Praying for hours at a time?

[LeeJUk]

Hi,

Something that has always annoyed me and been a burden for me is praying for long amounts of time and waiting on God.

So many men of old who were so on fire for God and used by God or when they got cold they would revert back to this and it would renew them greatly. I'm talking about praying for long amounts of time. Hours, just for a solution to a problem, just to pray for revival, just for God to renew their strength.

I feel that this is one of the major things holding me back. I mean I can pray for 30-40 minutes or sometimes an hour no problem, but it's as if I haven't grown in my prayer life in a long while.


Does anyone have any practical pointers for praying through, and waiting on the Lord in prayer for a particular thing? I mean for those big issues.

Have any of you done it / still do it and can explain to me?

or can you refer me to a book or work written on it?

Thanks, Take care.

Bye

 

[OPC'n]

A Simple Way to Pray is a great book you can find on Sproul's site. One thing I always try to remember is that I don't pray to change God's mind...I pray for God to change my mind. I really don't know what you mean by waiting upon the Lord when in prayer. Are you waiting to hear a voice? Most likely that isn't what you mean which is good. You might be reminded of Scripture you've read or you can meditate upon a Scripture you just read etc.

 

[LeeJUk]

No I don't mean waiting on voices. However lets say I'm gonna preach a sermon, this is the most important thing in my spiritual service probably ever so far. So I want to wait on the Lord to have the power of the Holy Spirit upon me for that service.

Now we know basically from the old men of God who often prayed for hours that such a thing often takes hours to obtain. Like that man who had no food for his guest and knocked on the door till the man got up from his bed to give him it and this is linked to prayer a few verses after.

Waiting on the Lord to renew our strength as it were like it says ...isaiah 40 at the end is it ?

or another situation would be praying for revival, or a church that is cold, spiritually empty and without sound preaching of the gospel.

 

[ewenlin]

I just heard a wonderful story told by Leonard Ravenhill about a man who stayed in a cave for 21 days straight with no food and no one to talk with, just praying and seeking God. Sounds strange but its actually rather amazing.
Anointing - Leonard Ravenhill | I'll Be Honest - Blog

Not anything specifically helpful, but thought you'd like it..

Ewen

 

[OPC'n]

I don't think you should concentrate so much on "feeling" the Holy Spirit. As long as you are preaching truth, the Holy Spirit will deal with the listener pointing that listener to Christ. Sproul once said that he preached a sermon and felt that it was the deadest sermon he had ever preached. After the service, people were lining up to thank him for his sermon and how it really fed them. You really can't go by feelings. However, spending as much time in prayer with God to glorify Him and tell Him of His wonderful deeds and How He meets our needs etc and basically having a love affair with Him should be your focus. What He does with that prayer time is all in His plan. Maybe pray that the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of the listener as you preach instead of praying for the power of the Holy Spirit to rest upon you. His power is already there upon you teaching you His truths whether you feel it or not. It's His Gospel He wants out to be heard and He will use it no matter if you feel He is resting upon you or not.

 

[bug]

It is said of Spurgeon's prayer life (I paraphrase a bit) that he would never pray for more then twenty minutes, but also that he would never go for more then twenty minutes without prayer.

Prayer for a particular period/ lenght of time does guarentee unction on one's preaching, or unction on one's listeners. What is important is prayerful preperation, prayer for yourself and for your congregation, prayer that God will bless his word - when these things come from the heart the Lord will answer as he chooses. Sometimes he will bless mightily, sometimes he may not. Unction is a funny thing in many respects, we do not always feel it. You can preach and feel that you have failed miserably, that you have not got anything across, and yet your hearers are greatly moved. Other times you think that the Lord really blessed, yet the message has no effect. Our feelings, in relation to this matter, are not a good guide. A good guide is the bible that teaches us that God's word does not return to him void! If we prayerfully preach the truth God blesses that ministry.

 

[AThornquist]

It is said of Spurgeon's prayer life (I paraphrase a bit) that he would never pray for more then twenty minutes, but also that he would never go for more then twenty minutes without prayer.

I heard it was five Either way, the principle is the same I think...

 

[Rangerus]

I found this little book POWER THROUGH PRAYER by EDWARD M. BOUNDS very inspiring. You can read it on line on the LifeWay web site here. Every time I read it, I find a new found strength to rededicate my life to long hours of meditation, prayer, and fasting.

 

[JBaldwin]

While I believe that is good to set aside from time to time long chunks of time for prayer and fasting, I don't know that one is more successful in prayer just because of the amount of time spent. This is one of the things that aggrevates me about looking at someone elses style. Our prime example in prayer is Jesus. At times He went away to pray and other times He prayed briefly. All of His prayer was in complete faith and each prayer time was for a specific purpose.

