A few years ago I became bored with church. At the time, I had been saved for at least 7 years and I thought I had it figured out, at least the culture of the church. I had attended various church services such as bible studies, revivals, prayer services, conferences, conventions and musicals. Therefore, I became accustomed to the flow of various services, to the point of knowing when it was a “God move” as oppose to a “man move”. As we praised and worshipped, listened to exhortations, acknowledged visitors, read scriptures, preached the word, lifted up offering, choir singing and shouting and dancing in the spirit, lives were being changed. Never the less, many others returned home the same way they came. Now, don't get me wrong, all of that is fine and good as there were people healed, saved and set free during these services. However, these things became routine and mundane for me and I began to question myself and God. Some of the questions that pondered through my mind were, “Is this it? Is this all church and God consist of?” I knew it had to be more, it just had to be!
I was attending one of the services mentioned above and the guest speaker at the service began to talk about how he would get up early in the morning to pray (3am). The speaker began to tell us how God moved in his life during those early morning intercessions. I couldn’t help notice the more he talked, the more intrigued I became. From that day forward, I had a pressing upon my heart to follow suit. Days went by and the heaviness of sleep suppressed that impression to raise up early and pray, especially at 3 am. On another occasion, I was attending a musical and a well-known Bishop came up to give exhortations and began to talk about prayer and rising early to seek the Lord. The Bishop even stated he wasn't intending on speaking about his prayer time, but our God is strategic. I knew that word was for me. As a matter of fact, I got up and went home on what I called a word of confirmation. The next day I arose at 4am and here's how I got God's attention. Below are suggestions you can use as a guideline:
Plan/Sacrifice:
Set an alarm to whatever time impressed upon your heart to get up and pray. I believe the Lord gave me 4 am to get up. God may give you a totally different time or a different part of the day. I once spoke with a lady who said her prayer time was 9pm every night, do what works for you. If the Lord doesn't give you a time, set a time yourself where you know you won't be distracted. It's a sacrifice of sleep and time, especially if you are raising a family. Some nights I didn't watch that late night show, I went to bed early because I knew that 4 am would come quick! The Lord will definitely honor your sacrifice.
Be authentic:
When you start praying, don't try to pray like the prayer warriors at church. Don't try to impress the Lord using words that you wouldn't normally use. God knows the very intent of our hearts (Psalm 44:21), be your true authentic self.
Sing:
I am a lover of music, especially Gospel music. I sang songs which were considered "worship" type of songs as well as upbeat songs. Sometimes I would spend the first 10-15 minutes singing. Perhaps you don't like to sing, well, just play some music and focus on the words being sung. Here are some songs that I personally like:
“Because of who you Are” -Vicki Yohe
“Bow down and Worship” - Bishop Paul Morton
“Lord you are Good” - Israel and New Breed
These are just a few songs that I like, once again do you and be you.
Write:
I mostly wrote prayers at night before bed, not in the mornings. I would encourage you to take your journal or notebook during prayer, as you never know what God is going to say. It is also helpful recalling information you received during prayer, so you will not forget it later. Trust me, I had to learn the hard way.
Read:
During my prayer time, I would read the word for self- edifying and reading God's word back to him. This reminds Him of what he says. The scripture tells us” His word will not return unto Him void” (Isaiah 55:11).
Just Pray:
All the things I listed above wasn't done in any order. I did them according to the flow of the spirit. My motive wasn't to ask God for anything. Most of the time I spent thanking Him, praying for others, praying in tongues (Romans 8:26, Ephesians 6:18) and letting the Spirit intercede for me. I did this for several weeks. I wasn't always gung-ho about getting up at 4am, sometimes I wondered what I was even doing and is God in this because everybody else was sleeping good and I am getting up to sing and pray, SMH. I drug myself out of the bed anyway and it happened! What happened? I'm glad you asked...I got God's attention. Ok, let me back up and say this before I go on, I didn't start this early morning intercession to get Gods attention, I did it because it was such an impression on my heart after hearing the guest speaker and Bishop at the musical that day. I just started praying and I guess you can say I went in blindly, not expecting really anything spiritually to happen or for God to act. What I thought was just to pray so that I can feel closer to God, if that makes any sense to you.
What did I experience?
My body had become accustomed to waking up at 4am, so most of the time I would beat the alarm up. One particular morning I was asleep and heard 3 taps on the wall above my head. I thought to myself, what is my neighbor doing? I then got up and looked out the window to see if someone was downstairs knocking at my door but no one was there. I rolled over and looked at the clock and it was 3:59 am, time for me to get up and pray. The next morning I heard the same knock and I rolled over and looked at the clock and it said 3:58am. It finally dawned on me, the Lord was waking me up. I can still hear the knock just like it was yesterday. God is awesome!!
As I would go on about my day I would discern different things throughout the day and it would take place just as my mind had discerned it. When these things first begin to happen it was very shocking to me, but I wouldn't share it with anyone because people are skeptics and I knew without a shadow of a doubt this was all the leading of God and it was happening because of my early morning prayers. I don't have the time to tell all that I experienced.
Opposition:
As I stated, I had God's attention for sure, but I also got the attention of the enemy! One night while sleeping I felt something or someone standing over me. At the time I was married and my husband worked nights, so I'm thinking it's him getting off work getting ready to get in the bed and I'm also thinking dang, I missed my 4 am prayer time(he made it home after 6am). I rolled over to make sure that it was him getting in the bed but I got the shock of my life! I rolled over and saw 2 dark figures standing on the side of my bed, then I became literally paralyzed. The only thing I could do was say the name of Jesus in my mind and the figures disappeared. I will tell you the truth, I was shaken to the core! Later that evening, I went to bible study and was impressed to go up for prayer during altar call. I fought over and over about going because of how I am (that's another blog). At the last minute, I got up and went to one of the intercessors for prayer. Right before she began to pray, she stopped and informed me that I was in a spiritual war! I began to tell her what took place that morning with the figures and she began to pray over me to bind fear and for the Lord to give me the tenacity to fight this battle. We ended up talking more after service because she understood what I was experiencing. The intercessor asked me what was I doing, and I was like umm nothing (just dumb, lol)! She went on to say I had to be doing something different for this type of attack from the enemy. I said, “Oh, I've been praying and interceding every morning at 4 am”. She said, "That's it!" and she begin to speak things that soon came to be manifested in my spiritual walk.
In closing, as I stated above, I don't have time to tell all the things I've experienced just from those 4 am prayers scenarios. God began to speak, at times I understood but majority of the time, I didn't understand until later dates. The enemy still tried to stop my flow by attacking me, but he soon left, for a season anyway.
These are some of the things that you can do to get Gods attention or to experience Him in ways you have no clue. Remember, there is no level in God! You can't hit the ceiling and say I've experienced it all because just when you think this or that is the greatest move/experience of God, He always has more. As you noticed, I didn't mention fasting because during those times, although fasting is another way to get Gods attention when done correctly, just like the bible says, “Some things only come by fasting and prayer” (Matt. 17:21). To be clear, by no means am I discrediting fasting, however, if you feel lead to fast, then feel free to do so.
I pray this blog encourages you to pray more and experience God on an even deeper and personal level. It truly makes a world of difference and you also learn His will for your life. He speaks in many ways. Also, don't worry about opposition, utilize your weapon (Gods word!) and go to war. Don't forget your body armor (Ephesians 6:10-18), the enemy has to flee. I would also recommend a book by Apostle John Eckhardt entitled: Prayers that route demons.
God bless!
