How to spend the day in prayer has to do with necessary guild line on how to spend the day in prayer. A pastor once said “I never thought a day could make such a difference, my relationship to everyone seems improved . why don’t I do it more often?”
Comments like these come from those who set aside a personal Day of prayer with so many important activities clamoring for our time, real prayer is considered more a luxury than a necessity. How much more spending a day in prayer!
The Bible gives us three time guide for personal prayer. There is the command to ” pray without seizing” the spirit of prayer keeping so in tune with God that we can lift our hearts in request or praise any time through the day. There is also the practice of a quiet time or morning watch seen in the life of David (psalms 5 verse 3, of Daniel Daniel 6:10 and of the lord Jesus Mark 1 verse 35. For the growing, healthy Christian, this daily times specified for meditation in the word of God and prayer is indispensable.
Then there are examples in the scripture of extended time given to prayer alone. Jesus spent whole night praying. Nehemiah prayed ” certain days” upon hearing of the plight of Jerusalem. Three times Moses spent 40 Days and 40 nights alone with God. Having set aside a day or portion of a day for prayer, pack a lunch and start out. Find a solitary place where you can be alone, away from distractions. This may be a wooded area near your home or your backyard or even a retreat centre.
And outdoor spot is excellent if you can find it but don’t get sidetracked into nature studies and fritters away your time. If you find yourself watching the squirrels or all the ants, direct your observations by reading Psalms 104 and meditating on the power of God in creation. If an outdoor spot isn’t available, try a quiet corner of a library.
Take along a Bible ,a notebook and pencil, a hymn book and perhaps a devotional book even if you have all the day, you will want to use it profitable. so lose no time in starting and start purposefully. Divided the day into three parts: waiting on the Lord, praying for others and praying for yourself.
1. Waiting on the Lord: As you wait on the Lord, don’t hurry. you will miss the point if you look for some mystical or ecstatic experience. Just seek the Lord, waiting on him. Isiahia 40 verse 31 promises that those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength . psalm 27 verse 14 is one of the dozens of verses that mention waiting on him, as does psalm 62 verse 5,” find rest, oh my soul, in God alone; My Hope comes from him” wait on him first to realise his presence. Read through a passage like psalm 139 grasping the truth of his presence with you as you read each verse.
Ponder the impossibility of being anywhere in the universe where he is not. often we are like Jacob when he sai,d “surely the Lord is in his place; and I know it not” Genesis 28 verse 16.
Wait on him also for cleansing the last two verses of Psalms 139 or psalm 51 can lead you into this. Ask God to search your heart as this versus suggest. When we search our own hearts, it can lead to imaginations, morbid introspection or anything the enemy wants to throw before us.
Nut when the holy Spirit searches, he will bring to your attention what should be confessed and cleanse. Psalms 32 and 51, David song of confession, will help you. stand up on the firm ground of 1st John 1 verse 9 and claim God’s faithfulness to forgive whatsoever specific thing you comfess .
If you realise you have erred against a brother or sister, make a note of it so you won’t forget to set it right. otherwise, your prayer will be hinderd. God won’t speak to you if there is something between you and someone else that you haven’t planned to take care of at the earliest possible moments. As you wait on God, ask for the power of concentration. Bring yourself back from daydreaming.
Next, wait on God to worship him .Psalms 103 and psalm 111 and 145 are wonderfull portions to follow as you will praise the lord for the greatness of his power. Most of the psalm are prayers. Or turn to revelation chapter 4 and 5 and use them in your praise There is no better way to pray scripturally than to pray scripture. if you have a hymn book, you can sing to the Lord. Some wonderful hymn’s have been written that put into words what we could scarcely Express ourselves.
Maybe you don’t sing well then be sure you are out of car shot of someone else and “make a joyful noise unto the Lord” God will appreciate.
This will lead you naturally into Thanksgiving. Reflect upon the wonderful things God has done for you and thank the lord for these: for your own salvation and spiritual blessings, for your family, friends and opportunities. Go beyond what you thank the lord for daily.
2. Praying for others: Now is the time to intercede unhurriedly, more detailed prayer for others that you don’t ordinarily get to. Trace your way around the world, praying for people by countries.
Here are three suggestions
First asked for specific things. Perhaps, you remember all have jotted down various needs people have mentioned .use request from missionary prayer letters. Pray for spiritual strength , courage, physical stamina ,mental alertness and so on
imagine yourself in the situation where these people are and pray accordingly
Second look up some of the prayers in scripture. Pray what Paul prayed for other people in the first chapters of Philippians and Colossians and in the first and third chapters of Ephesians. This will help you advance in your prayer for the stage of Lord bless so and so and help them to do such and such .
Third as for others what you are praying for desire for them what the Lord has shown you. if pray a certain verse or promise of scripture for a person, you may want to put the reference by his or her name on your prayer list and use this verse as you pray for that person the next time. Then use it for Thanksgiving as you see the Lord answer.
3. Prayers for yourself
The third part of your day is prayer for yourself (supplications) Again let your prayer be ordered by scripture, and ask the lord for understanding according to psalm 119 verse 18 “Lord , what do you think of my life?” is the attitude of this portion of your Day of prayer.
consider your main objective in the light of what you know to be God’s will for you. “my food” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” John 4 verse 34 .do you want to do God’s will more than anything else? is it really our highest desire?
