The Primacy of Prayer (3)

As for me, I will call upon God,
And the LORD shall save me.
Evening and morning and at noon
I will pray, and cry aloud,
And He shall hear my voice. Psalm 55.16, 17

Begin here
In order to pray like people who have true saving faith – that is, to pray always and without losing heart – we will need first of all to make up our minds that this is the kind of prayer we want to practice every day. When our minds are set on the primacy of prayer, we’ll be able to discipline our hearts to delight in it.

Praying always and without losing heart requires a commitment of mind before it becomes a longing of the heart and a priority of the conscience. We must overthrow every rationalization that denies or rejects this clear teaching of Jesus and Paul. Then we can devote our minds to thinking about what such prayer might require, envisioning and imagining ourselves actually praying this way, talking with other believers to gain additional insights and perspectives, and beginning to connect all other topics and activities that occupy our minds with this most important discipline.

Bringing our minds to the point of embracing the primacy of prayer at all times and in all situations takes time, and will require us to think out loud in prayer with the Father, seeking His mercy and grace to help us achieve this frame of mind.

Getting our minds around praying always and without losing heart is a choice. Make that choice now, then let’s press on together to learn how to achieve this ideal of the primacy of prayer.

The hour of prayer
Where to begin in actually practicing this kind of prayer? In Acts 3.1 we find Peter and John going up to the temple at what is described as the hour of prayer. That would have been around 3:00 pm, and appears to have been a set time for people of faith to pray. We find in Acts 10.30 that Cornelius, that godly Gentile, also turned aside from his daily activities to pray at that time. In Acts 10.9 Peter retired to a rooftop for prayer at around noon, before he took his lunch.

Reference to set times for prayer appears in several places in the Old Testament. Our text mentions three times set aside for prayer – evening, morning, and noon. Praying three times a day like this was Daniel’s practice, as we see in Daniel 6.10. Indeed, Daniel was so faithful at this practice, that his enemies knew where and when to find him in prayer, contrary to Darius’ command. The writer of Psalm 119.164 insisted that he prayed seven times a day, a practice which has been maintained by various Christian communions for centuries.

Establishing set times for prayer – hours for prayer – in your daily schedule can be a first step toward praying always and without losing heart. Observing these hours of prayer doesn’t mean you need to pray for an hour each time; usually 10 or 15 minutes, sometimes more, will suffice to keep us focused on the Lord throughout the day and in continuous communication with Him.

Remember when you were a kid and played on monkey bars? The goal was to get from one end to the other without falling to the ground. The challenge was to swing from one overhead bar to the next, gathering and maintaining enough momentum to keep you going forward toward the end.

Observing set times of prayer during the day can work like that, helping us to get through to the end of day in a forward movement of prayer, reinforced at predetermined intervals throughout the day.

Set appointments to pray
Setting times to pray throughout the day is like setting an appointment to meet with someone. You call a friend or colleague and say, “Hey, let’s get together.” The response is something like, “Sure. What’s on your mind?” So it should be when you establish set times of prayer throughout your day.

Make sure you know in advance what you’re bringing to your appointment with the Lord. Perhaps your time with Him will focus on thanksgiving for the day thus far, and praise for any observations you’ve made of the Lord’s grace at work in you. You might also preview the rest of the day ahead, or the next day, by prayers of intercession and supplication or simply by waiting in silence on the Lord for direction or wisdom.

You could also choose a psalm to guide your different appointments for prayer. Read through the psalm in an attitude of concentration and listening, then pray it back to the Lord, lining up your words with the words of the psalm as you let the psalmist guide you into the Lord’s presence, glory, joy, and pleasure.

Start with three set times for prayer – evening, morning, and noon. They don’t have to be long, but they should be so important that you treat them as true appointments with the Lord. Be on time. Stay focused. And use your time wisely and well. If you hang your day on prayer like this, retreating to these oases for prayer at set times each day, you’ll establish a momentum of prayer to carry you forward in the Lord, and this will provide an excellent foundation for continuing to master the discipline of praying always and not losing heart.

For reflection
1.  What would be the best times each day for you to set aside 10-15 minutes to meet with the Lord? Why are these the best times? Do you think you’ll need more than this much time? Explain.

2.  Which psalms might you choose to bring to such times? Have you begun praying these already?

3.  How might Christians help one another to take up this Biblical practice?

Next steps – Transformation: You can transform your daily schedule by setting three or more times to meet with the Lord in prayer. Try doing so for the next several days. Does this help to enhance your awareness of the Lord, and your dependence on Him in prayer?

T. M. Moore
Each of our “next steps” exercises is tied into goals and disciplines involved in working your Personal Mission Field. If you have not yet identified your Personal Mission Field, watch the brief video showing you how to get started right away (click here).

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.