One of the things I've been learning recently about prayer is importance of taking our brothers and sisters to the Lord and interceding for them on a daily basis. This doesn't necessarly take up huge amounts of time. In fact we can do this throughout the day as the Lord brings them to mind.

On the other hand, there are times when we need to set aside chunks of time for prayer and fasting because the matter at hand is so serious. If God is leading you to do this, you should do it. Otherwise, a long period of prayer can become nothing more than an exercise in discipline. I don't see a time limit on the "fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much".

 

[Skyler]

I found this little book POWER THROUGH PRAYER by EDWARD M. BOUNDS very inspiring. You can read it on line on the LifeWay web site here. Every time I read it, I find a new found strength to rededicate my life to long hours of meditation, prayer, and fasting.

I just saw that book on Dad's bookshelf. I'll have to borrow it. Thanks for the recommendation!

 

[Phil Fourie]

Do you know how to be alone? I mean, do you separate yourself from everything else unto God, if need be, go somewhere quiet. Everybody has this idea that you have to be on your knees 24 hours straight, no, it is spending time with God, spending time in His Word.

When I do spend long periods of time with only the Lord, it is with my Bible next to me, I read, I pray, I think, I read some more, I pray some more. I remember when I was in a church where there was false doctrine taught, the Lord took me to the mountains one Sunday afternoon, I really felt lead by the Holy Spirit to read the book of Acts, so I started wondering, which chapters I would read, but no, the Lord wanted me to read the whole book. I read the whole book that afternoon. It changed my life.

Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Hebrews 1:2

We should never enter prayer without the Word of God right next to us, He does answer, through His Word, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This is where unction comes from, not from 7 days in the presence of the Lord, but through rightfully dividing the Word of truth, that would sometimes mean spending time in the presence of the Lord to understand the Word yourself, you cannot enlighten the congregation if you have not been enlightened first by the Word of God.

If you want to read a book, you can't go wrong with Tozer's Pursuit of God

 

[LeeJUk]

Ty guys and Phil I will keep that in mind.

Take Care,

God bless.

If anyone else has further advice still, go for it I'll read it.

 

[TheocraticMonarchist]

I don't think you should concentrate so much on "feeling" the Holy Spirit. As long as you are preaching truth, the Holy Spirit will deal with the listener pointing that listener to Christ. Sproul once said that he preached a sermon and felt that it was the deadest sermon he had ever preached. After the service, people were lining up to thank him for his sermon and how it really fed them. You really can't go by feelings. However, spending as much time in prayer with God to glorify Him and tell Him of His wonderful deeds and How He meets our needs etc and basically having a love affair with Him should be your focus. What He does with that prayer time is all in His plan. Maybe pray that the Holy Spirit works in the hearts of the listener as you preach instead of praying for the power of the Holy Spirit to rest upon you. His power is already there upon you teaching you His truths whether you feel it or not. It's His Gospel He wants out to be heard and He will use it no matter if you feel He is resting upon you or not.

I think the feeling that preachers get when they spend hours in prayer and preparation is that of humility and fear. They are about to speak for God. While they do not "feel" the tangible presence of God, they do “feel” presence of their own fear and humility towards God and the task they are called to perform. This experience is foreign to the carnal man and can be a great comfort to the believer. It is a fruit of the Spirit and evidence that God is near and at work.

Even if the preacher is struggling with pride and arrogance and doesn't "feel" humble and fearful, he can count this as a blessing too. It is God who has revealed his weakness. God is near.

Of course, all experience is to be rooted in faith in God's word. Our faith should state that we already have the Holy Spirit, that he is near, and that we already have all good things in Christ Jesus.

 

[jambo]

Years ago I used to spend the first Friday of every month praying for our work and ministry. It took a while to develope but I found that if you if you are going to pray for an extended time ie whole morning or whole day, then it is a good idea is to plan it out in half-hour segments with a 15 min break in between. I don't mean a break for coffee (although you should at least have one cup during the morning or afternoon) but rather a break to of 15 mins to read the scriptures or medititate in order to feed the next half hour session. It is important to have a theme to provide direction for praying and this can be reflected in the passages of scripture read. Prayer can also include singing something appropriate.

The other thing to say is that just because Calvin got up at 3 am to pray does not mean that you should too. Just because Wesley was able to pray for 4 hours a day does not mean you should beat yourself up because you cannot. The best motivation for praying, whether 5 minutes or 50, is our own heart for God. We can be challenged or insprired by the prayer life of those we read about in saints' biographies, but it is vain without it being the hearts desire for communion with God.

 

[LeeJUk]

Thanks Jambo that seems to be something i ought to try

Thanks all