Then consider your activities what you do in the contents of your objectives. God may speak to you about rearranging your schedule , cutting out certain activities that are good but not best or some things that are entanglements or impediment to progress. strip them off. you may be convicted about how you spend your evenings or Saturdays when you could still get the recreation you need but make better use of your time. As you pray, record your thoughts of your activities and use of time and plan for better scheduling. Perhaps the need for better preparation for your Sunday School class or a personal visit with an individual will come to mind. Or the Lord May impress on you to do something special for someone .
Make a note of it. During this part of your day, bring up and any problem or decision you are facing and seek the mind of God on them .it helps to list the factors involved in these decisions or problems. pray over these factors and look into the scriptures for guidance. You may be led to a promise or direction from the passages with which you have already filled your mind during the day. After prayer, you may reach some definite conclusions upon which you can base firm convictions.
it should be your aim in a Day of prayer to come away with some conclusion and specific directions some stake delivery. However, do not be discouraged if this is not the case .it may not be God’s time for a conclusive answer to your problem.
And you may discover that your real need was not to know the next step but to have a new revelation of God himself .
In looking for promises to claim, there is no need to thumb through the Bible looking for the new or startling ones. just start with the promises you already know. Shew over some of the old familiar promises the Lord has given you before, once you remember as you think back.
Pray about applying these verses to your life. At the end of the day, summarise in your notebook the things God has spoken to you about. This will be profitable to refer to letter. The result of your Day of prayer should answer two questions paul ask the lord on Damascus road Acts of the Apostle 22 verse 8 to 10.
Paul first questions was, “who are You, Lord?” the Lord replied, “I am Jesus”. you will be seeking to know him, find out who he is.
The second question Paul asked, ” what shall I do, Lord?” the Lord answered him specifically. this should be answered or reconfirm the for you during the part of the day when you unhurriedly seek his will for you.
Days of prayer don’t just happened. beside the attempt of your enemy satan to keep us from praying, the world around us has plenty to offer to fill our time. so we have to make time. plan ahead the 1st of every other month or once a quarter. do it soon !
You two will probably ask yourself,” why not more often”.
Importance of prayer
Curtis .C. Thomas in his book: Practical wisdom for pastor, said prayer is an acknowledgement that we are needy individuals .it’s also demonstrate to us our personal relationship with our lord .He gave us this picture; as a young pastor .I once askedan aging Pastor about his readily apparent spiritual life. He explained to me that he rose at 4 a.m. every morning to begin his tw hour daily private prayer life. He spent the 1st hour each day acknowledging the lord’s wonderful attributes and his goodness.
Then he moved in to request for the remaining hour. He said that those two hours where the most important of his daily functions. There was no doubt that this man’s personal godliness came as a direct result of his daily Communion with the lord.
Just as spurgeon spoke of bunyan when he said that if you “pricks him, his blood flowed bible”, so if you were to prick that faithful, aged.pastor, he would flow grace, gentleness and holiness. Do we want deep spiritual life blood and power? it start with a personal relationship with our God. We know him through his internal world but we communicate with him through prayer. We can get a spiritual Life by public prayer but the one who knows Us best cannot be food.
God can give us a real power in our ministry or he can withhold his grace as we failed to deepen that deeply needed personal relationship with him . Jesus our master started with prayer and ended with prayer Matthew 1 verse 35 very early in the morning, while it was still dark Jesus got up left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
Below are the importance of prayer
1. it governs conduct and character Conduct is what we do character is what we are so what we do and what we are prayer governs is.
Mark 1 verse 35, Daniel 6, Psalms of David .
2. Inspires holy living
Charles .h. spurergun said: “whatever call” a man may pretend to have, if he has not been called to holiness, he certainly has not been called to the ministry” and so, prayer enables us to aspire to holy living. “Be holy, for I am holy” 1st Peter 1 verse 15 to 16
3. Inculcate attitude of vigilance (1st Peter verse 5 verse 8) the devil prowls about seeking whom to devour. we need to soak ourselves in prayer in order to counter him Matthew 26 verse 41,Acts 20 verse 31, 1st Corinthians 10 verse 12; 16 and 13.
4. Creates spiritual hunger to feed on the word of God.
prayer precipitate hunger on the word of God. You want to hear from God as you enter inner recessive chamber in a day you want to find out the will of God for you.
5. Moulds the soul into the image of God
In the place of prayers, the mind is filled with thoughts about God .the preaching of the word of God produces more fruit in the heart of Christian than in the heart of a prayer less Christian.
6. Aids the practice of God’s word
The power we receive in our prayers enables us to practice what the Bible says. Ordinarily is not easy but the power will receive and by enablement of the holy spirit, we are able then practice God’s word. like 1st thessalonian 5:17 “says pray continually” with such inbiee, we cannot fathom on the amount of power we shall receive as we remain faithful to his bidding.
Read 👇👇👇👇
Lessons from the life of prophet Elijah
Lessons from the life of prophet Elijah
7. Promote the Spirit of devotion.
The point has been made that: “no man is holier than his power prayer life”. Jesus new this and Mark 1 verse 35 reported to us in a solitary place, Jesus prayed. A child of God that is not desirous to begin or close the day with prayers is simply making himself amendable to destruction. Prayer in short promote devotion for we go to the father to recharge our power daily. John 15 verse 5 Apart from me you can do nothing.
