The Hour of Prayer • Deshen Daily

Now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour (Acts 3:1 KJV)

Peter and John went up to pray in the Temple at 3pm, which in their day in Jerusalem was a Jewish hour of prayer. They had an time set aside for prayer. There is no believer, minister or congregation that has ever made any significant spiritual achievements with the Lord without a dedicated consistent hour of prayer.

One of the core spiritual principles we teach in our ministry is the importance of devotional prayer. This is not a time to recite or mumble a few words from a monthly prayer book. If you stick with the terminology of the saints of old, we could call it sacred or quiet time. It is a time that you as an individual spend talking with your Father. This is fellowship with God. Watch your spiritual life blossom as your fellowship with God blossoms or conversely, watch it dry up and wither as your fellowship with God reduces.

If there is one thing that Muslims do and do well, it is the respect of their hour of prayer. They will stop everything else to go and pray while Christians abandon their time of prayer to do everything else. How sad.

There is value in setting aside a time to pray and respecting that hour. This is possible for the majority of us.A few of us have crazy schedules that vary day by day and so these might need to seek God at variable times in a day. The most important thing is not the exact time but the fact of consistently fellowshipping with God in prayer.

If you ever dream of making any significant strides with God at a personal level or in ministry, be sure to have an hour of prayer.

MEDITATE

What is the advantage of setting a fixed time for prayer? Is it the time or the fellowship with God that is most important? Declare that “ I am reviving my hour of prayer!”

APPLY THE WORD

Do you have an hour of prayer? If you do, praise the Lord! Keep moving forward. If you don’t, you have two choices after reading this devotional. You can decide to start today or continue without it which includes the option of “I will start tomorrow!”. There are a few things that are difficult to start as a life of prayer. And there is a reason for this. When there is treasure, the path leading to it will be very narrow, and few will make it through. Be amongst the few that walk the narrow road to a life full of glory and victory by the Spirit.