I am not a fan of being time-conscious during prayers, but I am

First, let me say emphatically that if you’re not baptized with the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues, it will be “difficult” for you to pray for long hours at a go.

Most people who “pray for long hours” without being filled with the Spirit are full of vain repetitions in prayers, and sometimes they wear themselves out by such.

But in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul taught that LONG PRAYERS can be done when a believer is filled with the Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

I CORINTHIANS 14:18
I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all:

EPHESIANS 6:18
PRAYING ALWAYS with all prayer and supplication IN THE SPIRIT, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;

JUDE 20
But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, PRAYING IN THE HOLY GHOST,

1 TIMOTHY 2:8
I will therefore that men PRAY EVERY WHERE, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

Now it would appear that to carry out the New Testament instruction to PRAY WITHOUT CEASING – 1Thess.5:17, one would need to be filled with the Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

You never run out of inspiration praying in the Spirit. You never run out of words praying in the Spirit. You never run out of “prayer points” praying in the Spirit.

And also you never run out of spiritual energy, nerve and verve plus motivation praying in the Spirit.

As a matter of fact, I believe that praying in the Spirit brings you to a place where this popular maxim becomes evident in your devotional life, “YOU CANNOT FINISH PRAYING; YOU CAN ONLY STOP PRAYING”.

I remember the very first time I prayed at stretch for seven hours, it was a huge delight. Not a burden at all but it was “fun” all through.

One vital truth you discover while praying in tongues is that the more you pray, the more you want to pray – your propensity for prayer increases at an exponential rate.

I had discovered this truth as far back as Sunday, 18th March, 2001 when I became filled with the Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues.

Over the years, by God’s Grace, the Lord has taught me the secrets of long prayers without being tired and I intend to share one of the lessons today and then the second one in Part Two of this teaching.

First, the Lord showed me this scripture and it came alive in my heart:

1 CORINTHIANS 14:14
For if I pray in an unknown tongue, MY SPIRIT PRAYETH, but my understanding is unfruitful.

The Lord asked me to look intently into it and asked me who’s doing the praying? I said, “My spirit”. God told me, “Notice it didn’t say MY BODY or MY MIND”.

Oh, I got the message. Anytime I’m praying in the Spirit, it’s MY SPIRIT that’s doing the praying – the man on the inside – my reborn, recreated and regenerated human spirit.

It was this scripture that liberated me. I discovered that it’s not MY BODY or MY MIND that’s praying but MY SPIRIT, even though in the process MY BODY and MY MIND may get along.

Here’s the gist; a lot of believers pray with THEIR BODIES and they get tired and exhausted along the line.

How do I mean? Somebody wants to pray for let’s say seven hours at stretch but in the first thirty minutes, he’s screaming at the top of his voice to the point that he starts coughing and sweating profusely.

He’s swinging his head, arms, neck, waist, buttocks, and legs as if he involved in acrobatics. You see, most often with time such people become tired.

There’s this notion that tells you that if you pray silently, your prayer is not as powerful as when you pray loudly but nothing could be farther from the truth.

Some people also believe that if you’re praying sitting down or lying down, you’re not serious and your prayer is not as powerful as when you kneel down but these are fallacious ideas.

Your physical postures do not invalidate your prayers because you aren’t praying with your BODY but with your SPIRIT.

It is wise therefore to get a posture that will help you sustain the momentum of prayers, not one that will distract you or make you physically exhausted.

The principle I operate in prayer and as well spiritual activities is that, “DON’T COME TO A PLACE PHYSICALLY THAT WILL MAKE YOU INEFFECTIVE SPIRITUALLY”.

For instance, I do most of my praying walking around. I love prayer walk. It suits me well and by extension it’s a form of physical exercise for me.

But when I pray to a point where my legs are aching me (notice it’s not my spirit that is feeling pain but my body), I sit down to continue praying while I relax my physical muscles and then I stand up again.

There’s no ironclad rule to this. There’s no point getting to a level in prayer where your physical posture is distracting you from the spiritual exercise and you don’t change that posture. No, that’s religion!

We hold vigils in our church where we pray for seven hours. I remember a scenario at a particular edition; when we started, I noticed a brother praying with acrobatic displays and I just knew within me that that brother might not really go far in the vigil.

And so it was; it was like the third hour when some of us were just starting, the brother had “logged off” – he had slept off.

Now let me balance this here; it’s not in all cases that people who have physical displays get exhausted.

There’s need for that balance. Sometimes it’s just a function of the level of “spiritual temperature”.

By “spiritual temperature” I mean the progression of the anointing as it’s rising in prayer. You know we respond to the anointing differently.

But I TOTALLY AGREE that sometimes, you start your praying in the Spirit in a cool and calm manner but with the progression of time, YOU JUST EXPLODE.

At such instance, it’s a function of the anointing and not a display in the energy of the flesh that is wearisome.

The truth however is that as we all become acquainted with the operations of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we should endeavour to become MORE SKILFUL with them so as to sustain them.

