A “Sweet Hour” of Prayer? Pt. 1
Most of us are good when it comes to our prayer life and spending a few moments or maybe even twenty or thirty minutes in prayer is not a difficult thing to do. But do you think you could pray for a full hour, or two, or three? Personally, I struggle to stay focused on the task, and my attention tends to wander. If this is you too, could it be that we don’t have the patience or are we sincerely ‘just too busy?’
Yet, we read in the 6th chapter of Luke, beginning in verse 12 that Christ, ‘…went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God.’ Or we could consider Matthew 14:23 as it reads, “…He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone.” Though we don’t know how long He was on the mountain, ‘there alone’ we do know that during the 4th watch of that night He came to His disciplines as they were on the sea. The ‘4th watch’ would have been sometime between 3:00 AM and 6:00 AM. So we can assume that Jesus was praying for at least an hour or two or three, but more likely it was six or seven hours. Still, I ask myself (and you)…could I pray for a full hour?
On Monday evening, July 16, 2018 more than 70 brothers and sisters in Christ came together at the Faith Village church of Christ in Wichita Falls, Texas and together we spent 60 plus minutes in prayer. No preaching, no Bible class, just praying on behalf of our brethren. The young and old alike took time to bow their heads, focus on the family of God and raise our petitions before His throne. But before we took that hour to pray, we sang a song that calls us to consider our time in prayer. Notice the message of this hymn, the prayer, that was written in 1845 by W. W. Walford;
“Sweet hour of prayer! Sweet hour of prayer, that calls me from a world of care, and bids me at my Father’s throne make all my wants and wishes known. In seasons of distress and grief my soul has often found relief, and oft escaped the tempter’s snare by Thy return, sweet hour of prayer.”
Follow the four basic thoughts found in this verse. First, prayer is our opportunity to step away from the cares of this world. We must focus on God if we want a ‘sweet hour’ of prayer. Second, it’s a time we can take the ‘wants’ of our hearts and the ‘wishes’ we so desperately seek directly to the throne of God. And, true heart-felt prayer can be a relief for our souls during times (seasons) of trouble and sorrow. Don’t think you’re free from distress and grief. We live in a world of pain and sorrow, but God gives us peace in Christ. Fourth, consider how blessed you are that in prayer you can escape the clutches of Satan. Only in prayer and solely through the grace of God will we endure, but we must take time to pray.
Next week we’ll look at verse two and as we draw July, 2018 to a close we’ll consider the third verse in this beautiful hymn. So in the meantime find the peace and the ‘sweet’ blessing of taking time (maybe even an hour) to pray!
Part 2: To Care or Not to Care
Failing is apart of learning, becoming better and growing closer to the example of a Christian that we are called and instructed to be. These encounters that I was able to hear and observe the other day, helped me to better understand something. Care, compassion, and common courtesy do not have to, or need to, be big, huge and flashy. They do not deserve attention and they most certainly do not need to be publicized for people to be able to notice. People will notice the small, quiet, insignificant things. Christ tells us in Matthew 6:3-4,6, that in opposition to what the hypocrites do (the Pharisees), to do things in a quiet nature. Do not do things to where they can be openly seen, “But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.”. Our world is used to seeing things being done and openly praising them, although there may not be anything wrong with that and the one who is being ‘praised’ may not mind it, our Savior tells us that things done in “secret” will be rewarded! That older man did not make a spectacle of himself by taking the picture for those two ladies, nor did he when he struck up a conversation with the family behind him. He was simply being kind and aware of his surroundings. Kindness is not something often thought of being that life changing, but it is. It can change the attitude of a person, just by one kind act. It can change the life of a person through one kind act of selfless thinking. We are being bombarded with the mentality of ‘It’s all about you’ and ‘You should come first’, and that is quite simply not the doctrine of Christ. It is easy to write words on a page, and to ‘talk the talk’, but I know how difficult it is to physically act out the words of Christ. Saying and doing are two completely different things, and our laziness as humans often gets the best of us. Be different. Be submissive to the words of Christ. Be active in kindness, compassion and selflessness. Rise above the expectations that Satan puts in front of us.
Be Christ-like.
“…In the Light of His Word.”
How often do we focus on the unbearable heat of the sun (that we dread encountering… especially in the summer time) as opposed to its soft, soothing warmth? As I was driving to class one morning, I got a bit of a chill and then happened to drive past a portion of sunshine that had broken through the trees and immediately I felt its warmth. This feeling, which to me is an indescribable feeling, brings a sense of comfort and ease, and in that moment, I felt peaceful. If you take a moment to think about it, are you at peace? Are you focused on what is happening within the ‘darkness’ of our current events, or are you focused on a more positive ‘light’? Just by watching and observing the people around me and even tuning into the 
news for 5 minutes, I can tell that our focus has been diverted. Our comfort, has been ‘disrupted’. I would also go so far as to say, that our way or pattern of how we do things has been absolutely shredded to pieces. All because our main goal has been lost (in the eyes of the Almighty God) in the minutest and most miniscule of things. Feelings have been hurt and many are taking those actions performed by others, personally. How long has it been since you felt at peace? Peace, comfort, and ease are things that are very much lacking within our country right now.
So, I’ll ask this. Where is YOUR focus? Has it been diverted, upon hearing all about the lack of trust and ease within the government and among people around you? As unsettling as it is, do not let the overwhelmingly (and at times unbearable) place that we often find ourselves in, affect how we trust God. Will you focus on the dreaded and unbearable ‘heat’ that is being demonstrated so prevalently today, or will you be the gentle and soothing ‘warmth’ (example) of the trust and peace we can find in God? Re-direct your focus to God and you’ll find it is much
easier to walk, “in the light of His word…”. You are the light of the world.” Matt. 5:14
“When we walk with the Lord, in the light of His word; what a glory He sheds on our way. While we do His good will, He abides with us still, and with all who will trust and obey.”
A big thank you to my dad, Myron Bruce, for giving me the opportunity to write for his website!
the wafting smell of fresh, homemade cookies baking in the kitchen. Even the shadow of a dark cloud covering over the sun can cause my focus to turn toward the skies. Perhaps ‘focus’ is a fragile thing to be swayed by such small factors. Unfortunately our focus is so splinted in life, that we find ourselves focused on so many things that we miss what’s most important. Work, sports, entertainment, even ‘self’ seems to be our focus today. Take a look at your iPhone, how many ‘selfies’ do you have in your photos? You see, we are good at focusing on our self and too often miss the ‘big picture’ (no pun intended.) And since focusing is a Biblical idea, let me ask you to ‘focus’ on and consider the Hebrew writer’s admonitions…
faith. And we must be willing to FIX our focus on Him! When we do that, all the other worldly sensations will cease to ‘allure me’ or compete for my attention. The sounds outside the window, the aromas that entice and the sights that distract can be more easily ignored. Ken Young penned a song (psalm) that takes these words, almost verbatim, and gives us an idea of how we keep our focus on Him.