“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7) Brothers and sisters, what is the most difficult time for you to pray to our Heavenly Father? When meeting deadlines? Or when faced with temptations? One sister has found that whenever she is busy or faced with temptations, her prayers would shorten or stop. But she also found that if prayer is lacking (especially in times of busyness and facing temptations), she is more prone to having conflicts with others.

“When busyness or temptations hit, and when we want to stop or shorten our prayers, we must recognize the temptation for what it is (It is the first step by which the grace from our Heavenly Father would be taken away). Then we should lengthen our prayers by a few minutes.” This is the reminder the sister got from a devotional book. It was a wake-up call for her. This is the plot of the evil one, who tries hard to make us shorten or stop our prayers in order to take away all the grace from our Heavenly Father. With such a reminder, the sister tried to practice what her teacher taught: one-hour prayers. It was very difficult at first as she felt that the prayer time was very long. But she set the alarm clock and insisted on not leaving her seat before the alarm went off and would continue to pray. The sister took her troubles and all other sentiments to the Lord Jesus. She poured out her heart to Him and told Him all her desires. Miraculously, at the end of the hour-long prayer, the Heavenly Father changed the way she felt. She literally experienced what Paul called “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding.”

Once I was in a very difficult situation and I became anxious. The Lord let this reminder come to my mind: “Stopping prayer is the first step by which the evil one tries to rob us of all the grace from our Heavenly Father.” The Lord asked me to set aside the work at hand, set the alarm clock for one hour, and started praying… I went before the Heavenly Father just as I was. I told Him my confusion and my pain… In the prayer, God reminded me of Jesus with all His wounds and bruises on the cross. Even though His pain was immense, He persevered and did not come down from the cross. He did it all for His love of me. Then, a sentence came to my mind, “Love is the only way out!” And when the alarm clock sounded, my feelings were also changed by the Heavenly Father. I experienced what Paul called “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding.” At that moment, I again felt the love and care of God for me, from which I derived a greater motivation to love.

Amid the hassle of life, we may not be able to pray for an hour every day. But I do encourage you to try once a week or once every other week. When in difficulty or facing temptations, you need an hour-long prayer or a few additional minutes even more. It is my hope that you will experience what Paul describes as “the peace of God, which transcends all understanding.”