Set aside!

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Good morning, friends.

For the past few days, I have been constantly thinking about my college days. It was the first time I was away from my family. I was homesick for the first few days in the hostel (dorm) after which God sent many girls to be my friends. Wow, we had such a fun time. But we also were very serious in one thing that really united us every day. It is Prayer. A few non-believers who joined us for the prayers simply because they liked the songs that we sang started believing Christ and came closer to Him. When I was down, they encouraged me with God’s Word.

Would you like to know how we prayed? Just because the Bible says about seeking Him in the morning, we got up at midnight to pray. Why did we choose 12 AM? Because it was the very first hour of the day. Does that sound silly? Well, it might be. But we chose that time and we set this time for praying. After a while, we changed it to 5 AM for our prayers.

Getting up at 5 AM was not easy every day. We knew that if we pray separately we would fall asleep. So we gathered in small groups. 2 of my friends and I gathered together. I still remember waking up my friends with their toothbrushes and toothpaste in my hand. We sang a few songs in a feeble voice so as not to disturb others. We read a chapter or two and then we prayed for the rest of the time. Though our prayers were sincere, many times we never knew what we prayed for. Sometimes we found others sleeping, too. Even then we didn’t quit our morning prayers. Many times we felt too lazy, but still we chose to spend time in His presence. Some of the girls lived a very godly life, which also inspired us. This continued as long as we were in the hostel in spite of all the ridicule that we received from the non-believing warden.

We were told that we would never score high grades just because we wasted several hours (she never knew we actually invested those hours for God) every day. We were not even allowed to walk freely in the evenings around the hostel campus. Many times we found the warden walking behind us. My friends were also bothered by this. No girls were allowed to study with me. But we always found a way to study together at various times.  I spent many days standing outside of my warden’s room answering her questions that apparently were intended only to make me lose my study time. However, In spite of each and every single issue we faced, because of God, my friends and I scored the highest grades in our exams. All of us found jobs in good companies. None of us were put to shame.

The point which I wanted to convey here is, we didn’t understand all of the truths that the Bible conveys. But we knew that spending time in His presence is the most important of all. No weapon formed against us succeeded. The Lord fought for us and made us win the battle.

We are not students anymore, but this secret of ours is applicable everywhere. We should have an isolated time with God, but if you are a beginner, or if you are struggling to start your prayer life all over again, please find some prayer partners and start praying. If you don’t find anyone, don’t quit. The Lord Himself is our prayer partner. If you sit in His presence, He Himself will lead you.

May God bless you!