THE NEED FOR NIGHT PRAYERS!

 EVERYDAY IN THE WORD!

SATURDAY DECEMBER 21, 2024.

SUBJECT: THE NEED FOR NIGHT PRAYERS! 

Memory verse: "Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches pour out your heart like water before the face of the LORD. Lift up your hands toward Him for the life of your young children, who faint from hunger at the head of every street.” (Lamentations 2 vs 19.)

READ: Matthew 13 vs 24 - 25:

13:24: Another parable He put forth to them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, 

13:25: but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away.

INTIMATION:

Prayer is the greatest privilege and ministry available to all Christians. Indeed everyone who seeks to take his or her place in the kingdom of God should seek or learn how to pray effectively. Because prayer is, in itself, our fellowship with the Father, He awaits us to come to Him in prayers, and consequently welcomes us into fellowship with Him. Prayer is very essential for every Christian. It is noteworthy that our Master. Jesus, never taught His disciples how to preach but rather taught them how to pray. He said to His disciples "When you pray" and not "If you pray," therefore, He requires us to be in fellowship with the Father always.

Prayer is the key to constant maintenance of God’s grace in our lives. A disciplined prayer life entails going to God in prayers often, preferably three times a day; morning, afternoon and night. The psalmist in Psalm 55 vs 17 says: “Evening and morning and at noon I will pray, and cry aloud, And He shall hear my voice" 

Praying in the night hours is considered the best timing as our prayers are usually interrupted during the day by the pressures of our daily schedule. In the night our concentration is highest, and our fellowship most effective. Night prayers arm us most effectively to overcome the overwhelming evils in the world. The evil doers usually perpetrate their evils in the night hours when most Christians are resting in their beds. 

In the passage we read today, Jesus told His followers a parable saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went away......" (Matthew 13 vs 24 - 25.) "While men slept" the evil doers—men of the underworld—are up in their covens, in their shrines, to perpetrate evil under the cover of darkness. 

When you fellowship with the Lord in prayers in the night hours, you are in His presence; the place of maximum protection, and the glory of God expels any form of darkness around you. The prince of this world and his cohorts cannot operate in His presence; for ‘He disappoints their devices so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.’ (Job 5 vs 12.)

Jesus Christ, in His ministry on earth, has always gone up to the mountains in the night hours to pray—communing with the Father, and obtaining all the powers required for His exploits; charged up fully in the night hours of prayers in readiness for daily exploits. Then, in the day time, He only gives thanks to the Father who always hears Him in their communion in the night: "Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." (Luke 6 vs 12.)

Jesus has always chosen the night to isolate Himself to pray to the Father. His concentration in His fellowship with the Father in the night hours is at its maximum. No distractions of any sorts. This practice of fellowshipping with the Father and our Messiah Jesus, in the night hours, is very essential for every Christian to win our battles against the devil and his cohorts. Our battles with them is not physical, but spiritual; "For though we walk in the flesh! we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for the pulling down strongholds," (Second Corinthians 10 vs 3 - 4.) 

Praying at the end of the day (at night) is an opportunity to thank the Lord for the blessings He gives and protection He provided us to live another day. Finishing your day with prayer is a powerful way to let go of anxiety and find peace before falling asleep. Regardless of what you suffered in the day, talking to God through a night prayer will revive your faith and assist you to sleep in peace. 

Night prayers also help you review all the experiences during your day and the ways that God has been present with you. Bedtime is the perfect time of day to look back on your day and count your blessings. By praying at bedtime allows you to stop and think about all the things that happened to you during the day, and take those moments to feel the gratitude and appreciation for all the little moments.

To effectively war with the devil and his cohorts we are required to arm ourselves with the whole armor of God; “Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” (Ephesians 6 vs 11 - 12.) It’s noteworthy that the whole armor of God is centered on prayer. And engaging in the spiritual warfare in prayers with the whole armor is most effective in the night hours when your concentration is at its peak and to intercept the the activities of the rulers of darkness of this world.

Prayer: Abba Father, in the night hours I will come to You in prayer with my whole heart and being to express my gratitude to You for all You did for me during the day, and commit to Your care my life against the activities of the rulers of darkness of this world. And I am persuaded that my petitions with sincerity of my whole heart will receive Your attention, in Jesus’ Name I have prayed. Amen.

PRAISE THE LORD!