The Urgency in 3AM Prayer Meetings

Grace would have us conclude the church's three day prayer meetings deliberately held at 3AM to inconvenience ourselves and emphasize the dire urgency in petitioning the Lord's hand to bestow greater spiritual blessings upon us, most especially in the area of prayer. It is common to give what time we can spare to prayer but to see how evil these days are is to give the time we allot for rest and instead knock early in the morning on the door of the just Judge who not only does not slumber, but takes great pleasure in answering those who stand confidently at His courts, believing He will. Teaching the children's church, preaching, devotions, reading of Scripture in family worship: all these and more are dependent on God's hand moving. The desire to labor for God and the temptation to achieve it through the arm of the flesh steals from His glory. The work is His. The Christian is His. The power is His. Therefore the glory should be His. All the believer can claim as his is the honor and privilege to shine for his great Lord and Redeemer. It must be solely through the workings of the Holy Spirit of God that these things are to be taken above the realm of the visible, where the impossible becomes possible. All our work is to point to Christ whose Spirit works in us.

It is futile to ask for what we can already do for ourselves, but we dare to ask for the impossible - the turning of hearts to Christ in repentance, the preservation of our Christian witness, victory over besetting sin, the lifting up of the downcast, the spread of the gospel throughout the world - all of which are only possible when we approach the throne of grace believing God is able to give far more than whatever blessings we ask in His name.

Master Bounds writes: We may excuse the spiritual poverty of our preaching in many ways. But, the true reason for it is the lack of urgent prayer for God's presence in the power of the Holy Spirit. There are innumerable preachers who can deliver masterful sermons, but the effects are short-lived. They do not affect the regions of the spirit where the fearful war between God and Satan, heaven and hell, is being waged, because they are not made powerfully militant and spiritually victorious by prayer. 

The preachers who gain mighty results for God are the men who have prevailed in their pleadings with God before venturing to plead with men. The preachers who are the mightiest in their closets with God are the mightiest in their pulpits with men. 

Preachers are human, and are often exposed to or involved in the strong currents of human emotions and problems. Praying is spiritual work, and human nature does not like taxing, spiritual work. Human nature wants to sail to heaven under a pleasant breeze and a full, smooth sea. Prayer is humbling work. It abases intellect and pride, crucifies vainglory, and signals our spiritual bankruptcy. All these are hard for flesh and blood to bear. It is easier not to pray than to bear them. 

So, we come to one of the crying evils of these times, maybe of all times: little or no praying. Of these two evils, perhaps little praying is worse than no praying. Little praying is a kind of make-believe, a salve for the conscience, a farce and a delusion. 

The little regard we give prayer is evident from the little time we spend in it. The time given to prayer by the average preacher scarcely counts in light of how the remaining time is delegated to daily chores. Not infrequently, the preacher's only praying is by his bedside in his nightdress, ready for bed. Perchance, he gets in a few additional prayers before he is dressed in the morning. How feeble, vain, and little is such praying compared with the time and energy devoted to praying by holy men in and out of the Bible! How poor and meager our petty, childish praying is beside the habits of the true men of God in all ages! God commits the keys of His kingdom to men who think that praying is their main business, and devote time to it according to this high estimate of its importance. By these men, He works His spiritual wonders in this world. 

Great praying is the sign and seal of God's great leaders. It is the most earnest of the conquering forces with which God will crown their labors. 

The preacher is commissioned to pray as well as to preach. His mission is incomplete if he does not do both well. The preacher may speak with all the eloquence of men and of angels, but unless he can pray with a faith that draws all heaven to his aid, his preaching will be "as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal" (1 Cor. 13:1). It will be useless for permanent, God-honoring, soul-saving purposes.