The alarm went off, I reluctantly picked up my phone, stared at it and it read 04:30 am. I sighed, took a big breath, and got out of bed. Unfortunately for my tired body and heavy eyes, pushing the snooze button was not an option. My appointment was at 04:30 am and I had to wake up, stand up… and start praying. 

A few days prior, something extraordinary had happened—the Holy Spirit had spoken. I had heard the beckoning call that I would be abiding with the Lord. Within my spirit, I felt the strong, yet gentle conviction that the appointment had been settled in heaven and the time would not be changed—my abiding with the Lord, in a one-hour prayer, would take place at 04:30 am. 

“How amazing!” I thought. “The Lord wants to spend more time with me, not just in my regular Bible reading time, He is calling me to rise and pray before sunset.” It is then that I remembered Mark 1:35 where it says: “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed” (NIV). I felt joy rising within me because I knew it was the Holy Spirit calling me, drawing me, leading me to that place of intimacy—the tent of meeting, where I would experience the presence of the Lord. 

The first few days I rose up at 04:30 am, I kept the light off, walked around as I prayed and sat back on my bed (just to sit for a moment, I thought) and somehow, I don’t know how it all happened, but I was back in my warm bed asleep and the next alarm that went off was my 06:00 am alarm. At 06:00 am, there were no shenanigans, I woke up very promptly, headed to the shower and got ready for work. 

Day after day, my alarm went off at 04:30 am and to fight going back to sleep, I concocted a strategic plan by setting some rules for myself. 

• Rule # 1: I should never sit down on my bed (because I’ll fall asleep even as I sit—it had happened to me a few times before). 




• Rule # 2: I should never convince myself that I can lay down to relax a bit as I continue to pray (because it’s not going to happen, I’ll fall right back to sleep). 




• Rule # 3: I should turn the light on, even if it is a small little light in the hallway, so I can remain alert (because when I walk around in the dark, I keep thinking about going back to sleep). 




• Rule # 4: I should keep walking around my house as I pray, it will keep me active and alert. 




• Rule # 5: I should have a prayer battle plan, so my prayers have a targeted purpose. 

Messiah Jesus understood how important it was for Him to pray. He did not want to miss that communion with His Father, so He carved time—very early in the morning, while it was still dark. While people were still asleep, Jesus rose to pray, so He could abide with His Father without any distractions. It was an essential part of His ministry and without a doubt this is where He was getting filled with the Holy Spirit and empowered by the Holy Spirit to perform all those miracles, signs and wonders that glorified God. If Jesus found it essential to get up very early in the morning, while it was still dark to spend time with the Father, how much more should we?