Awaken The Dawn

AWAKEN THE DAWN!

Since prayer is essentially a relationship with the Father, it takes time—minutes on the clock. Most of us have come to realize that this is true of our rela- tionship to our spouses. It is also true of our rela- tionship to our Heavenly Father. If time for prayer is important, how much is need- ed? I find myself agreeing with Larry Lea that one hour a day is a realistic goal for most Christians in general, including leaders. 2

We, moderns, try to justify giving up such an important block of time. Our results-oriented society has so heavi- ly programmed our thinking that we even evaluate prayer in terms of whether it is a practical tool that will benefit us. The fruitfulness of prayer and the personal value of prayer are not easily measured or understood by such superficial analysis. Those who have practiced starting their day with an hour of prayer have found more than commercial bounty; they have found the joy of His presence. They talk of how their past empty lives have been filled with God’s presence; how they have found peace of mind, and gained quietness of soul, and how they have developed proper perspective in life. Most of all, they talk about how they find God in every circumstance. Dick Eastman has written a book on taking an hour per day for prayer. In his opening “challenge,” he states clear- ly the accumulated power of consistently applying the principle:

And think of the impact this daily gift of sixty min- utes will have on a troubled world. One hour each day for an entire year equals 365 hours, or forty-five

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