You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. (Matthew 5:14-16, ESV)
Depending on your denomination or faith practice, you may be familiar with the Liturgy of Hours, Book of Common Prayer or Divine Office. They are daily prayers with multiple times for prayer which incorporates psalms, scripture readings, and prayers to sanctify the day or night.
I discovered Divine Office years ago and loved the fact that I can pray the same prayers with my brothers and sisters from around the world 24/7—truly global unceasing prayer. https://divineoffice.org/
One evening, I was exhausted and crawled into bed without praying the Night Prayer or Compline. Like you, I am a busy Christian nurse—work, family, ministry, etc., so it is not uncommon for me to be exhausted in the evening. Yet, even if I snooze a little in the evening, part of my bedtime routine is to pray the Night Prayer and personal prayers before shutting off the light.
This night, I crawled into bed and went to sleep. The next morning as I was getting ready for work, I realized, “Carrie, you forgot to pray last night.” As I was thinking of these things, the Holy Spirit reminded me of an image that I had seen from the Divine Office website. With subscribers’ permission, the website gathers location data for everyone praying at that time. The image is represented by dots of lights on the globe.
And even though I knew I was no more tired than other nights I tried to recognize the real reason was lack of motivation. As I was justifying myself to the Lord about “skipping” the prayer, the Lord brought an image to my mind of an amazing metaphor about intercessory prayer and light. When I pray, my light not only brightens on the globe, but it shines beyond my location. Through the Holy Spirit’s work with intercessory prayer, my prayers shine beyond my room. The Lord can shine the light to my neighborhood, city, county, state, country and across the globe. With consistent diligent prayer, how far had the Spirit been able to send my prayer light? The more energy the farther the light goes and more powerful the illumination. Let’s be clear. I am not saying I am the energy. The Holy Spirit is. I am the vessel that God uses for the light. What happens when I skip a time of prayer? I give evil a chance to encroach through the darkness. It then becomes more difficult to get the energy back to full force. It may be helpful to visualize the large fluorescent lights when you turn them on. When you switch them on, they often would flicker and take a few minutes to reach maximum light.
As believers, we have lived the truth when there is minimal prayer. We have witnessed in our communities, our workplace, and unfortunately, in our homes. When there is very little prayer or no prayer, there is a decrease in the light of Christ and an increase in darkness.
I share my personal journal entry with you for two reasons. First, your prayers matter! When you pray for colleagues, your workplace, your family and for your friends–the Holy Spirit works in their lives for the glory of God. We have no idea what the Lord is doing as you are faithful to pray. You may not see the results. But trust Him to work out His will.
Second, intercessory prayer is more than just praying for the needs we know. It is about joining the Body of Christ and interceding for the Kingdom of God in a world that desperately needs it! “pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints” (Ephesians 6:18, ESV)
Carrie Dameron 