Second Mile Praying

There are times when ordinary prayer doesn’t seem to work. I’ve gone through this and I’m sure you have too.

When this happens, I’ve learned how to go deeper. The basis is Matthew 5:41 where Jesus says, “Whoever shall force you to go one mile, go with him two.”

There are times when we must go beyond what is expected—to that second mile of praying—not just settle for the first mile where the going is easy.

Jesus referred to “Second Mile Praying” that time He came down from the Mount of Transfiguration and discovered that His disciples could not heal the demon-possessed boy writhing on the ground. Jesus turned to His disciples and said: “This kind (of spirit) cannot come out by anything but fasting and prayer” (Mark 9:29).

I believe that Jesus is saying to us that there are occasions when intercessors have to go that second mile and enter into a different kind of praying, a praying of sacrifice, a prayer that does not give up.

We’re talking here about the tenacity of Jacob when he said to the angel of the Lord, “I’ll not let you go until you bless me.”

My mother had two sisters who never married. These were godly women, great prayer warriors. One Sunday night years ago they were seated on the family porch, drinking lemonade, talking about the life of prayer.

Mother asked, “How do you get so many answers to your prayers?” The eldest sister replied, “Over the years I have never failed to receive from God what I am asking when I pray all night.”

That statement haunted my mother. Five years ago when she passed it on to me, it lodged in my heart too.

On a Sunday soon afterward I was listening to our pastor read from Acts 2:1, that marvelous verse that says, “the day of Pentecost was fully come and with one accord they were all in one place.” My heart leaped as I heard those words and I thought, “Lord, how I would have loved to have been there in that place of agreement, of oneness and of harmony where all were cleansed and prepared to receive the power of the living God.”

The Lord then said to me, “You can be there if you are willing to enter into a deeper kind of praying.”

At that time a group of us were meeting on Tuesday night for prayer. At our next meeting I asked them, “Would you be willing to give a whole night for prayer? It would be an experiment. We’d start at 9 p.m. and pray until 5 a.m.”

“Why would we want to do this?” someone asked. I had already given thought to this question. “We would come together for answers to our deepest needs. To hear what the Lord has to say to each one of us and to have revival in our church.”

Twenty-four people came for the first all-night session, some with hardly any prayer background. This is the way you learn.

“Margaret,” the Lord had spoken to me, “if you will come together I’ll give you three things: My word about these who are prayer needy; My Will about them; and My Way to pray for them.”

So it was to be His Word, His Will, His Way.

Since these all-night prayer sessions began nearly four years ago, we have had over 40 of them. They have been dynamic times with amazing healings, including two documented healings of cancer. Our individual private devotional times have been enriched. There’s more love now for Him. Barriers between people have been melted down. Our gifts of discernment have been quickened. We’ve found that all of us have more wisdom about our personal situations.

One night we had tremendous insight into the Word of God. In the process we lost all track of time and prayed three straight hours. God enriched us beyond all expression.

I don’t know of anything that will pull back the veil of the heavenlies and let us see what a wonderful Father we have, how incredible the power of the Holy Spirit is, and the magnificence of Jesus, than doing what He did with His Father. And that was to go apart and pray the second mile.

10 GUIDELINES FOR ALL-NIGHT PRAYING:

1. Discourage those who won’t last the night. Some can’t for health reasons. Have breaks for liquid refreshments, snacks if needed, but doing without food is best.

2. Don’t try to tell God what He already knows. As the night wore on, He told us, “You’re in My way with a lot of your praying.”

3. Identify with the Lord. This takes time. It’s necessary to identify with Him so the Holy Spirit can pray through us with God’s prayers, not ours.

4. Put on humility. At first we were almost cocky in our attitude, as if we were doing this “great thing for the church” and God would be so impressed He would bring revival. It doesn’t happen that easily.

5. Come to agreement in prayer. This was our main hindrance that first night (Matt. 18:19). Too many people going in different directions. In time, harmony comes, dissonance drops away. Agreement means no criticism of each other, no judgment, total acceptance. Remember it took ten days at Pentecost for the full power to come.

6. Maintain a high faith level, believing God will hear us.

7. Strive for a deep honesty and openness. Confessions can be powerful and help bring about agreement.

8. Remember that prayer is work. To confront ourselves, to confront God takes effort.

9. Make a commitment and see it through. People there for a quick fix don’t belong. Daniel prayed for three weeks (Dan. 9).

10. Realize that each group will be different. Find the pattern that is right for you. Some will have much silence. Times may vary. Friday night works best for us, but may not for others. We’d pray for periods of up to three hours before we would stop for rest and juice.