Much TIME in prayer is the secret to spiritual success!!

E.M. Bounds, well known for his inspirational life of prayer and for practicing what he preached made prayer a priority in his life from 4 a.m. to 7 a.m. for many years. It was stated of Bounds, “As breathing is a physical reality to us, so prayer was a reality to him.” 

He was the author of numerous books on prayer that have blessed and impacted thousands. He writes the following:

“The men who have most fully illustrated Christ in their character, and have most powerfully affected the world for him, have been men who spent so much time with God as to make it a notable feature of their lives.  Charles Simeon devoted the hours from four till eight in the morning to God. Mr. Wesley spent two hours daily in prayer.  He began at four in the morning. Of him, one who knew him well wrote: "He thought prayer to be more his business than anything else, and I have seen him come out of his closet with a serenity of face next to shining." John Fletcher stained the walls of his room by the breath of his prayers. Sometimes he would pray all night; always, frequently, and with great earnestness. His whole life was a life of prayer.  "I would not rise from my seat," he said, "without lifting my heart to God." 

Adoniram Judson, during the early 1800’s, spent forty years of his life as a missionary to the Buddhist of Burma. He translated the Bible into Burmese and founded a number of churches throughout Burma. His success he too attributed to prayer…much prayer. His encouragement to others was, “Arrange thy affairs, if possible, so that thou canst leisurely devote two or three hours every day not merely to devotional exercises, but to the very act of secret prayer and communion with God. Begin the day by rising after midnight and devoting some time amid the silence and darkness of the night to this sacred work of prayer. Let the hour of the opening dawn find thee at the same work again…Make all practical sacrifices to maintain this time of prayer. Consider that thy time is short and that business and company must not be allowed to rob thee of thy God.”

“Unreasonable, impossible, fanatical,” you might say? Yet Dr. Judson impressed an Empire for Christ and made an imprint in Burma that will be seen only in eternity. 

Let's pray that God would give us an increased burden for prayer today! For just as He had a purpose for E.M. Bounds, John Wesley, Adoniram Judson, and others, He has a purpose for us as well. But to discover this, we need to be much on our knees in prayer!

[Added Note: By the way, our second program on United Prayer just aired on HOPE Television this last week. I don't remember if I've shared before, but you can watch it online at this link.]