Sweet Hour of Prayer

 One of my favorite rooms in our church is the prayer room. It is isolated in a quiet area. The room has two chairs, a kneeling altar, and small desk inside. It is the perfect get away when things get hectic. It is a place I love to frequent. I love to sit before the Lord. To worship Him in private. To bask in His presence. In that sacred place battles are fought and won. In that place burdens are laid down. In that secret place the promises of God are secured. [Matt 6:6] God alone sees us in the secret place. He hears us and rewards our time spent there with peace, provision, and power to serve Him. 

Time stands still in there. I never know how much time has passed. It is the highlight of my day to get away from the crowds to spend time with my Father. Time spent there is irrelevant compared to the God encounters. Those are more important than the amount of time spent there. Somedays I find that is all I want to do is sit before the Lord in that secret place. 

I attended a prayer conference in college that challenged us to spend one hour in prayer everyday. The speaker even gave us an outline to help us. It was a struggle in those days. I did spend an hour in prayer on a few occasions back then, but it felt forced and formulaic. It is different these days. Time does not even come into play most of the time. It is my most important appointment of the day. Everything else on my to do list plays second fiddle to prayer. 

What it makes it so sweet is that it is a two sided conversation. I assure you what God has to say is always more important than what I have to say. Like one author I read recently wrote, "Learn to pray with an open Bible." God speaks and prompts what to pray. I desire God to direct our time together. To learn what is on His mind and heart. This takes precedence over my pulling out my long list of requests and concerns. 

Many people see prayer as a duty and drudgery. I see it as delightful and desirable. It has taken 40 years of experimenting, exercising, and God encounters to find prayer sweet. I still feel like I have so much more to grow and progress. I am not where I want to be. There are higher heights to reach and I am resolved to reach them with God's help and guidance. I want to fully surrender in prayer. To devote myself to it and the pursuit of God more than ever before. In doing so, I know prayer will only grow sweeter in time.