With the National Day of Prayer this week, I thought that I'd feature a hymn about prayer today. Today we live in a society where speed seems to be important. We want things done quickly, instantly if possible. We have instant foods, instant election results, fast-food restaurants, drive-ins, high speed internet connections, self-service check-outs, smart phones, and on and on. And I think that this attitude has affected our spiritual lives as well. We want quick devotionals, short sermons, and quick answers to our prayers. In fact, I guess that the average believer today spends little time daily in prayer and intercession. Churches that used to meet for corporate prayer several times a have now eliminated prayer meetings. Prayer has become a minor part of our worship services. The term "prayer warrior" has become out of date. Very fortunate is the one who has somebody faithfully praying for him each day. The sweet hour of prayer from past generations has become the quick minute of prayer for many believers. William Walford was blind, but this did not make him worthless. On the contrary, his hands and his mind were very active. Called on to preach from time to time in a rural English church, he composed sermons in his head to deliver on Sundays. He memorized a huge amount of the Bible which he quoted verbatim in his sermons. Some folks thought he had memorized the entire Scripture, cover to cover. William also composed lines of verse - and he prayed. Thomas Salmon tells this tale of what happened one day, while he was visiting the blind pastor. "...He repeated two or three pieces which he had composed, and having no friend at home to commit them to paper, he had laid them up in the storehouse within. "How will this do?" asked he, as he repeated the following lines, with a complacent smile touched with some light lines of fear lest he subject himself to criticism. I rapidly copied the lines with my pencil, as he uttered them, and sent them for insertion in the Observer, if you should think them worthy of preservation." The Observer did consider them worth preserving, and they were published on , September 13, 1845, becoming a beloved hymn. His hymn has touched hundreds of thousands of lives on both sides of the Atlantic, expressing the genuine joy he found in prayer. As you meditate upon his words this week, may you be challenged to become a real "prayer warrior" . And may you take time to be in the presence of God as you spend a "sweet hour" with him each day.
1. 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!
2. 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!
3. 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!
4. Sweet hour of prayer! sweet hour of prayer!
May I thy consolation 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!"
Listen to it here. LISTEN
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