Does God really want us to pray for one hour? If so, how could we actually do that? Learn how you can pray for one hour in this message.

<p>Does God really want us to pray for one hour? If so, how could we actually do that? Learn how you can pray for one hour in this message.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Heavenly Valley SDA Church

Gabriel Arruda

How to Pray for One Hour!

You know, I've always had a really good prayer life, and I'm not saying this to boast, This is just something that the Lord has really blessed me with.

Ever since the beginning, it's just been something that I took to really well.

I've always had a really healthy prayer life, praying for, you know, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes a lot of times.

I remember after my conversion when I was still in college, I have very vivid memories of being in my bedroom and just pouring my heart out in prayer and sometimes being brought to tears during my prayer time, especially as I thought about my family and those who I recognized after my conversion had not experienced what I had experienced, though they were regularly attending church.

But then I heard this song called Sweet Hour of Prayer.

And it honestly made me feel a little guilty.

And I wondered to myself, should I be like shooting to pray for an hour?

Or is that something we should literally take as counsel, as good counsel?

Well, the scriptures have answers for us.

I invite you to turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Mark, chapter 1 and verse 35.

It says, And in the morning, rising up, when friends?

A great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed.

Alright, Bible scholars, who is this verse talking about?

Now question, did the Bible tell us exactly how long Jesus prayed for?

How many minutes, how many hours did he pray for?

No, it didn't give us that information, but what did it say?

But we've been blessed with some added insight.

Notice what it says in the book Ministry of Healing.

Often in his incessant labor and the conflict with the enmity and false teachings of the rabbis, left him so utterly wearied that his mother and brothers, even his disciples, feared that his life would be sacrificed." Referring to Jesus.

The hours of prayer that closed his toilsome day, they marked the look of peace upon his face, the freshness and life and power that seemed to pervade his whole being.

Hours spent along with God, he came forth morning by morning to bring the light of heaven to men.

So the Bible didn't tell us exactly how long, but other inspired writer told us that it was hours.

Jesus went, this verse also implies that he did that morning and evening.

This verse implies that at the end of the day, you know how you feel sometimes you're driving home from work, you're just done.

I want to do nothing but like sit on the couch and like drink a smoothie and watch something.

Jesus would be so utterly wearied and he would go into hours of prayer and he would come out of that, do you notice what it said?

Friends, Jesus knew how to tap into God in ways that we still have yet to learn.

And friends, I would like to submit to you, if we want the power of Christ's public life, we need to have His devotional life.

If we want the power of Christ's public ministry, we need to have the devotional habits of His private, personal life.

Also, we're gonna, let's turn to Acts chapter 6, Acts chapter 6 verses 1 through 4.

And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.

Then the 12 called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason or reasonable that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.

Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you 7 men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.

But we will give ourselves continually to what?

So this is during a time where people were being added to the church by the hundreds and the thousands, and there was a a strategical problem that you know they were ministering to these people and disciples were spending all of their time, according to them, waiting tables.

And they stopped and said, you know, this is getting in the way of our devotional life.

We need to set aside a group of people, and this is the inception of the office of deacons, and who could take care of this stuff, so we could commit ourselves to 2 things.

So when the apostles got up in the morning, they had 2 things on their agenda.

If you got up in the morning and your agenda had only 2 items, prayer and ministry of the word.

How long do you think you'd be spending in prayer?

Again, it doesn't say, but friends, likely hours they were spending in prayer.

They had a whole new system created so they could spend time in prayer and to administer the Word.

I found in the Spirit of Prophecy, Ellen White was counseling a young man who was rather taken with a young woman, And she had some counsel to give to this young man.

She said in messages to young people, the habit of frequently being in the society of the 1 of your choice, and that too at the sacrifice of religious privileges and of your hours of prayer is dangerous.

You sustain a loss that you cannot afford.

Counseling, not an elder in the church, not a conference president, a young person, an average youth in the church.

She says this relationship, she didn't condemn relationships, but she says at the expense of your devotional life, at the expense of hours of prayer, she says this is not a good thing.

It was not something that she thought was good for this young man.

But again, another passage suggesting to us this idea.

And what I want to essentially say this morning is I want to suggest to you that 1 hour of daily prayer time is something that God would like us to shoot for.

I remember when this came to me and it just really hit home, like this is something God wants me to shoot for.

Now, I also wanna say, if you spent 20 minutes, 30 minutes in prayer this morning, you're not going to hell.

But this is something God wants us to shoot for, amen?

I also want to say, we're living in the last days.

I want to see the hands of everyone here who believes they're living in the last days.

You believe you're living in the end of time.

Okay, by a show of hands, who thinks Jesus could come in 10 years?

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How to Pray for One Hour!

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