Even with the level of “spiritual temperature”, you still have control over your response depending on the setting that you find yourself, and this is a function of spiritual training.

Let me give an example. I have never disturbed my wife or my children while praying in the midnight NO MATTER THE LEVEL OF SPIRITUAL TEMPERATURE IN PRAYER.

I learnt this from Dad Hagin. I could pray under my breath, gently and silently without disturbing my family or anyone around me and the anointing will still be very strong.

Why do I need to wake all my neighbours up in the midnight with the tone and sounds of my prayer because of anointing?

I mean those who do that have not so learnt Christ – Eph.4:20. There’s order in the things of the Spirit – 1 Cor.14:40.

People also have a right to their privacy and it is childish, juvenile, puerile and unchristian to disturb your neighbours with loud sounds and cries of prayer.

Like I said, you must discover your setting. When I get into the Part Two of this teaching and we look at intermittent praying, we’ll discover for instance that if you pray in your office for instance following some free pockets of time, you don’t disturb the other members of staff or you face the music.

It’s important that we should be “Christian” not ONLY in church but also “at home”, “at our work place”, “in our community” and “in all places”.

By and large, we have seen that with the understanding of 1Corinthians 14:14, you can pray for long hours, knowing that it’s YOUR SPIRIT that is praying, NOT YOUR BODY, your physical postures notwithstanding.

This is what the Lord taught me and it has helped me over the years by God’s Grace.

The second lesson that the Lord taught me about the secret of long prayers is PRAYING AT A STRETCH and INTERMITTENT PRAYING.

I will not like to belabour some of the salient points that have been strongly emphasized in the first part of this teaching.

Kindly bear in mind that we’re coming from the background of PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT, although based on the “flow” in your heart per time, there could be spiritual interjections with PRAYING IN UNDERSTANDING.

One of the benefits of praying regularly in tongues or in the Spirit is that you never lack what to pray in understanding.

Praying in the Spirit often triggers and sets the tone for what to pray in human language, but in it all, you want to give prominence to PRAYING MORE IN THE SPIRIT.

The Apostle Paul implied that the more you pray in the Spirit, the more you have the “substance” with which to pray in understanding – this happens by default many times.

1 CORINTHIANS 14:15
“What is it then? I WILL PRAY WITH THE SPIRIT, AND I WILL PRAY WITH THE UNDERSTANDING ALSO: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.”

This sequence of operation goes on and on. And remember that in this teaching, we’re talking PREDOMINANTLY about PRAYING IN THE SPIRIT.

It is this kind of praying that enables us to obey the New Testament injunction to:

1THESSALONIANS 5:17
“Pray without ceasing.”

What does this mean? It means you maintain and sustain the attitude of prayer ALWAYS. It means your spirit is perpetually in tune with the Father of spirits in divine communication.

And these two kinds of prayer that I want to talk about i.e. PRAYING AT A STRETCH and INTERMITTENT PRAYING will help you achieve this.

Remember also that we’re told to PRAY ALWAYS ALL KINDS OF PRAYER AND SUPPLICATION IN THE SPIRIT – Eph.6:18.

The only time that this might not be feasible is when you’re asleep or when you’re involved in “a particular kind of physical activity” that may not give room for it – for instance if you’re giving a public address.

And this is particularly understandable because YOUR WILL is involved in prayer – in other words, your faculties are intact while praying as we saw it earlier in 1Corinthians 14:15.

To be able to pray long therefore, you must first PRAY AT A STRETCH. By this I mean you harness a specific period of time in prayer without any distraction.

If you look at the life and ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you’ll discover that there are three kinds of prayer that He prayed PERSONALLY:

(1) Morning Prayers:

MARK 1:35
And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

(2) Vigils:

LUKE 6:12
And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued ALL NIGHT IN PRAYER to God.

(3) RETREATS

LUKE 5:16
And he WITHDREW himself into the wilderness, and prayed.

Now these three kinds of prayer go a long way in helping you to PRAY LONG depending on the available time.

You can also pray in the afternoon or in the nightfall if those periods are free for you (remember there’s no bondage here and we have the liberty of the Spirit).

It’s just that there’s “something” about EARLY MORNING PRAYERS and NIGHT PRAYERS that is very amazing.

The former prepares you powerfully for the activities of the day and the latter ensures that there are no environmental distractions and your spiritual antenna will also be at the peak.

Personal retreats are also recommended. You just withdraw yourself from the hustle and bustle of life and you’re alone with God.

So, PRAYING AT A STRETCH is very important and you should try to incorporate that into your daily schedule – even if it’s one hour or two hours or more depending on daily exigencies.

Peter stayed alone with God and PRAYED AT A STRETCH – Acts 10:9. Paul did the same – Acts 22:17 and many of the heroes and heroines of Faith mentioned in Scriptures also PRAYED AT A STRETCH.

However, when you look at the structure of our daily activities generally depending on what you do, your exigencies or geographical location, you notice that for some people, it becomes practically difficult to PRAY AT A STRETCH for let’s say FIVE HOURS per day – it may not just be feasible.

