Luke 5:16 “So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.”
There is no commandment given by the Lord that every Christian should spend one hour per day in prayer, nevertheless scripture does teach us to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promises (Hebrews 6:12). So in the light of that truth let us look at some examples given to us in scripture of the prayer ministries of those who have inherited the promises. The first example that we will look at is our Lord Jesus Himself. The above quoted passage of scripture reveals to us that our Lord Jesus often withdrew into the wilderness by Himself to pray. In other words Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer, and there were times that He would climb mountains by Himself to pray all night long before the Father (Luke 6:12).
Mark 1:35 “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.”
As revealed to us in the above quoted passage of scripture it was our Lord’s custom to rise early in the morning, long before dawn, and go off to a solitary place to spend time before the Father in prayer. In fact the Psalms reveal to us that our Lord Jesus prayed three times a day when He walked on the earth, i.e. evening, morning and at noon (Psalm 55:17). And so we look at the miraculous ministry of our Lord Jesus and we mistakenly assume that this was as a result of His walking this earth as the Son of God. Nevertheless Jesus walked this earth as the Son of Man and not as the Son of God. And so in order for Jesus to walk as God had called Him to walk in the earth, Jesus gave Himself over to a prayer ministry that very few have even begun to imagine, and yet we are called to follow His example.
2 Timothy 1:3 “I thank God, whom I serve with a pure conscience, as my forefathers did, as without ceasing I remember you in my prayers night and day.”
The second example we will look at is the apostle Paul. In the above quoted passage of scripture Paul reveals to us that he prayed both day and night. In other words it would not be erroneous to interpret his statement to mean that his practice was to pray at least twice per day, i.e. in the morning and in the evening. In fact Paul made the bold claim of praying more than any other saint at the time, for he said that he spoke with tongues more than everyone else. In other words Paul prayed in the Spirit more than anyone else. It can be argued that the apostle Paul has had the greatest impact on the church among the Lord’s apostles, and the reason for that can be partly attributed to his dedicated prayer life.
Acts 2:46 “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.”
As we have already seen, Peter and John observed the hour of prayer in their walk with the Lord. It was not only the apostles that observed the daily hour of prayer however, it was all the saints in Jerusalem. In the above quoted passage of scripture when the bible states that the saints were daily with one accord in the temple, it is referring to their time of prayer. We know this to be the case because in the period before they were baptized with the Holy Spirit the scripture tells us that they were with one accord in prayer and supplication (Acts 1:14).
Acts 6:4 “but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
As believers we have so much that we need to bring before the Lord in prayer, that I concur with our Lord Jesus when He says, “What, could you not even pray for one hour?” Christian, if you are too busy to pray then you are too busy. Daniel prayed three times per day and he had the busy schedule of being a governor of one of the largest governments that ever existed (Daniel 6:10). We have seen that our Lord Jesus prayed three times per day, and if you take into account that when David prophesied that truth he was also referring to his own practices, which reveals to us that David also prayed three times per day, even though he had the busy schedule of being king of the nation of Israel. And so I trust that I have quoted enough examples in scripture to encourage you to spend time daily in prayer. Let me say that those called to ministry are required to give themselves to far more time in prayer than the normal saints, and they are not to be distracted by the affairs of this life. As confirmed in the above quoted passage of scripture, the twelve apostles of the Lamb knew from the outset that prayer was a key requirement as part of their ministry. One of the saddest truths in the church at large is the lack of prayer in the church. The smallest meeting in most churches is the prayer meeting, for on average only ten percent of saints attend prayer meetings.
Michael E.B. Maher
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