The following are suggestions as to what to do in our one hour of prayer.
Jesus said, “What, could you not watch with Me one hour? Watch and pray…” (Matthew 26:40, 41)
Make sure you find a place where you can get alone to pray without distraction. Taking the suggested times for each of the points (1-8), you can pray frutifully and extensively for one hour.
1. Worship—Divine Adoration (5 mins)
• Declare all that God is. Focus on a particular character of God.
• Sing a specific song or songs to the Lord.
• Choose songs that are addressed to God.
2. Thanksgiving (3 mins)
• Begin by thinking about all God has given you in recent days.
• Offer specific thanksgiving for spiritual material, physical, and external blessings.
• Thank God in advance for blessings you expect Him to give you in the future.
• Thank God for at least one particular blessing you have not thanked Him for previously.
3. Confession (3 mins)
• Ask God’s Spirit to search your heart for any unconfessed sin.
• Confess any specific sins you may be guilty of, either against God or others.
• Confess your need for specific guidance and supernatural empowerment.
• Mentally examine recent activities to discover possible areas of spiritual warfare.
• Ask the Holy Spirit to help you claim only those desires that will bring honor to the Lord. Examine your motives for asking a petition. Be sure they are pure in God’s sight.
4. Scripture Reading and Praying — Faith Appropriation (8-10 mins)
• Ask God to bless His Word to your spiritual life, just as food is blessed to the body.
• Examine a passage of the Word, particularly on prayer, miracles and power of the Holy Spirit.
• Spend some time meditating on Scriptures.
• Develop a prayer based on the thoughts and phrases of the passage.
5. Waiting—Soul Surrender (3 mins)
• Bring the mind to complete silence to the world
• Think only thoughts of God the Father, Jesus Christ, or the Holy Spirit.
• Any voiced words should be toward God concerning His love or the desire for His presence
6. Intercession—Earnest Appeal (30 mins)
• Suggested prayer focus for slot 1 – cell members and church; for slot 2 – country and church planting efforts of FGT.
• Ask for more laborers for the harvest, open doors for workers, and finances for the work.
7. Listening (3 mins)
• Ask God for solutions to specific difficult situations
• Ask God to show you His plan and use you
8. Praise (3 mins)
• End with specific praise for God’s greatness. Focus on His omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence.
• With the psalmist let us “praise God because He has done it.” Look back at this hour and praise God for hearing each request.
• Let your spirit rejoice for a few moments at the close of prayer.
• Let your “amen” be strong—an affirmation that you believe God is trustworthy and can and will do these things in accordance with His will.