For instance, if you live in the city of Lagos, and going from your residence to your place of work will take a minimum of three hours on the road (that’s if you find favour with God 😀😀😀😀😀😀😀😀and the traffic gridlock is relatively favourable) and you have to resume work by 8am and close by 6pm, then it may be difficult to say you want to pray for FIVE HOURS AT A STRETCH at home.

Now I’m talking FACT here that can be related with. Most times when people come back from work in such circumstance, they just eat their meals and sleep off.

There are many other similar examples in that manner but I just singled that out for want of space.

If you have to wait for a spontaneous adjustment of your normal schedule to determine your prayer life, then you will do yourself a disservice spiritually speaking because your prayer life will suffer.

That’s where INTERMITTENT PRAYING comes in. By INTERMITTENT PRAYING I mean making use of your “FREE POCKETS OF TIME” during the day to charge your spirit in prayer.

It also means making use of every available opportunity during the day (even when you’re doing other things that don’t affect praying in the Spirit) to be in touch with God in prayer.

And it works. Yes it works like fire 🔥🔥 🔥 🔥🔥!!! Let me say this dear friend; everyone of us will always have that opportunity during the day to be in tune with God in prayer, but sadly some people are not just sensitive to it while some other people engage in discussions that are not profitable – “gisting” and jesting and what have you.

You see, THERE’S TIME FOR EVERYTHING and TIME WAITS FOR NO MAN. A wise Christian learns to compress about three or more profitable activities into ONE SINGLE TIMEFRAME.

For instance, as a woman, you can be cooking and listening to a message and also praying in the Spirit simultaneously.

You can be in your office and intermittently pray in the Spirit under your breath while you go about carrying out your legitimate duties.

Also, INTERMITTENT PRAYING demands that while you’re on your way to work (let’s say you’re going by a public transport), you can be praying in the Spirit under your breath while some other passengers are listening to Fuji music like “Paso”.

When you get to the office, your break time is there to pray in the Spirit. Even while working you can still maintain that attitude of prayer.

If you’re driving, you can use that opportunity to pray in the Spirit and also listen to a sound message or good music.

I do a lot of praying while driving (especially while going on a trip).

When I was in the University, at times when we were expecting the lecturer to come and he had not shown up, I could just bow my head and pray silently in the Spirit.

You see, INTERMITTENT PRAYING HAS NO BOUNDARIES. You can pray in the toilet, in the bed room, in transit, etc.; you can also pray while expecting a visitor.

Let me say this friend; even as I’m writing these words, I’m also doing INTERMITTENT PRAYING – praying in the Spirit and stopping and also picking it up again – that’s the meaning of “INTERMITTENT”.

If you’re on an aircraft enroute your destination, you can pray in the Spirit.

On your way from church service, you can pray in the Spirit. The list of examples is endless.

There’s no BARRIER here. If you then sum up the time spent in your EARLY MORNING PRAYERS and INTERMITTENT PRAYING at the end of the day, you will notice that relatively, you have done LONG PRAYERS.

Even though it’s not the same as PRAYING AT A STRETCH but THE EFFECT of it on your spiritual life is indelible, and you will just notice that your spiritual antenna is at its best 24/7.

Your spirit is active; you can pick the slightest signals in the Spirit and you’re given to inspiration from time to time.

In the New Testament, LOCATION is no more a barrier. The new location now is IN THE SPIRIT.

We pray IN THE SPIRIT – Eph.6:18, 1 Cor.14:2 and we also worship IN THE SPIRIT – Jn.4:24, Phil.3:3.

Geography is not a barrier. You can pray EVERY WHERE and “ANYWHERE”, not necessarily restricted to your prayer room.

Paul said:

1 TIMOTHY 2:8
I will therefore that MEN PRAY EVERY WHERE, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting.

INTERMITTENT PRAYING can sometimes take 5 minutes or 10 minutes or more and it can take lesser time like 3 minutes.

Now imagine if you pray 5 minutes intermittently 24 times in a day plus your one hour morning prayer, you would have “prayed” for three hours and chances are that you can even do more especially if you’re in transit for hours.

By that exercise, you will be practising the scripture which says “PRAY WITHOUT CEASING” because you’re in a constant attitude of prayer.

As I close, I must say that as much as possible, you should have a private prayer time per day (even if it’s one hour); INTERMITTENT PRAYING should not substitute for that; it should rather be A SUPPLEMENT.

We’re in the end-time and the enemy is on the prowl to distract God’s precious people and he does this through loading us with the cares of this world – 1Pet.5:7-8.

We must therefore be SUPERIOR IN STRATEGY to preemt him and to keep him at abeyance.

That’s why I’m thoroughly convinced that PRAYING AT A STRETCH and INTERMITTENT PRAYING will go a long way in keeping us in tune with God’s plan for our lives and for the hour.

Praying that a fresh “Spirit of prayer” will envelope and percolate your life from center to circumference now in Jesus’ Precious Name!

Written by Pastor Bimbo Animashaun