Too packed to Pray?

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"You must be ready all the time. For the Son of Man will come when least expected" (Mt 24:44)

In His discourses on the endtime Jesus emphasised watchfulness in prayer over anything else. "Take heed, watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is" (Mk 13:33; Mt 25:13). Jesus might have known that in these days there would be a slump in prayertime.

The world is busier than ever. In spite of so many modern gadgets to do things faster, we don't have so much spare time as our forebears. Everyday it's hectic. The casualty is always the prayertime. In the Bible, watching and praying are often mentioned together (Lk 21:36; Eph 6:18; Col 4:2).

The saying goes, "He who prays sins not; He who sins prays not!" In these days when sin abounds, prayer is the only way of escape. Martin Luther (1483-1546) testified, "If I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, the devil gets the victory through the day." As our work increases so should our prayertime. Because, more prayer means more power, more strength and more wisdom. It is unwise to sacrifice prayer for work, secular or sacred. Until we set aside definite times for prayer we will never make it. Who was busier than King David in his time? Yet he had definite prayer times daily (Psa 55:17). Daniel never missed his three-times-a-day prayer, whatever the situation might be (Dan 6:10). Let us also cultivate such prayer habits. The devil shudders not so much at a preacher as at a prayer warrior!

Because it is usually quite difficult to find an unhurried hour for prayer during daytime in these busy days, it is advisable to set aside early hours of the day for the same. This was the practice of Jesus since folks were flocking Him from dawn to dusk (Mk 1:35).

The enemy keeps devising new strategies to draw us from faith and drown us in filth. Prayer is the antidote. Failure on knees makes us succumb to his every assault. Jesus taught us to pray, "Deliver us from evil." A willing spirit is not enough to overcome temptation unless the weak body is strengthened by watchful prayer (Mt 26:41). According to Pastor Paul Yangi Cho of South Korea, "One who does not pray for atleast an hour each day is not a believer; one who does not pray for atleast two hours is not a Servant of God!"

Sweet hour of Prayer, Sweet hour of Prayer,
That calls me from a world of care,
And oft escaped the tempter's snare
By thy return, Sweet hour of prayer !
                  (William W. Walford, 1772-1850)

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