The One Hour Prayer Cycle x 10Sample

Hope During Despair

Need some encouragement? Devote approximately five minutes per segment in focused prayer. When you finish, you will have spent a sweet hour in prayer.

1. Praise - Psalm 57:9-11 - Start your prayer hour by praising the Lord. Praise Him for things that are on your mind right now. Praise Him for one special thing He has done in your life in the past week. Praise Him for His goodness to your family.

2. Wait - Psalm 130:5-6 - Spend time waiting on the Lord. Be silent and let Him pull together reflections for you.

3. Confession - Psalm 27:9 - Ask the Holy Spirit to show you anything in your life that might be displeasing to Him. Ask Him to point out attitudes that are wrong, as well as specific acts for which you have not yet made a prayer of confession. Now confess that to the Lord so that you might be cleansed.

4. Read the word - Luke 24:1-12 - Spend time reading the word. The Psalms, in the prophets, and passages on prayer located in the New Testament are great.

5. Petition - Romans 15:13 - Ask or make requests on behalf of yourself.

6. Intersession - Psalm 121:1-8 - Ask or make requests on behalf of others.

7. Pray the word - Titus 3:4-7 - Pray specific passages. Memory verses, scriptural prayers, as well as a number of Psalms lend themselves well to this purpose.

8. Thanksgiving - Acts 5:31 - Give thanks to the Lord for the things in your life, on behalf of your family, and on behalf of your church.

9. Singing - Psalm 57:7 - Sing songs of praise or worship or another hymn or spiritual song.

10. Meditate - I Corinthians 15:55-58 - Ask the Lord to speak to you. Have a pen and paper ready to record impressions He gives you.

11. Listen - Psalm 33:18 -  Spend time merging the things you have read, things you have prayed and things you have sung and see how the Lord brings them all together to speak to you.

12. Praise - Psalm 59:17 - Praise the Lord for the time you have had to spend with Him and the impressions He has given you. Praise Him for His glorious attributes.

Invest about 5 minutes practicing what each of these verses instruct us to do and you will be surprised how quickly a whole hour in prayer will go.