God has been drawing us more and more towards a life of prayer in Hendon Baptist Church over the past 18 months or so, since the start of the pandemic. We have now been moved to hold a 24-hour prayer day once a month and towards the end of June we held our first 24-7 week of prayer, when we were really privileged to join with churches in Romania, the Philippines, South Africa and India in filling a whole week with prayer! Looking back over the week now, what do we feel God has been saying to us – and how does He want us to go forward?
One of the big lessons I’m learning is that prayer involves listening, just as much (more, even?) as asking. Spending an hour at a time in prayer encourages us not just to fill the whole 60 minutes with petition. Listening is not easy at the best of times, as we are all so busy and have so much going on in our lives, and it can be really hard to let these things recede and take a back seat as we focus on God for more than a few minutes. I feel very much that I need to be able to step back from the day-to-day concerns and worries of life, and to listen to what God is saying to me – in a ‘still small voice’, which can so easily be lost in the constant ‘noise’ of 21st-century life. And God Himself tells us, ‘Be still and know that I am God’ (Psalm 46:10).
The great challenge is – do we really want to come closer to God and to learn what prayer is, in ways we haven’t experienced before? For many of us, spending an hour in prayer is not always easy and the prospect of taking daily 60-minute slots as part of a 24-7 day or week of prayer can feel a little daunting (although we don’t find it easy to admit that, even to ourselves). We really need the empowering of the Holy Spirit – in our own lives and the life of the church. We need to ask God to show us what does and doesn’t please Him and for the grace to make changes – and simply to enjoy spending time with Him.
I speak to my daughter regularly on the phone and we always spend at least an hour chattering away. It’s a genuine two-way conversation and we talk about family, friends, work, what we’ve been watching on TV, music, what’s in the news – and things that worry us as well. I would find it a little difficult if she only ever talked at me non-stop and never let me get a word in! And I would find it even more difficult if she simply ran through a list of what she wanted from me every time we talked – how hurtful would it be if she only ever spent a few minutes at a time on the phone and rang me only when she wanted something? To me this is a real challenge when thinking about prayer, and it makes me want to approach a one-hour prayer time in ways I haven’t considered before. After all, I am coming to my loving Heavenly Father and He actually enjoys my spending time with Him!
So, how do I spend the time? Here are some ideas:
· Use a mnemonic such as P.R.A.Y. – Pause and focus on the presence of God; Rejoice and Reflect on a Scripture; Ask; Yield to God’s will for us.
· Part of our prayer time can be spent in praying for the proposed theme for the day, but the whole hour doesn’t have to be focused on this.
· God speaks to us through Scripture so spend time with your Bible, especially the Psalms, which Jesus Himself certainly prayed.
· Play some worship songs.
· Throughout, don’t be afraid of times of silence when we listen to what God wants to say to us and just relax in His presence.
· Go for a walk and pray while you’re walking – thank God for what you see all around you, for the people who live in the streets where you pass by – and in whatever ways the Spirit leads you as you go.
· Use a prayer App on your phone, such as Lectio365, Inner Room or various plans in YouVersion.
· Don’t be afraid of wandering thoughts but try to turn them into prayer if you can.
· Keep a prayer journal and write down what you’re asking God, what He’s saying to you, how He’s answering prayer; you can also note down particular Scriptures that come to mind as you pray and even illustrate them with doodles and drawings.
· Arrange to ring a friend and spend at least part of the time in prayer with them.
And now we hear from some of those who took part in our week of prayer ...
Pastor Jeevan (Vimukthi Baptist Church, India)
It was a great honour and privilege for Vimukthi Baptist Church to take part in the 24-7 week of prayer along with HBC and other churches around the world. The one-week prayer journey was indeed a blessing to our Church families and personally to us as Pastor's family. When we initially announced in our Church about this payer time, our church families showed much enthusiasm to participate.
Approximately 30 families participated, of whom some were allotted a 30-minute slot and others an hourly slot. It was an amazing week of fervent prayers in deep silence and true devotion. We felt God's presence, trusting in His miraculous answers. The dedicated prayer time reminded us again to prioritize our time and to give that first hour to Jesus. Apart from all the prayer themes given for each day, we continued prayers for our Church extension and Covid-impacted people. So far, we have witnessed God's miraculous provision for the building extension and also His amazing healing on Covid-infected people – and that includes me and my wife. Praise God for that!
