HOW I LEARNED TO PRAY ALL NIGHT

The biblical concept of praying all night is not something widely practiced here in Canada as it is in some nations. As a pastor there came a time where I wanted to see our church move into more of God through this type of fervent prayer. I felt for our church to move to the next level, implementing this kind of fervent prayer was absolutely necessary. I reasoned that if people can pray like this in one part of the world, I’m sure they can do it elsewhere and reap the same blessings.  

I set a date on the calendar for an all-church all-night prayer meeting. However, after setting a date and beginning to advertise the event, God rebuked me saying, “How can you expect your people to pray all night if you have never prayed all night?” This challenged me greatly, convicted my heart, and prompted me to go alone to our church one night by myself and pray all night. To be honest this was one of the worst and most challenging prayer times I ever had. I found my mind easily wandering, and due to fatigue, I found it hard to remain focused. On top of that, this was during Canadian winter, and the building’s heating system didn’t quite make it to the cold prayer room! As I did my best to be diligent, I began feeling weary as I felt and heard nothing from God.  

Then around two in the morning something interesting happened. A feeling of profound apathy came over me. I began entertaining a strange reasoning within my mind along the lines of “I have done enough for one night.” Even though I hadn’t prayed all night, the effort was good enough. I also became overwhelmed by the doubt that this kind of prayer was possible for a church in this part of the world, or even for me. I was truly confronted by the level of my own indiscipline and spiritual laziness. Along with all this, I discerned I was now wrestling with a real evil spirit of complacency! I rejected all the thoughts coming my way. I have seen that life, and the devil, will always provide you with reasons not to pray. But on this particular night, I wanted to show God I was serious about praying through the night! As a result, I decided to press through despite the conflicts emerging within me.  

I am happy to report that after the most challenging night of prayer I have ever had, there came a time of breakthrough. By the time five in the morning arrived, I heard the recognizable, unmistakable voice of God shatter my fatigue and mindsets saying, “Now you have broken through. As you have prayed, your people will be able to pray all night as well.”  

The next day I went to my father’s house to visit and before I had a chance to tell him what I had done the night before (I told no one about it), he met me at the door to tell me something amazing. He said he had a dream “last night” about a long line of people waiting to get into a room. The room had a long banquet table filled with all kinds of incredible food that he discerned represented the “delicacies of the Kingdom.” The amazing part of the dream was he understood those waiting in the long line could not enter the room until I went in first and ate. He told me all of this having no idea of what I experienced the night before.  

When you are radical in your prayers, you are eating for two. You are doing something that will affect someone else. It wasn’t long after the experience we invited the church to our first ever “All Night Prayer” event. The room was full of close to 150 people praying all night with great grace and power. This All-Night Prayer meeting became a staple on our church calendar and held monthly. It became one of the greatest regular church gatherings we held beyond the Sunday morning service.

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