What is a 1 Minute Prayer Plan?

by Susan Harris

“Couldn’t you pray with me for one hour?” Jesus asked his disciples (Matthew 26:40.)

Some Bible translations use the word “keep watch” or “stay awake” but regardless of the term used, there is no mistaking Jesus’ incredulity when He found his closest friends sleeping while He supplicated the night before His torturous death. He agonizes. Peter, James and John tour Dreamland. Apathetic to the sorrow of their man-god companion.

I grew up in a Christian home where prayer was a way of life. There was prayer in the morning, prayer at meals, prayer in the night; and if it was not morning, noon or night, there was still prayer. My parents would take us to all-night prayer meetings at church, it being the safest way to watch the brood while they watched with God. So I grew up praying for long hours.

It was not until I was at university, however, that I discovered a structure for effective praying. A little book called The Hour That Changes the World: A Practical Plan for Personal Prayer transformed my prayer life. In it the author, Dick Eastman, teaches how to pray for an hour by proposing 12 areas, focusing on each for 5 minutes.

He suggests beginning and ending with Praise. The other segments are Waiting, Confession, Scripture Praying (my favourite), Watching, Intercession, Petition, Thanksgiving, Singing, Meditation, and Listening.

Friend, I’ll tell you that spending 5 minutes on each point could easily cover an hour, and more. Nevertheless, I’ve found that some people need smaller doses because they may be new to praying or they have an overflowing schedule and do not have the time. Some have simply not built a routine for prayer.

So this weekend when the Lord dropped the 1-Minute Prayer Plan in my brain, I was totally excited.

“In the New Year, pray for 1 minute daily in the first week. Then increase each week by one minute – that’ll be 2 minutes for each day of the second week. Three minutes in the 3rd week, and so on.”

This method could help build a consistent prayer habit, and as you see results and get excited to pray, you’d carve out the necessary time. Many people are dissatisfied with the commercialization of Christmas and they want to return to the real meaning of our Saviour’s birth. Hence we’ll accelerate with an additional minute over the last few days of the year. A sacrificial gift of prayer could restore Christ to Christmas if we spend an hour with our Lord.

I’ve created a 1-Minute Prayer schedule that’s pictured above, and I hope you would find useful. I’ve also created an event on my Facebook page at 1 Minute Prayer Plan Event  and will be posting snippets on practical prayer weekly. Feel free to join or invite someone. You can revolutionize your life 1 minute at a time. You can change the world through prayer.

Wishing you a year that is exceedingly abundant above what you can imagine.

Tweetables

Pray for 1 minute a week, increasing by 1 minute weekly, leading up to 1 hour by year’s end.

Small steps in prayer will develop a more consistent prayer habit.

“Couldn’t you pray with me for one hour?” (Matthew 26:40 paraphrased)

Join the 1-Minute Prayer Plan event at https://www.facebook.com/events/726997343977027

A sacrificial gift of prayer could restore Christ to Christmas if we spend an hour with our Lord.

Susan Harris

Susan is a speaker, wife, mother, and former teacher. Prayer is her passion, and except for salvation, it is the subject on which she has spoken most frequently over 20 years of Christian ministry. She is also the author of three books – Little Copper Pennies for Kids, Little Copper Pennies: Celebrating the Life of the Canadian one cent piece (for adults) and Golden Apples in Silver Settings. She loves kittens, pennies, and making new friends. Find her at www.susanharris.ca, on Facebook at SusanHarrisCanadianAuthor, and on Twitter @SusanHarris20.