Hours in Prayer and Lettie Cowman

How did Lettie Cowman spend hours in prayer at a time?

What did she find to pray about?

What can “regular” people learn from her example?

Lettie Cowman’s need to spend hours in prayer

The conviction she needed to spend long hours in prayer began with Lettie Cowman’s walk with God.

Whenever Lettie made a promise, she kept it as much as possible. Once she gave her word, she was good for it.

She poured herself into relationships–particularly with her God.

All she wanted to do was spend time with the people she loved–her husband, God, and the people God sent her to love.

Long before she helped found the Oriental Missionary Society with her husband Charles and others, she regularly knelt for hours talking with God.

Especially after she became the president of the Oriental Missionary Society, Lettie knew God’s wisdom and direction were all that could keep the ministry going

Prayer was how she loved, how she communed with her Creator, and how she learned what He wanted her to do.

How do you spend hours in prayer?

Desperation sends you there, first.

Lettie knew nothing about God or the Bible when she gave her heart to God.

She wanted to know Him and, correctly, figured the best way to do that was to read what He said and talk to Him about it.

Lettie trusted the God who loved her would answer her questions. She could could ask Him anything, and He would answer.

To confirm she “heard” Him correctly, Lettie knew she had to “match” the “words” with Scripture.

So, perhaps it is more accurate to say Lettie spent hours communing with God. She praised Him, asked Him things, confirmed what she heard with the Bible, and thanked Him.

Even if she had to swallow more than once to obey!

I spelled it out in this blog post: Devotions.

What did it feel like to spend so many hours in prayer?

Lettie often felt God’s presence during the morning hours she spent with God.

She described her experiences this way:

One morning, I arose at four o’clock to pray and to do some searching. Just as I knelt, I felt an Unseen Presence so near me that I looked up to see who was there. I could not utter one word but just felt hushed in that glorious Presence.

A sweet rest filled my very being, and I knew the Holy Spirit had come to abide in me forever. The witness still is in my heart that ‘the blood of Jesus cleanseth me from all sin.’ His will is the sweetest thing on earth.

The Vision Lives, p. 49

Lettie agreed with Martin Luther, the busier the day, the more necessary it was she rise early to join God for hours in prayer and preparation.

When Lettie assumed the role as president of the Oriental Missionary Society (now called One Mission Society), the staff spent Wednesday mornings, nine to noon in prayer. (They still pray on Wednesdays).

The needs were many. The only way to know what was important, and to find unity among workers around the world, was to ask God.

Was it just talking to God?

Worship and devotions, prayer and listening, often involve more than silence before a page.

As a trained soprano and pianist, Lettie Cowman loved music and hymns. She incorporated them into her worship of God in her listening hours in prayer.

Hymns fed her artistic interests. Lyrics provided a greater appreciation for what it meant to worship God in spirit and truth. The age-old and doctrinally sound hymns augmented Biblical concepts.

Immersing herself in worship also helped Lettie “work out” the challenges she later faced in the workplace.

When the complicated decisions she faced while heading the OMS became too many, Lettie prayed, of course, but then turned to a small piano in her office.

She’d thunder the music out of the keyboard and sing at the top of her voice.

As she explained to fellow missionary Florence Munroe, “I just have to do it, otherwise I’d never be able to keep on top of the load.”

The results from Lettie’s hours in prayer?

Innumerable people around the globe are in heaven because of Lettie’s hours in prayer.

Encouraged by Rees Howells, another profound praying person, Lettie followed God’s directions in a highly unusual way.

As a result, millions of people had Scriptures in hand when Hitler’s troops marched through, and later when the Iron Curtain fell.

No one but God could have foreseen that.

If we want to see such results to our prayers, perhaps we should follow Lettie’s example.

To be able to hear God, respond to Him, worship Him, and love Him–requires time.

Maybe even hours early in the morning.

Tweetables

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