January 5, 2021 (Tuesday)
Soon after I started attending church as a teenager, the pastor called on me to pray. At the time I knew very little about prayer, but I did the best I could. I would later learn more about prayer as mature Christians shared their thoughts about it with me. I learned that there are different occasions for prayer, and we make adjustments in our prayers for those occasions. For example, one type of prayer is public prayer, usually offered during a worship service at church. The person offering the prayer is praying in behalf of the congregation and the prayer will take into account the wishes and needs of the people whose function is to join in prayer silently as one person prays aloud.
Jesus gave us a model prayer which shows us what to include in our prayers, such as addressing God as “Our Father who is in Heaven,” praising Him as Holy, asking that His will be done on earth as it is in Heaven, asking for needs to be supplied, thanking Him for his blessings, asking forgiveness, promising to forgive others, asking to be led away from sinful deeds, always remembering to give glory to God for allowing us to be part of His spiritual kingdom, by grace through faith.
There is public prayer and there is also private prayer, which may be devotional prayer, in which we draw near to God and He draws near to us. Devotional prayer is the kind of prayer described in the hymn, “Sweet Hour of Prayer.”
SWEET HOUR OF PRAYER
W. W. Walford
1845
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
that calls me from a world of care,
and bids me at my Father’s throne
make all my wants and wishes known.
In seasons of distress and grief,
my soul has often found relief,
and oft escaped the tempter’s snare
by thy return, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
the joys I feel, the bliss I share
of those whose anxious spirits burn
with strong desires for thy return!
With such I hasten to the place
where God my Savior shows his face,
and gladly take my station there,
and wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
thy wings shall my petition bear
to him whose truth and faithfulness
engage the waiting soul to bless.
And since he bids me seek his face,
believe his word, and trust his grace,
I’ll cast on him my every care,
and wait for thee, sweet hour of prayer!
Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer,
May I thy consolations share,
Till, from Mount Pisgah’s lofty height,
I view my home, and take my flight.
This robe of flesh I’ll drop, and rise,
To seize the everlasting prize;
And shout, while passing through the air,
Farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer.