4am???

How an earth is it possible to continually wake up at 4am to pray? I am astounded by the testimonies of people like John Wesley because I too have attempted to rise at a similar hour and start my daily devotions and prayer but have miserably failed.What time do you go to sleep at night? Do you have any helpful tips in order to help your body get into the routine?

This is interesting because I've been moved to get up at a very early hour too. I recently read an article about this. The question and the answer the preacher gave went somewhat like this:"Brother, so and so, how do you do it? How do you get up so early in the morning every day? Do you seek God for some sort of strength?"To which he replied, "No, I just get up."

Will wrote:How an earth is it possible to continually wake up at 4am to pray?You have taken the first step to being able to this. Doing it in your own strength and failing (first step)."With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matt 19:26Ask Almighty God for the grace needed to wake up at 4 am to pray. He will.I have not asked that but this thread has planted a seed into my heart. I just might ask.

Yes I know that it is only through Christ I can do anything."And we have such trust through Christ toward God.Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” – 2 Corinthians 3:4-6I have prayed many times that God will give me the strength, yet each time I try I feel extremely tired when I wake up, and when I get up, I feel overly tired for the rest of the day.

Hehe...sorry brother was just responding in the other thread about this.It is very strange indeed personally. It started shortly after being snatched out of the pit. Would just wake up and want to be with the Lord. Never set out to do it nor did I even realize there was such a 'history' until much later on when it kept coming up, reading about certain past saints.To be honest I don't know if it's something you could or couldn't do. Surely you could work your way into it by getting used to it, we can always train our bodies to respond to some extent. Yet, what if it wasn't really part of your makeup to do so? Or that the Lord would have you sleep more to be more effective as His servant? Guess I wouldn't want to persuade you one way or the other, that would have to be between you and the Lord.Don't want to press this to far. While it is interesting that there were many that 4:00 a.m. seemed to be a call to, every hour is sacred that is dedicated to Him. 4:00 a.m. is still 2:30 p.m. somewhere else in the world.But if it is your desire to rise bright and early will certainly pray that the Lord would rouse you, not begrudgingly, but with a 'can't wait' to get at it mindset.I am pretty weird anyway so wouldn't be much help in giving times to go to sleep or anything, just kind of wing it, not really thinking much about it and mind you, I don't always get up at 4, sometimes even earlier, other times a little later.So it does seem 'special', not that we are in any fashion.Read this today:"Chambers also impressed people with his use of time. During a jam-packed weekend in Dover, with four messages to preach on Sunday, he excused himself after lunch, saying he would sleep for ten minutes before the afternoon meeting. When his hostess asked if he would need to be awakened, he said, “No. I am going to ask my Heavenly Father for ten minutes’ sleep and He will rouse me on the tick of the clock.” To her amazement, it happened just as he had said.He was a man of the mornings, rising early each day for Bible study and intercessory prayer. His personal approach to overcoming fatigue was: “Get out of bed first and think about it later.”Chambers, O.Abandoned to God.

“Get out of bed first and think about it later.”I like that, I think I might print it out and stick it on my wall or something!I guess you're right though, not everyone was designed to wake up at the wee small hours of the morning.And you're also right that every hour is a good hour to have prayer and devotions yet I can't shake from my mind the numourous references to waking early in the morning and praying. The Psalms are full of such references, and of course we know the Lord Jesus woke up many times before dawn to pray to His Father in heaven.Thanks for your thoughts bro.Anyone else have a testimony to share of how they managed to arise early in the morning and have made it a habit? (by early i mean 5:00am or earlier).

My girlfriend has to wake up at 4 am every morning (save on weekends) in order to get ready for work and help get her parents to work (they are a 1 car family). She is also regularly up until 9 and 10 pm. She works about 32-40 hrs a week, is a full time college student, and is our church's praise & worship leader, as well as a sunday school teacher. I've never asked her how she does it, but I guess she just manages to drive herself and keep herself moving. Prayer perhaps can be a little more difficult as one will be in a rather still position for a while, and possibly one will fall asleep again. I suppose it just takes a great deal of self-discipline to keep one in a somewhat uncomfortable position for a while so as not to fall asleep, and to keep one's mind really intently focused. If you have a coffee timer, it might be good to have a fresh cup of brew to help wake you up, there is nothing like Foldgers in your cup :)

Waking up at 4am... Yes Wesley did this but remember the other side of the story... He went to bed at 9pm.. Thats 7 hours... thats not deprevation. Thats average sleep time. Im not trying to take away from it at all but its a matter of adjusting your sleeping habits to 9-7 from what ever it is. I remember a story i heard Ravenhill tell that Wesley was eating with the King and at about 8 or 9 he told the king "I must now go." The king asked why and John told him he had an appointment. He had an appointment with God. Looking at the whole situation it was just body control to go to bed at 9 and wake up at 4. Leonard Ravenhill had different sleeping habits. He went to bed at 8:30-9 and woke up at Midnight and prayed for a couple hours. I never heard him say but im assuming he went back to bed after that. Personally I like the Ravenhill presciption. I dont do either. Im a college guy :-) I would rather stay up till 11 and start praying and reading till 12:30 or later and then go to bed and sleep untill the absolute last moment before i run out of time to take a shower and run to class. Maybe some day ill learn!

Like brother Jimmy said his girlfriend wakes up at 4am for work. That motivates her (money) to get up that early, should not God be that much of a motivation for us who call ourselves chrisitans and followers of Christ?I asked her a little bit about that today, and she told me very simply "I simply don't have any other choice." She HAS to be up at 4 am.

here's what worked for me. ask God to wake you up at 4 AM. don't set an alarm. not even a safety alarm in case you sleep in. just trust God. he'll do it. he even gave my brother ian nosebleeds to get him out of bed and ian never has nosebleeds. just trust God!"And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." (Mk. 1:35)Jesus had to get up early for God. shouldn't we?

here's what worked for me. ask God to wake you up at 4 AM. don't set an alarm. not even a safety alarm in case you sleep in. just trust God. he'll do it.Indeed, if God wants you up then, He will wake you up then no doubt. I've had God wake me up many many times early in the morning. Just think, how in the world did people get up before the advent of the clock? What alarm did they have save for perhaps a few roosters?

EARLY MORNING BEING THE BEST TIME OF THE DAY by Watchman NeeWhat time should believers rise up every day?A sister once put it well when she said, "How much a person loves the Lord can be judged primarily by the way he chooses between his bed and the Lord. Do you love your bed or the Lord more? If you love your bed more, you sleep a little longer. If you love the Lord more, you rise up a little earlier." She spoke these words more than thirty years ago. Yet they are still fresh to us today. A man must choose between his love for his bed and his love for the Lord. The more he loves the Lord, the more he will rise up early.A Christian should rise up early because the early morning is the best time to meet the Lord. Except for those who are sick, all the brothers and sisters should rise up early. Actually, many sicknesses are not sicknesses at all. They become sicknesses because men love themselves too much. Other than those who are advised to rest by doctors, everyone should rise early. We do not want to go to extremes; we advise sick brothers and sisters to sleep more. However, the healthy ones should get up as early as possible. The best time to meet the Lord, to contact Him, and to fellowship with Him is early in the morning. Manna is gathered before the sun rises (Exo. 16:14-21). Anyone who wants to eat God's food should rise up early. When the sun waxes hot, manna melts and is gone. If we want to receive spiritual nourishment and spiritual edification, and if we want to have spiritual fellowship and spiritual supply, we need to rise up early. If we rise up late, the manna will be gone. The early morning is the very time when God dispenses His spiritual food and holy fellowship to His children. Whoever is late will not gather anything. Many children of God lead a sick life, not because they have spiritual problems, but because they rise up too late. Many children of God have no lack in consecration, zeal, or love, but they cannot live a normal Christian life because they rise up too late. Do not think that this is a small matter. Do not think that this has nothing to do with spirituality; it has much to do with spirituality. Many people are not spiritual because they rise up too late. Many people have been Christians for years, yet they fail to live a proper Christian life because they rise up too late. We do not know of anyone who knows how to pray, yet rises up late. Nor do we know of anyone who has intimate fellowship with God, yet rises up late. All those who know God rise up early. They rise up early as a rule to fellowship with Him.Proverbs 26:14 says, "As the door turneth upon his hinges, so doth the slothful upon his bed." Here it says that a slothful person in bed is like a door that turns upon its hinges. The slothful keeps turning upon his bed; he cannot leave it. He turns to one side on his bed. Then he turns to the other side on his bed. Whichever way he turns, he is still on the bed. Many people cannot part with their bed. They love their bed as they turn from one side to the other. When they turn left, they are on their bed. When they turn right, they are still on their bed. They love to sleep and cannot part with their bed. Many people just want to sleep a little longer; they cannot get out of their bed. If one wants to learn to serve God and be a good Christian, he has to rise up early in the morning every day.Those who rise up early in the morning reap much spiritual benefit. Their prayers at other times of the day cannot be compared with their prayers in the early morning. Their Bible reading at other times of the day cannot be compared with their reading in the early morning. Their fellowship with the Lord at other times cannot be compared with their fellowship in the early morning. The early morning is the best time of the day. We should spend the best time of the day—the early morning—before the Lord, rather than in other things. Some Christians spend the whole day on other matters and kneel down to read the Bible and pray only at night when they are about to go to sleep. No wonder they are ineffective in their Bible reading, their prayer, and their fellowship with the Lord. They wake up too late in the morning. The moment we believe in the Lord, we should set apart the early morning for fellowshipping with God and for contacting Him.

Some Christians spend the whole day on other matters and kneel down to read the Bible and pray only at night when they are about to go to sleep.There is nothing wrong with doing your devotions at night before you go to bed either. Granted, I would not suggest one make it a practice of doing it when one is absolutely exhausted, but I would suggest that if one does it at night and wants to do it in the comforts of their bed, then they should head up to their bedroom perhaps an hour or so earlier than normal, so as to make time for their study.

Pastor David (Wilkerson) generally stays up to 1-2 a.m. and gets up between 8-8:30. He preached a sermon entitled "Why Christians Don't Pray" which is a must hear. I'm not sure it's on SI or not.Some people are night owls. It's important to give God our best time. I like to have prayer at both ends of the day, although sometimes evening prayer is not what I would prefer.Are we giving God our best time? Is spending time alone in the secret prayer closet a priority?Personally I love prayer time early in the morning. It's so quiet that I can intently focus on what He wants me to pray about.

"You can be as Spirit-filled as you like, but that's not going to get you out of bed at 4 or 5 in the morning." - Leonard RavenhillRavenhill tended to believe there should be a cost to our devotional time. I tend to believe this also.Take the example of David when he went to buy the threshing floor in order to worship God, and he refused to have it given to him for free."Then King David said to Ornan, "No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing." - 1 Chronicles 21:24Now of course that doesn’t mean we have to make getting out of bed early, the cost of our worship. But I do feel that the Lord is pleased with us when we do choose to get up early to worship Him.

I just want to share with everybody that I got a new job that start at 7am and I am waking up anywhere between 3 to 5 am. Praise God it is so wounderfull to spend the morning time with the Lord.