Our Church women have testified how God has disciplined their lives to devote time for prayer. Personally, my wife and I sat together and prayed for an hour every day, which made us realize that even an hour was not enough for the tons of prayer petitions we had to pray for. As a Church, we so want to continue to cater more time to pray each day.
Our God is a Good God and I am overwhelmed by this truth that, ‘He gives you the desire of your heart and makes all your plans succeed’ (Psalm 20:4). We thank HBC and the leaders involved in getting this initiative started. It's indeed a great vision from the Lord our God to participate and pray together with all our fellow-believers. God Bless.
Lindsay
For me God is challenging me to do more for the persecuted church and more to spread the gospel in the UK too. It was a challenge to pray for an hour (multiple times throughout the week), but it was a real blessing and not something to be afraid of.
Lanie
I was encouraged and feeling so blessed by God – how He works in people's lives, responding to His call to pray in our week of prayer and even our 24-hour day of prayer.
I thought our week of prayer was such a blessing. The churches responded, especially on the Saturday Zoom meeting where all Pastors and a few members of the churches were there. God opened the door for us to come together as a family in Christ. I pray that this will continue, building a relationship/ministry for the benefit of people who don't know the Lord.
Giovanni
I was really grateful to be able take part in the 24-7 week of prayer. Our lives are pretty busy and there is always something to do during the day, and this why I tend to choose night slots for my prayers – although praying at night has its drawbacks, as the peace and quiet helps us to relax too much! Knowing I was praying together with brothers and sisters I never met all around the world in the same hour helped me to stay focused and overcome my tiredness. I was particularly grateful to have one of the days completely dedicated to praying for young people and the youth ministry. I can see already how God has answered our prayers. God has unified, strengthened and increased in numbers our youth and I’m certain he will also provide more workers for this ministry.
Susan
The way that I spend my one-hour prayer is to start with worship for 10 minutes, then read the Bible with the reference to the prayer request. Then I pray, finally contacting the prayer partner who I am praying with for half-an-hour’s intercession.
Khadija
The week of prayer really challenged me. It removed me out of my comfort zone in my prayer life. I wasn’t quite sure whether I would be able to pull through the whole week and I therefore surrendered it to the Lord. I am so happy to testify that the Lord came through and held my hand throughout the journey. The new prayer schedule which I adapted during this time would now be incorporated into my prayer life.
I am so thankful to be a part of this amazing initiative by Hendon Baptist Church and looking forward to being a part of many more. Prayer is the key and it opens doors.
Mrs Ruby J. Babu The 24-7 week of prayer was an immense blessing to me as I had an opportunity to pray for different people and for various topics assigned for each day. Communicating with God in prayer was a peaceful, holy and satisfying experience as I believe that there are miraculous answers on the way to every teary-eyed prayer.
Involving other Churches around the world to cover every hour with prayer was an excellent initiative. I have made it a daily habit to pray for all the perishing souls and many other current/ongoing issues in the world. I am glad to be a part of both HBC in London and Vimukthi Baptist Church in Hyderabad, India. May God bless all those who took part in this prayer initiative. Let us all continue praying more.
Rebecca The experience of devoting one hour of prayer time daily during the week of 24-7 was truly divine. The different prayer topics helped me focus on praying for each theme and, in particular, for friends and family who don't know Jesus. Initially I found it difficult to pray for an entire hour at a stretch but as the Spirit led me, I included various prayer points and found that the time flew by quickly. I also made it a point to read a couple of Psalms before and after I prayed which reminded me what an able, powerful and awesome God we have. This prayer time made me realize that my communication with our Creator can go way beyond an hour as there is so much more to pray for, to intercede for and to thank God for His amazing new mercies and blessings at every moment in our lives.
Luke
The recent week of prayer was really amazing. Prayer is powerful and knowing that God hears and answers our prayers is wonderful. For myself, it is a great feeling to go into a room alone but knowing God is with me and experiencing an intense feeling of unity, not just with our church members but with so many Christians around the world, we become one in fellowship with God. It is lovely to read God’s Word as we hand over from one to another and that hour each day is very special and leaves me with a feeling of great satisfaction in using my time wisely for God in prayer.
We would love to hear from more of you about your experience of the week of prayer. Please do get in touch with Jacqui or Lindsay if you would like to send us your thoughts and we will include them in a follow-up blog post shortly.
By Jacqui Pearce