine washing dishes in the dishwasher for only 5 or 10 minutes. If we did, would the dishes be clean? Sometimes we expect to clean our hearts and minds through prayer with a “quick wash”, “hit-a-lick-at-it”, you’ve done your duty, see you later God. Over time, the cares of life get stuck like spaghetti to our spiritual feeding troughs, and cake up if we do not properly clean them. The internal Holiness of God cannot shine through all that build up, and at this point any message we send to others, becomes contaminated with our own cares, motives and remedies. True Godliness and virtue comes from the heart of every individual who spends time in prayer allowing the Spirit to cleanse us from daily difficulties, correcting character faults and flaws.

Building and maintaining a relationship with the Lord through prayer, takes old-fashioned self discipline. That stated, prayer does not have to be a gut rending, painstaking episode, every morning for two or three hours without fail, rather, a daily awareness with clean, focused, directed thought toward God. Many times we can go about our daily routine in life and keep our minds and hearts with the Lord. Instead of abstaining from food on you next fast, try fasting spiritually, and spend a day with just you and the Lord, in quiet time, try to keep your mind in prayer and meditation while you go about your daily tasks. This will give you an inner focus that is just for the Lord, and you may be surprised at the things He has to show you. Perhaps that unanswered prayer put on the altar a year ago will be brought to light with fresh revelation. Or maybe that problem with the boss at work will be resolved. One thing is certain, we have promise that if we seek the kingdom first, He will take care of everything else. Then we will have our freedom in Christ again. Lord, help us to remember to take time in prayer, appreciating the fragrance of the Rose of Sharon.