Ninth Hour Of Prayer

By Ray Watson

Are you desperate for a miracle? How do you achieve spiritual breakthrough? You pray till the ninth hour. But what is the ninth hour? Matthew 27:46 says 'About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out to God "why have you forsaken me?" God forsook His son in the ninth hour so that in our hour of prayer He would not forsake us. He rejected Jesus’ prayer at a time when He needed Him most so that He could accept our prayers when we need Him most. The ninth hour represents the hour of answered prayers.

Acts 10:3 -4, “About the ninth hour of the day, he (Cornelius) saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Your prayers and your alms are come up for a memorial before God.”

Acts 10:30-31 - So Cornelius said “Four days ago I was fasting until this hour and at the ninth hour, I prayed in my house and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said “Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God.”

Life is not easy and there are times when we find ourselves on our knees praying for spiritual breakthrough. We know that God always hears us (Prov 15:29) and will never leave us (Heb 13:5) but often our prayers are not answered instantly. There can be a season of waiting. The longer we have to wait for spiritual breakthrough, the harder it gets to keep believing and trusting Him and its not unusual for the question “Why are my prayers not answered by God?” to arise.

How to get answers to prayer

In the season of waiting, bring your pain before His loving heart and let Him heal you of your disappointment. Often we can become offended with God because we have been believing, trusting, praying, fasting and doing everything we know to do but our miracle hasn't happened. It can get really frustrating and disappointing. We even come to wrong conclusions about who God is because of the intensity of the pain we experience in this season. These wrong conclusions are numerous but they can often boil down to a few lies like these –

• God doesn’t care.
• I am not important enough for Him.
• There is something I have done, some sin I have committed that I can’t be healed.
• I must not be saved because I cannot feel God coming through for me, etc.

Well the truth is, God does care and that He really desires to bless us, heal and prosper us. "For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jer 29:11) "I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security" (Jer 33:6) But our circumstances often tell us otherwise. And it is hard to be in the middle of defeating circumstances and still believe that God will come through for us. But there is enough grace to do it. It helps to ask forgiveness for being offended at Him, for thinking that He is holding back things that will bring us life.

Trusting him through the pain and the disillusionment should be our goal. Psalm 23 assures us that He guides us through the valley to the other side. He doesn’t leave us there. We must keep walking through to experience the joy set before us as He promised. Our work is to keep believing Him. He is God – The LORD of our lives. It’s in HIM to help us get through. Because of Jesus' sacrifice, we have a hope which enters the presence of God. And we have this assurance that if a son asks a Father, He hears. If we know that He hears us then we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

Go on a Prayer Journey and share with God the deep things in your heart. Cast Your Cares on Him and let Him carry your burdens. Renew your position of faith as you listen to Standing on the promises of God.