I woke up quite early this morning, finding myself eager to get to prayer. I’ve been implementing much of Dr. Dick Eastman’s recommendation from his book The Hour That Changes the World: A Practical Plan for Personal Prayer this week, along with ideas from John Eldridge’s book Moving Mountains: Praying with Passion, Confidence and Authority along with my own decades-long process for praying and I’ve found a “secret”: Coming to prayer with expectance and making it the first, and most important priority of my day is powerful. Some of you just thought, “Duh!”
It’s true there’s nothing new about the power of putting God first, and investing the first hour of the day with Him being transformational. It’s just that actually doing it isn’t always my reality. All too often I get up and have to “finish up” something from the day before, such as a blog post I forgot to write, or the end of a message that’s due that day, or any of a dozen other important tasks. By the time I do whatever it is that “had” to be done, and turn to prayer, my remaining time is less than an hour. It’s impossible to participate in “the hour that changes the world,” when you only have 37 minutes. Please understand, it isn’t about whether it’s an hour or 37 minutes or 5 minutes for that matter. It’s about the priority.
Decades ago, I heard Rick Warren say, “The best time to tune your instrument is before the concert begins.” He wasn’t talking about concerts. He was talking about prayer. I know some of us aren’t morning people, but I am a morning person. It’s usually dark when I get out of bed. I have no excuse for not putting God first in my day, and when I do the day is always a more effective day. It isn’t something that happens occasionally. It always happens. So why am I telling you thing? Because some of you are like me. You know how important it is to start your day in prayer, but… But you have so much to do. But you slept in. But…. The truth is we will always have so much to do if we’re leaders. That’s why we’re leaders.
In my prayer time this morning, God showed me the importance of extending my time of intercession. In fact, during the time I had a powerful sense of the actual warfare in which we’re engaged. I “saw” the darkness we’re battling and sensed the coldness of it. Then as I prayed and called on God and His warriors breakthrough came. I’ve experienced that before, but most often it has been in Cuba or China, not in my basement. What was the difference? The practical difference was I started the day by opening God’s word and then turning to prayer. It wasn’t 15 or 20 minutes. It was an hour. I didn’t use all of Dr. Eastman’s 12 components of prayer, but I started with prayer, waiting, and confession as he recommends. Then I called on the Lord to fill me with the Holy Spirit and then turned to intercession. That’s when I experienced the intensity of the struggle, and God’s power to overcome it.
While today is my Sabbath, and I won’t be doing my usual work, I’m better prepared to lean into this day of rest and renewal than in a long time. I’m already looking forward to tomorrow’s time of prayer, and am also planning to commit some extended time in praying throughout the day today.
What is your level of intentionality in prayer right now? Is it the first priority of your day, or if you’re a night person, do you have an intentional time when you pray? I’m hearing more and more folks tell me, “I pray throughout the day. God is always with me.” While I agree with the sentiment, I sometimes wonder whether praying throughout the day isn’t a way of saying, “My prayers are general, and I don’t focus on God specifically at any point in the day.” I too, think about God and call on Him throughout the day. I’m learning how important that is to my health and growth as Jesus’ follower. This morning I was reminded, that while that is good, starting the day in focused prayer is a powerful aspect of praying throughout the day. If it’s part of your daily routine, praise God. If it isn’t, you may find it worth doing.
Here’s to leading better by giving God the best part of our day–today!