The secret of the prayer life - being alone with God for a long time

Although many private prayers are, by their very nature, short; although public prayer, as a rule, must be condensed; Although brief prayer has its value and place, nevertheless, in our private communions with God, time has an essential value. Long time spent with God is the secret of effective prayer. Prayer that becomes a powerful force is the immediate or immediate product of long hours spent with God. Our small prayers owe their scope and efficiency to the long ones that have preceded them. A short prayer cannot be effective if the one who prays it has not had a continuous struggle with God. The victory of Jacob's faith would not have come without that all-night struggle. The knowledge of God is not acquired with small and unexpected visits.

God does not shower his gifts on those who come to see him by chance or in a hurry. Constant communion with God is the secret to knowing and influencing him. The Lord gives in to the persistence of a faith that knows him. He confers his richest blessings on those who express their desire and esteem for these goods, both by constancy and by the fervor of their importunity. Christ, who in this as in everything is our Model, spent whole nights in prayer. His custom was to pray a lot. He had a regular place of prayer. Long periods of time in prayer shaped his history and character. Paul prayed day and night. Daniel, in the midst of important occupations, prayed three times a day. David's prayers in the morning, at noon, and at night were undoubtedly very long on many occasions. Although we do not know exactly how long these Bible saints spent in prayer, we have indications that they devoted much of it to him, and on some occasions it was their custom to devote long periods of the morning to him.

We do not want it to be thought that the value of prayers should be measured by the clock, but we want to emphasize the need to spend a long time alone with God; If our faith has not produced this mark, it is because it is a weak and superficial faith.

The men who have resembled Christ in character and who have impressed the world with him have been those who have spent so much time with God that this habit has become a remarkable feature of their lives. Carlos Simeón dedicated from four to eight in the morning to God. Lord Wesley spent two hours a day in prayer. It started at four in the morning. A person who knew him well wrote: "He took prayer as his most important occupation, and he was seen leaving after his devotions with a serenity in his face that almost glowed." Juan Fletcher wet the walls of his room with the breath of his prayers. Sometimes he prayed all night; always, frequently, with great fervor. His whole life was a life of prayer. "I will not get up from my seat," he said, "without raising my heart to God." His greeting to a friend was always: "Do I find you praying?"

Luther's experience was this: "If I stop spending two hours in prayer each morning, the enemy gains victory during the day. I have many business that I cannot dispatch without spending three hours a day in prayer." His motto was: "He who has prayed well has studied well."

Reverend Leighton used to spend so much time alone with God that he always seemed to find himself in perpetual meditation. "Prayer and praise were his occupation and his pleasure," says his biographer.

Reverend Ken spent so much time with God that his soul was said to be in love with the Lord. He was in the presence of the Most High before the clock struck three in the morning. Reverend Asbury expressed himself thus: "I try as often as possible to get up at four in the morning and spend two hours in prayer and meditation."

Samuel Rutherford, whose piety is still fragrant, would get up at dawn to communicate with God in prayer. Joseph Alleine left his bed at four in the morning to pray until eight. If he heard that some craftsmen had started to work before he got up, he would exclaim: "How ashamed I am! Doesn't my teacher deserve more than theirs?" He who knows this kind of operations well has at his disposal the inexhaustible bank of heaven. A Scottish preacher, of the most pious and illustrious, said: "My duty is to spend the best hours in communion with God. I cannot leave the most noble and profitable matter in a corner. I use the first hours of the morning, from six to eight, because during them there is no interruption. The best time, the hour after the snack, I solemnly dedicate to God. I do not neglect the good habit of praying before going to bed, but I take care that sleep does not overcome me. awake at night I must get up and pray. After breakfast I dedicate a few moments to intercession. " This was Robert McCheyne's prayer plan.

The famous Methodist prayer league embarrasses us: "From five to six in the morning and from five to six in the afternoon, private prayer." John Welch, the holy and wonderful Scottish preacher, considered the day a misuse if he had not spent eight or ten hours of it in prayer. He had a robe to wrap around at night when he got up to pray. His wife lamenting for finding him on the ground crying, he replied: "Oh, woman, I have to answer for three thousand souls and I don't know what happens in many of them!"